Recently, some states were awarded and farmers facilitated
with “Krishi Karman” awards for excellence in production of foodgrains. Awards
do not cost much, so why not distribute them and keep people happy? But, what
about those farmers who had pawned or sold away their land owing to bad crop
production or reduced productivity and are now at the base of the prosperity
pyramid? Is the government looking at them or would they remain unnoticed and
deemed to die a death which farmers of Vidarbha had to resort to due to zero
crop production and untimely or nil help from the state? Mr. Mukherjee said a
large number of small and marginal farmers who were at the bottom of the
prosperity pyramid would need adequate support from the government. How come he
realized this after being chosen as the President and not during his tenure as
the Finance Minister? We have hoards of awards in our country but few to match
the caliber or purpose for which they are announced year after year. Is our
democracy a joke, a sham, or something to be laughed or pitied at or should we
still have faith in our politicians in the wake of situations that surround us
and have forced us to rethink about the state of conditions in our country?
Political scams, scandals, rape, soaring prices of even the basic necessities,
falling value of rupee, hike in petrol prices due to our government policies,
stress on quota, and many more. Bofors was just a metaphor initially when we
had first heard of major scams in our country, but now it is being understood
as the most minor form of scam till date. People from neighboring states
penetrate our territory and behead our soldiers but the Government still
insists on peace talks with the perpetrators of the crime. The Government has
been attempting to reap a hallucinatory crop called peace in the soil of
instability and fanaticism. The foundation stone of the Government of India was
laid down by Nehru who with his escapist theories and nonchalant policies
allowed China to torture the people living on the borders and take away a
portion of Arunachal Pradesh. Nehru with his voracious appetite for power and
women came out with a rhyming phrase instead, “Hindi Chini bhai bhai.” When
asked, he retorted back saying that the portion of land that China had grabbed
from Arunachal Pradesh was barren and not even a blade of grass could be grown
there. The question, which arised, “Do we give away portions of our homes to
outsiders just because plants cannot be grown there or do we protect and guard
our homes from inquisitive eyes and interfering nature of our neighbors?” The
man had failed to take a stand when it was most required. Then he created his
future generation that assumed the nature of a gluttonous government. The
people stood bleary-eyed waiting for some improvement to happen at the center,
but nothing ever good churned out from our years of patience and tolerance.
People were divided on caste and communal grounds to pave the way for vote
banks and criminals were allowed to participate in the electoral process. The
unqualified candidates and antisocial elements won the elections, boisterously
ran to the House of the People to represent us, and were ecstatic on seeing
their bank accounts bulge with the tax payers’ hard-earned money. Scams
involving embezzlement of money occupied the front pages of our newspapers. And
then evolved gender biasness and crimes being committed against women on a
major level. The crimes that were believed to take place only in rural or
illiterate people started taking place among the urban people. People glanced,
looked, and then shied away from participating in movements against the crime.
And then came the Government’s response, “We will not allow the criminals to go
scott free.” History repeated itself in India when it came to witnessing gory
crimes and scandalous events, but we still learned nothing from the lessons
that we took. We now totally believe that democracy in our country, joked as
our motherland, has reached the stage of pretence with its roots being dug deep
into corruption. There is no end to it since we did nothing in the beginning to
counter or check it. Our condition is deplorable and our people have become
nothing less of a joke in the eyes of the foreign countries. The phalanx of
people that erupted against the corrupt practices of the Government has died
and there is nothing that can fuel our hearts into participating in
constructive measures in favor of the society.
We look at the mindless policies of the Government of
giving away food entitlements and cash reimbursements to the poor people, when
in reality it never reaches them; inability to nab criminals at the proper
time, thus giving them ample time to erase off every trace of evidence.
What is lacking is group solidarity, a consciousness that
can rise above loyalties to caste, communities, religion, and sects and release
the inspirational energy that can turn us into the most advanced democracy in
the world. There is a touch of nationalism, if cultivated properly in the minds
of the people, can turn our idle and inactive streets into a revolutionary
force that can clear the country of the cobwebs of corruption, bigotry,
sectarianism, communalism, fanaticism, poverty, and nepotism.
But alas, our wishes and experiences will remain confined
to books to be read by our future generations. The schoolbooks will read:
·
Honesty is a good policy at times but never mistake is
as the best policy;
·
Respect your
mother and sister as women, rest are objects to be stared at or ogled at;
·
Eve teasing is not a crime, it is just another price to
be paid by the women in our country;
·
It is ok if you rape someone because the Supreme Court
does not dare to give death penalty to the rapist, since they do not define
rape and murder as the rarest of rare crimes;
·
If you want to earn money, you ought to be politician;
·
The illiterate politicians are richer than us, then
where does the value of education lie;
·
We do not have enough jobs in this country, so try
thuggery and robbery instead to earn money;
·
We are not Indians, we are either Hindus or Muslims or
Protestants or Catholics or Sikhs or Parsis;
·
Being an Indian means tolerance even if someone barges
into our territory and beheads our dear ones;
·
If you are poor, all you get to eat or consume is the
repetitive rambling of the politicians;
·
Do not expect any help from the Centre, they are
fending for themselves and earning for their children;
·
Politics is the most lucrative source of income, do not
mistake it with service for the people;
·
Forget what Gandhi, Tilak, Vallabhai Patel or Bose had
said, they have no relevance in today’s society;
·
Take care of yourself, the police are busy giving
protection to the politicians;
·
If you want a promotion in your job, all you have to do
is to get your identified yourself as low-caste citizen or someone belonging to
some minority group; and
Do not forget the advantages of buttering, for
it is nepotism that will get you your desired job.
The biggest joke, which I face everyday is that
I am an Indian. I and many others like me are facing this joke everyday with
every day of our lives being less painful than before, because as Indians we
have been taught the virtue of tolerance, in our middle-class society,
indefinite tolerance.
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