So, people ask me: S, what is your take on the issue? Poignant question indeed albeit one which is extremely important as well. In India, we have an inherent characteristic of having an "opinion" about everything. Its fashionable, and the ever excited media thrives on it. Every Tom, Dick & Harry (Tinku, Dinku & Hari) want their opinion to be counted. Perhaps not counted, but at least expressed. In a nation of over billion people, there is some satisfaction at the end of the day of having your voice heard. Whether it counts or not really doesn't make much difference, you see. Anyway, while Anna has his campaign going in full swing, its funny how people are divided in two broad categories straight: Either you are with us or you are against us. (Recall Bush in 2001?) Huh?
Its amazing how majority of the people are slowly moving towards mass hysteria at the moment. Armed with little or no knowledge about the core issue, everybody ends up asking: With or Against us? Of course, if you are against us means you support corruption! How Cheap!
Personally though, I find it hard to associate with the extreme passions at the core of this movement. Anna's version of the Lokpal bill has far too many flaws - fuzzy definitions, contentious issues, grey areas over defining how a quasi-judicial body would work with the present judiciary, and many more which need to be discussed and ironed out. There is a definite lack of reasoning and hypocrisy at its best, which is visible with the middle class on the streets today. One only wonders why the same middle class does not 'protest' the same way for Irom Devi (a lady protesting for a decade, against a draconian security forces act in Manipur) or for the youth of Kashmir/displaced Tamils, when they are killed incessantly in fake encounters or even protest against land grabs from poor farmers, who eventually commit suicide in supposedly India's second prosperous state. I'm sure most would not have even known such problems existed in the nation. Yet, we are quick to judge and of course, quicker to have an "opinion".
There are viral sms, messages and emails sent out claiming 1456 lakh crores would return when the black money is returned to India. Each village, we are told, will get Rs.100 crore, with no need to pay electricity bills or taxes for the next 20 years. Not just this, petrol will cost Rs.25 (wow!), Milk Rs.8. To top it all, India’s borders apparently will be stronger than the China Wall & we can build 28,000 km of “rubber road (like in Paris)”, plus houses for 100 million people, 1500 “Oxford-like universities”, 2,000 free hospitals and the list goes on. And worse of all, is that educated people actually believe this! These are I believe all 'notional' aspirations and not 'national' ones. And yet, we fall in this hopeless quagmire, while some state governments pay people to have kids. Strange times we live in, ain't it?
Meanwhile there is tamasha in full swing in the nation's parliament, with unresolved bills pending, which nobody really cares about much these days. After all, the "people" have spoken, "nationally" not notionally! The fact that NOT a single party can afford to or has yet supported the Lokpal Bill openly is lost in the bargain. You are either with us or against us? Nationally, not notionally.
Shoddy reforms, Stalled governance, snail paced reforms, daily frustrations have all manifested themselves on the roads in the form of the protest. (No,its not a revolution!) Personally, corruption as a problem in India, is not going to go away just because one man wants to make sure his version of the bill is enacted into law. It won't go away as long as this country's population continues to grow at the rate it does. It is unmanageable at present proportions & there's no way you can somehow keep a system of functioning checks & balances, with such large numbers. It simply won't work, but then who listens to reason?
And the golden goose: Bringing the PM under the Jan Lokpal bill? That's national security suicide! People with an iota of understanding of political science & the constitution know it cannot and should not happen. We are talking about the PM as the Head of the 3 armed forces - Army, Navy, Air Force plus the Intelligence agencies - RAW, IB and the NSA. It would be hara-kiri to bring the PM under the bill. Compare our security forces and intelligence agencies with other nations. Bringing the PM under the ambit would mean compromising on national security. But then, who listens to reason?
To make matters worse - the present government's handling of sensitive issues and the plan of bringing Rahul baba as a successor seems to be idiotic at best. Rahul baba's intelligence is as good as a piece of wood - and the wood would come out better in a battle of wits. And the government continues with its idiosyncracies, lost in a warped sense of comfort. The nation is thus reduced to a screaming mass of half baked know-all loudmouths who threaten if they don't get their way, a mute hippo as the PM, a genocidal tyrant as the opposition, an economically backward option in the Left. The Dirty Dancing continues & one can only sigh!
On a lighter note, Anna apparently wants to flog any youth in public who drinks. I wonder how many people know this and would still support him? :)
[Pic courtesy ABM Enterprises]
No comments:
Post a Comment