Political Diary
New Delhi, 11 June 2011
India Is Angry
WHITHER JUSTICE?
By Poonam I Kaushish
India is angry, very angry. It has reason
to be against the backdrop of our power-that-be on-going nautanki we stood witness to over the last 10 days. A political and
moral crises the likes of which never seen before. A rage over the Government
and Congress’ inability, ennui, failure and apathy to rein in corruption.
Culminating in a huge political vacuum, political and moral in governance.
Worse, bereft of ideas, it is unable to grasp the mood of the public which
demands answers and seeks justice.
Indeed, laughable is Manmohan Singh’s diatribe when he talks
of his Government's determination to act against corruption. Given that the
State’s actions are proof of its determination not to end this scourge. Its
ten-day long shenanigans swinging from deafening State silence to submission
and savagery to scornfulness.
Starting with sending an entourage of four Ministers headed
by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Delhi’s
airport and imploring yoga guru-turned civil activist Baba Ramdev to desist
from carrying out his anti-brashtaachar
crusade. Down five-hour torturous negotiations at a five-star hotel. Followed
by the ‘murder of democracy’ on 4 June midnight by unleashing a brutal lathi-wielding police force on sleeping
hapless women, aged and children at Union Capital Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.
Call it 21St Century India’s Jalliawala Bagh
British-like violence, 1975 Emergency revisited
or Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre or what you may, but at the end of
this mayhem, like a Cheshire cat, trust our netagan
to tom-tom who the master was. Never mind, that the blame for India’s frenzy
rests squarely at the UPA II doorstep.
Raising basic issues: Who took these hair trigger decisions?
Isn’t it the State’s responsibility and duty to protect its citizens? If the
State harms the public who will redress its grievances? At whose desk does the
buck stop, Sonia or Manmohan Singh?
Needless to say the State’s action was capricious and
cavalier, to say the least. Unlike developing nations where each citizen is a
VVIP in India
the aam aadmi is expendable, a mere
statistical number in a burgeoning population. Juxtapose how US played ‘blood
money’ to get CIA operative Raymond Davis accused of killing two released from
a Pakistani jail. While in Delhi,
a healthy 51-year old Rajbala now quadriplegic in Ramlila Maidan’s pandemonium
lies untended in coma.
The tragedy of it all is that instead of finding a solution
to civil society’s demands to end corruption, our leaders at best tried to play
Team Anna Hazare against Team Ramdev. At worst, directed their energy to thwart
these demands. Failing to gauge the public mood, our netagan forgot that this time round the aam janata yearns for change. Despite 64 years of Independence
our polity has yet to get its act together and become citizen-centric, the very
intent of seeking Independence
Undeniably, it is our elected representatives duty to legislate
and govern but equally inherent is the people’s right and duty to correct them
and insist on a coarse correction. Over the years, our polity has been
over-powered in the false bluster of the Orwellian syndrome of
we-are-more-equal-than-others that they treat good governance as an option
rather than a duty which can be side-stepped easily.
They allow anything so long as it does not upset the
applecart of the political-bureaucratic alliance which feeds on corruption.
Preferring to rule by law than govern.
Serving the people is merely a pretext, a preface for their acts of
mis-demeanor. Any wonder that they harshly trample and crushed voices seeking
reform.
Till such time that our polity does not pay for its
negligence and malice against the aam
aadmi the India Growth Story will be stuck in the marshy eddy of
self-deception and corruption, dubbed an uncouth and uncivilized nation. A
colonial predatory State, meant for the benefit of a few at the cost of the
many.
Sadly, Sonia Gandhi and her cohorts can no longer feign
ignorance of being kept out of the loop by her Government. Or indulge in a
cacophonic tu-tu-mein-mein between
her and the Government for adopting a carrot and stick policy. As her HRD
Minister disclosed the draconian measures by the police on 4 June midnight were
cleared at the very top.
Given her limitless political authority, Sonia’s reaction
smacks of second thoughts. Also, it was she who set the precedent of giving
sweeping powers to civil society activists by setting up the all-powerful
Supreme Unconstitutional National Advisory Council headed by her. Questionably, is she waiting for a young
child to remind her, that like the Emperor, she wears no clothes!
As long as the Prime Minister continues to be perceived as
helpless pummeled between the aam aadmi
pressing for action against corruption and Sonia’s Congress which sees the
Coarse-correctors as a greater evil than corruption itself, the present crisis
will continue. Underscored by the de
facto and the de jure centres of
power, read Sonia and Manmohan Singh contributing to a political and moral
void.
What next? The time has come for our leaders to break the
walls of silence and take immediate action lest the country sliding into
self-crated chaos transcends into a lynch-mob society. The need of the hour is
to apply corrective balm to a vandalized aam
janata, connect with its hurt people and assert its authority interspersed
with emotional discourse.
The recent decimation of Karunanidhi’s DMK in Tamil Nadu
thanks to his brood being enmeshed in the unsavory Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G
Spectrum scam holds out ominous portends. Wherein popular outrage against this
brazen loot devastated the south’s First Family.
With a 50 per cent population comprising Gen Next, India has
moved from a tale of grievances and gripe to a nation which is ambitious and
determined. Sans the chalta hai
attitude it will not swallow the daily humiliation of being bestowed
hand-me-down-favours which is their right by a self-obsessed Government they
elected.
The out-of-the-system aam
aadmi who has neither the contacts nor where-with-all to manoeuvre his way
through the myriad file-pushers is sick of not having a level playing field
when it comes to inter-course with a mantri,
MP, MLA or babu. Enough, he shouts, I will not take it lying
down!
Is the worm slowly turning? The wheel coming a full circle?
True, India's Jasmine Revolution moment is yet to arrive and its Tahrir Square
may take a long time to happen but both the Anna Hazare and Ramdev show of
public support underlines that a beginning has been made.
The aam aadmi craves a course correction. Back
to the days when he is truly the master and the leader the jan sevak. Time to put an
end to ‘corruptocracy’ and ‘connectionocracy’. They want reform, of governance,
a change in the mindset of our mai-baap
sarkar, even a hope of changing the system will do.
Clearly, the State needs to grasp that an aspiring nation is
not seeking retribution but evenhandedness, self-respect, honesty and
integrity. A battered citizenry demands a self-righteous, competent and morally
sensitive Prime Minister who can ease its pain, make it not only realize its
aspirations but live them. Any attempt to stifle a new Aspirational India’s
call for an end to corruption and change would be opposed vehemently. Will
Manmohan Singh and his brood heed? ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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