THE REFRAIN OF THE ELITE
I consider myself a patient guy but I am starting to get sick and tired of the tirade aginst Anna Hazare not just from the government but also from some common people on Facebook or news channels. The most common refrain you are going to hear consists of high sounding phrases like:
"Anna is trying to threaten and jeopardize the Democratic foundations of our country by subverting the constitutional authority and supremacy of the Parliament and its elected representatives"...
To this I say, WHAT THE HECK...Will you just shut up...I mean...can these people even hear what they sound like..?
I believe that most of the people who are towing this line are the kind who derive pleasure from sounding elitist or the ones whose beliefs have been deeply affected by the first few lines of 'If' by Rudyard Kipling..Awesome poem though..The first few lines go:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
The poem then goes on to list a lot of If, If, and If and finally says that "Then You'll be a Man My son". I would highly recommend this if you haven't read it.
But yeah, some of these opposers of Anna Hazare are almost as smug in their knowledge of the 'constitutional discourse' and the 'purview of law' and they are drawn to think that :
a.) All about them people are losing their head but they gotta keep calm.
b.) They have to trust themselves but make allowance for our doubting...ahh...we the lesser mortals...
I bet that at times, they recall the poem under their breaths repeatedly when Anna supporters go from saying "You are anti-Indian" to "Screw you moron". Someone please tell them that guys, give us all a break.
Stop behaving like you are a Public administrator or a responsible spokesman and thinking that your words are too precious to be the same as what everyone is saying. Stop deriving pleasure in the knowledge of being different and "Having my own viewpoint which the constitutional democracy of the Republic of India, founded in the year AD 1950, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, entitles me too."
In short, Guys, Cut the crap....!!!
THE REAL PROBLEM: THE MONSTER THAT GOES ALL THE WAY DOWN
I don't think it has been sufficiently explained to some people that now this problem is not just about the Lokpal bill. The point that is to be put across are:
1. People will not tolerate a government which is openly trying to condone corruption and behave in a dictatorial way in face of public opinion.
2. They will not accept the tarnishing of image of any person or organizatiosn which seems to be protesting against it.
3.They will not tolerate the way it is trying to influence public opinion and suppress voices by the use of state machinery.
We are sick of always feeling helpless and drained at the thought of corruption and what it will take to change this situation.I have seen conditions first hand when many a times local politicians and their goons try to influence the work that our organisation is performing at Project sites. If you have to work in 'their area' then you have to award them the work contract, they will then promptly collect the bills but will not deploy required manpower or machinery for the job. Either our management has to somehow accommodate these 'contingency expenses' or bear the brunt for delaying the project due to their 'un-accommodating attitude'.
This same situation can be exactly replicated in every single corruption scenario by merely replacing the characters and situations.
Nothing happens against the corrupt and people just pile money for God-Knows-What..
Now, Corruption not only leads to loss of money or a few inconveniences when you pay your bills or challans. Sample this:
Corruption at the root level and rural areas has ensured that despite the sanctioning of crores and crores of Rupees, we still have parts in this country which are completely inaccessible.Funds are sanctioned for opening up of primary schools, digging of tube wells, harvesting of rain water, repair of roads, setting up of healthcare centers and myriad such schemes...
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| A village somewhere deep in India's tribal belt |
BUT, Our hierarchically corrupt system meant for disbursement ensures that there is siphoning off of the funds at every level with the shares neatly divided on the basis of designations. The money never reaches there where it is intended to..
The result is that a huge percentage of our population remains illiterate, malnourished, without healthcare, without civilization and without the hope of ever having a better life.
The result is that the lands of our farmers remain parched, the meagre production they manage rots in godowns, prices come down and so do their hopes of seeing another spring. The farmer kills his little kids, his wife and hangs himself. Or quite simply, just hangs himself and leaves behind a wife who would probably sell her 12 year old daughter to the highest bidder...for a 100 Rupee note perhaps.
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| Naxalite training camp in Chattisgarh |
The result is that this forgotten and lost race of people loses all faith in the government and the system and rises in arms against it and we get another suave point of discussion to count as a threat to our country, We call it 'internal strife' and feel good that Mr. P Chidambaram also thinks so.
The result is that the hopeless youth from these forgotten lands deserts its rural areas and head for the urban areas where, unable to cope with their surroundings, these people take to petty crimes or survive by indulging in the most menial of jobs. They become what we, the common people would call the "filth of the city".
It doesn't stop here. A filthy and unimaginable amount of money flows into the wrong hands, the hands of people who are ready to kill their conscience. They are the same people who are ready to kill and destroy a family if an upright person tries to become the whistle-blower.
They are the same people who are ready to deal in things like drugs and human trafficking because our weak and corrupt system allows for it.
They are the same people who wield enough power to commit unimaginable crimes and get away with it, Buy their way out of 'Accidental' genocides,( Read Bhopal Gas tragedy), Shoot a model who refuses to be accomodating, Burn a woman's body inside a tandoor, sell and buy little girls for money. Rape, loot and kill with a free will...
All because if you got money and power, the system will support you.
I know I may have gone a little too far into portraying this last paragraph but whatever, call me unreasonable, but I feel like suffocating everytime I think about the agony of those hundreds and thousands of little children, girls, women and men who have suffered directly or indirectly because of corruption...because "Iss desh mein aisa hi hota hai".
This disease of corruption, this invincibility of the rich, this disconnect of the high and mighty, this is what has brought us to this level.
Don't you see that "democratic discourse and constitutional framework" holds no value to these people who were probably among the first to rally on the call of Mahatma Gandhi and the leaders of freedom struggle.
Peasants, tribals, lower castes, poor artisans, the lowest of the low who gave their hearts and hands for the independence of this country. These peasant farmers and tribals of this country have a long history of uprisings and revolt against the British.
I frankly don't care if I have to bribe my way out of a condition that is a problem or even a little inconvenience to my family or a loved one.
But I do care, and I say so with the utmost sincerity, I do care when the same corruption becomes the reason that so many of my countrymen still have to live like worms and maggots.
And I will stand with whoever becomes a voice against it, I don't give a damn if its extra-constitutional or subverts the Parliament. I don't care if he is being intransigent by demanding complete fulfillment of his demands. I don't care if it turns out to be right in the end or wrong.
All I know is that, here's this chance, one that will probably not come in another lifetime, to stand in our own little ways for pressurizing the government to pass a bill, that will finally strike fear of law in the hearts of every single individual who is a part of this chain of madness.
And if all you care for is to discuss the rights and wrongs and the clauses of the constitution that this goes against, then please take a bow and spare us the non-believer talk for the moment. I fear for the world and my country if it has people like you.I have nothing to say to you.
