As if we were short of enough reasons on why we desperately need honest, credible and 'good' people entering politics, March 8th, 2010 provided yet another exhibit to only make the case stronger.
Having said so, I must confess first-up that despite whatever reasons/majbooris from my side (naming which is as unimportant as it is irrelevant and still not justifiable), I have myself not yet entered politics and do not look likely to, atleast in the near future. So although I will be doing something to walk my talk in future, I have not done anything just yet except airing and sharing my ideas/concerns with friends and netizens in discussions and platforms such as blogs - so as I talk and share my ideas, concerns and thoughts, I'll actually be happy and satisfied only after I would be able to someday really walk my talk.
It's simple - if we are genuinely concerned about cleaning the mess, we have to get into the thick of things and not just talk about the consequences of the mess which are only too apparent to one and all. The point is, exactly what are we doing to solve the problem, instead of just lamenting and cursing?
So before I talk about the state-of-affairs in our country, I would like to state that I myself wish to, and will work actively towards actually doing something and not just writing/bemoaning about arey-ye-bekaar hai, wo bekaar hai. So I do plan to DO something like getting into the rot atleast sometime, some way, to clean it but surely, writing about my thoughts and sharing them as of now isn't a bad idea either.
I guess writing helps me vent my anger/frustration of the moment in a channelised way, and as I write, it also makes me more clear, objective, dispassionate and more organized about exactly how and where things stand, how strong my conviction is, and how I can plan and see any solutions ahead.
Ok, coming back to the reason for this post...the Women's Bill:
The 8th day of March every year is celebrated as International Women's Day.
The Congress - the dominant party in the government of the day, chose to mark this day as the day when it would make the women of the country empowered with 33% reservation in the country's legislatures. Why it chose to wait till only the Women's Day for the tokenism, when it could have also been done much earlier is confounding, but as they say, better late than never. Also, to give credit where it's due - atleast they did, unlike every other government of the past.
And in a rare show of solidarity, the BJP and the Left also stood on the same side of the argument, as that of the Congress. In most cases, such unanimity among these 3 main parties should be enough to quell any opposition to any legislation. However, the petty interests of our regional parties put paid to any plans of a swift acceptance for the Women's Bill.
Yes, the government could still wriggle its way out in this episode and somehow generate consensus - either coercively by stonewalling any voices of dissent or persuasively through behind-the-door discussions with those who are opposing for their own ulterior motives.
So even if we might finally get to see the bill being passed somehow sometime, the moot question is why should it come to such a state at all, in the first place?
Why should we have to endure sorry sights of MPs behaving like goons?
Why should it seem as if expecting to watch the nation's Parliament functioning professionally, gracefully and debating rationally is as easy and as likely as teaching goons to sing soulfully, melodiously and in chorus in a choir?
WHY?
The way the MPs conducted themselves has brought about another round of humiliation, shame and despondency for our democracy as it should also be, for the electorate who vote them in - though I wonder if we have any better alternatives available to choose from in the first place - which again brings us to the point that the only solution is to have good, honest, credible people taking up politics.
Politics in itself has become a synonym for everything bad, corrupt, sinister and apathetic towards the nation. Actually, it is because of the leaders we have had, the leaders we have chosen and made for ourselves and our nation. Politics is bad if we see it as a verb, and not a noun!
It is perhaps this quagmire of politics (v.) behind people, parties, and various policy decisions/indecisions that puts off most good people from entering mainstream politics.
After all, if we look at it, politics (n.) is the only way and means of how one can actively debate, influence and take decisions for the country - by being part of the legislature.
I personally think we should spell the Women's Bill the way it is called - We-Men's Bill. Because this is exactly how we, the men, have treated our women and this bill too. Seriously, this bill is so like our women - never been allowed to flower, blossom, treated as only a subject, opportunity, as only a behind-the-scenes supporting cast but not and never the protagonist, the leader, the torchbearer - and this is why and where the 'good' people need to come into politics.
For, it is atleast they, who should be able to see the reason and the merit in issues like these, whilst putting aside their egos, petty politicking, personal/party/constituency-wise interests - in that order. Yes, we can debate in the House but debate sensibly and rationally.
Debate on something like the fact that instead of blindly earmarking/reserving a fixed quota of legislative seats for women, whether we'd better off ensuring that all parties are directed to allocate atleast a certain number of election tickets for women to contest, whereby the seats would be filled through people who come by virtue of being elected through competition and merit instead of just the plain, 'reserved' category reps.
But we do not debate on such lines. Infact, we do not debate at all. And as far as lines are concerned, the lines and words that some of our esteemed MPs use, is the reason why we have a word such as 'unparliamentary language' in our lexicon.
We just know how to snatch papers, abuse each other, storm the well of the house, make the people of the country see their taxed money (most of which is used in activities such as running the Parliament) go waste, as session after session gets adjourned due to unruly behavior. All this for what fault of the common man? Is this why we pay our taxes? Is this what we deserve for being the world's largest democracy? Largest democracy shouldn't mean loudest noise and chaos.
All this drama, gross indiscipline, intolerance, and facade, just because of the insecurities and the selfish aims of a few parties and individuals who undo all the hard work, tenacity and efforts of a few good men. And yes, the good men are truly, very few - as said, that's why we need lots more good men to be around, to see India do better, in every walk of life - economically, politically, and socially.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Bigger Buggers - We, The People
It's pretty sad, watching the news these days.
I am apalled at the regularity with which minister after minister, bureaucrat after bureaucrat, and panelist after panelist comes on news shows, and appeals for Mumbai to stay calm, for the Mumbaikars and the Marathi Maanoos to remain in harmony, and to not be taken in by the hate-agenda of the Shiv Sena.
Isn't it so sad and shameful that we have to be told to do so?
In the course of the hate speeches that the Shiv Sena has continuously been spewing, I was struck by a thought. I wonder who exactly is it that I should hate, detest, loathe more - the Thackerays..Bal, Uddhav and Raj, for trying to incite hatred?
Or, the mob, the herd, the complete nincompoops, the ones who do not seem to be equipped with even an iota of brain - the ones who get incited by the Thackerays and their ilk?
In another instance, the Andhra sports minister has called for an IPL boycott, in the name of intensifying the Telangana stir.
Yes, ofcourse the people who incite communal/regional/parochial passions are anyway condemnable and deserve to rot alive, but what is beyond comprehension is how we as a people fail, when it comes to applying common sense and not getting swayed at the slightest pretext.
The fact that the incitement shouldn't be tolerated or even brought up/started is ofcourse acknowledged. But the bigger issue is that we need to ruminate over why and how this incitement gains even a semblance of credence in anyone's mind.
If we ever stop believing/buying into the theories and hate-propaganda that such hate-mongers patronise, would any Thackeray have the temerity to spread such schmuck around? Even if they do, with no takers, wouldn't it die down on its own?
I have a problem when people need to be told to stay in their wits, to not believe the bullshit that is being dished out. Why? For who?
Who is the bigger sinner then?
It is we, the people, who give legitimacy to such a goonda and extra-constitutional authority as a Thackeray. Pray, tell me, what business does a senior politician have, to kowtow at Matoshree to guarantee security for IPL, when his colleague and the Home Minister of the country is the man incharge for this? If there's an issue to be addressed, Mr. Pawar should suggest/speak to Mr. Home Minister and none else. If the country's Cabinet minister is not sure of the nation's security without this extra-consitutional authority's blessings, what assurance does a common man have?
The politician is a rotten creature anyway. No better than the guy who takes a poor person's kidneys and sells them off to someone else without the poor fellow's knowledge/consent. They are too busy, happily eating, actually scavenging away, from the lives and even corpses of the janta through internal bickerings, issues out of non-entities and apathy towards actual national concerns.
The politician will create his agenda from anything, get publicity through anything - good or bad be damned. It is our responsibility to ensure that we, as responsible citizens do not fall prey to their designs and we should be ashamed that we need to be told to stay in our senses and not buy the hate-agenda.
Shame on us, because it's we who are the bigger buggers.
Unless we acknowledge our faults and reach a stage where we do not need a directive to remain sane, we shall continue to give more power to such venom-spewing, invective-ridden buggers.
Here's to retaining our sanity, sense and brotherhood so that we completely obliterate the utter crap that has been going on for far too long in our midst.
I am apalled at the regularity with which minister after minister, bureaucrat after bureaucrat, and panelist after panelist comes on news shows, and appeals for Mumbai to stay calm, for the Mumbaikars and the Marathi Maanoos to remain in harmony, and to not be taken in by the hate-agenda of the Shiv Sena.
Isn't it so sad and shameful that we have to be told to do so?
In the course of the hate speeches that the Shiv Sena has continuously been spewing, I was struck by a thought. I wonder who exactly is it that I should hate, detest, loathe more - the Thackerays..Bal, Uddhav and Raj, for trying to incite hatred?
Or, the mob, the herd, the complete nincompoops, the ones who do not seem to be equipped with even an iota of brain - the ones who get incited by the Thackerays and their ilk?
In another instance, the Andhra sports minister has called for an IPL boycott, in the name of intensifying the Telangana stir.
Yes, ofcourse the people who incite communal/regional/parochial passions are anyway condemnable and deserve to rot alive, but what is beyond comprehension is how we as a people fail, when it comes to applying common sense and not getting swayed at the slightest pretext.
The fact that the incitement shouldn't be tolerated or even brought up/started is ofcourse acknowledged. But the bigger issue is that we need to ruminate over why and how this incitement gains even a semblance of credence in anyone's mind.
If we ever stop believing/buying into the theories and hate-propaganda that such hate-mongers patronise, would any Thackeray have the temerity to spread such schmuck around? Even if they do, with no takers, wouldn't it die down on its own?
I have a problem when people need to be told to stay in their wits, to not believe the bullshit that is being dished out. Why? For who?
Who is the bigger sinner then?
It is we, the people, who give legitimacy to such a goonda and extra-constitutional authority as a Thackeray. Pray, tell me, what business does a senior politician have, to kowtow at Matoshree to guarantee security for IPL, when his colleague and the Home Minister of the country is the man incharge for this? If there's an issue to be addressed, Mr. Pawar should suggest/speak to Mr. Home Minister and none else. If the country's Cabinet minister is not sure of the nation's security without this extra-consitutional authority's blessings, what assurance does a common man have?
The politician is a rotten creature anyway. No better than the guy who takes a poor person's kidneys and sells them off to someone else without the poor fellow's knowledge/consent. They are too busy, happily eating, actually scavenging away, from the lives and even corpses of the janta through internal bickerings, issues out of non-entities and apathy towards actual national concerns.
The politician will create his agenda from anything, get publicity through anything - good or bad be damned. It is our responsibility to ensure that we, as responsible citizens do not fall prey to their designs and we should be ashamed that we need to be told to stay in our senses and not buy the hate-agenda.
Shame on us, because it's we who are the bigger buggers.
Unless we acknowledge our faults and reach a stage where we do not need a directive to remain sane, we shall continue to give more power to such venom-spewing, invective-ridden buggers.
Here's to retaining our sanity, sense and brotherhood so that we completely obliterate the utter crap that has been going on for far too long in our midst.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
For a Safe and Happy 2010!
First things first: Though the year isn't 'new' anymore, would like to express my greetings and best wishes to you for a safe and happy 2010!
Having said so, though my wishes are completely honest, sincere and genuine, I think we need to be better persons, and a better country, if we wish to actually see a better than 2009 year for us all.
I'd like to use this post to pen (type) my reactions to some of the prominent events of the last few days/weeks. I can't wait to vent my frustration, anger, disillusionment and repulsion about certain events, by just writing about some of them in this post. Guess, getting it outta my system through this platform would channelise my useless frustration into something constructive than just ranting about it.
We need to be a better society, a lot more tolerant towards each other in terms of understanding/reconciling with/being accommodative to each other, vis-a-vis our cultural and attitudinal differences. Equally importantly, we need to be zero-tolerant when we see apathy, discrimination, injustice, the usual corruption, and unfair use of political/administrative clout, etc. in our midst.
Safety, I wished?...Dream on!
Safe, I have wished...for 2010.
They say, if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans!
Pray, tell me, can cases like Ruchika's make anyone feel at ease?
Will we have time to talk about being 'safe' from anti-national, external conspirators against India, if we have not even addressed offenders from within, like SPS Rathore?
And it goes without saying that the probability of feeling happy when not feeling safe, is as much as that of Kumar Sanu or me winning the Miss Universe title.
Peeping into the future through the eyes of our approach in the present
There are some things that bother me a lot:
It's already sad to see a crime being committed. One cannot undo a tragedy once it has occurred, but the least one can do is to not defend the perpetrator of that wrong. You are wronging the victim much more.
KPS Gill's brazen and bizzare defence of Rathore is shocking, disgusting, and totally shameless, to say the least. What totally beats me is why we haven't raised our voices against such defences.
The article I have quoted still doesn't cover everything. I saw his interview on a news channel and he actually asked for a review of the law against a crime/charge such as molestation, which per him is frivolous and nothing serious.Why??
Is such stout and abominable defence of a crime called for?
If this is what we do in the name of democracy and free speech, knowing fully well as to who is in the wrong, then shame on us.
It won't be surprising if in the coming days, we see more and more such gentlemen coming out seconding dastardly acts while using their right to freedom of speech. Honestly, what really beats me is how can we not accord punishment sooner to known offenders, in clear open-and-shut cases where the least the victim deserves is to see justice being meted out ASAP.
Coupla Other Newsmakers
As 2009 drew to a close, a Nigerian and an octogenarian chose to hit the hall of shame. The former decided to wish Merry Christmas in his own not-so-merry way, mid-air on a US flight, while the latter, a governor, decided to lead by example in preaching make love, not war to 2 (or were they 3?) ladies.
Ofcourse, both remain unrepentant and least apologetic about their acts, the terrorist defending it and the politician in a gubernatorial position going a step ahead and even denying it!
Lessons
Talking of the ameer-baap-ka-bigdaa-beta and failed hijacker, among the first things Obama did was to take responsibility and ownership in ensuring that "the buck stops with me" and starting off an action plan and learnings from the incident on how to ensure nothing of the sort even happens again on American soil. He might fail, yes, but what's heartening to see is an honest, conscious, sincere, vigilant and genuine attempt at making things work, ironing out the flaws...and it all begins with recognising the flaws, assimilating the lessons to be learnt and getting to work on incorporating them.
We are like that only, ji
What all have we ever pro-actively done, as a follow-up after the numerous terrorist attacks, to bring about accountability, transparency and an action plan that ensures no recurrence in future?
Nothing, except dishing out impotent, rehearsed and meaningless rhetoric such as "This won't be tolerated" or "We salute the city's people and its spirit".
Bullshit seems too respectable a term to be accorded to such soul-less, intent-less, tokenism and sheer crap.
Hockey's in a mess..but we couldn't care less
As I write, we have come to know that the hockey team is in a mess but we couldn't care less..oh, and even this wouldn't have occupied mind space and new real estate, but for a tweet by a superstar.
Question: Why does a Sharad Pawar, a Rajiv Shukla, an Arun Jaitley, or a Lalu Prasad, et al, not get involved in any sport other than cricket?
Who wants to improve cricket sports administration in a country where the only sport that needs least attention is cricket? More importantly, why? Would they have done so if our cricketing coffers weren't overflowing? Is it just a coincidence that they are all involved with only that sport, whose administrative and financial spoils are too apparent to be termed news?
Doing our respective parts
In all this, I just hope we, and even if not we, atleast me - I, try and just do our bit in not tolerating injustice/corruption at any level, in any form, and most importantly, also ensure that we do not spare those who have the effrontery to shield the guilty.
For, this is anyway, all that an individual can do - his bit. Nothing more.
But the operative word is Nothing Less. Nothing Less than this will do from each of us. On the other hand, if each of us tries, nothing more than this is required to make us a vibrant, genuine happy, just, and safe nation!
Here it is then..To doing our bit!
Cheers n Amen!
Having said so, though my wishes are completely honest, sincere and genuine, I think we need to be better persons, and a better country, if we wish to actually see a better than 2009 year for us all.
I'd like to use this post to pen (type) my reactions to some of the prominent events of the last few days/weeks. I can't wait to vent my frustration, anger, disillusionment and repulsion about certain events, by just writing about some of them in this post. Guess, getting it outta my system through this platform would channelise my useless frustration into something constructive than just ranting about it.
We need to be a better society, a lot more tolerant towards each other in terms of understanding/reconciling with/being accommodative to each other, vis-a-vis our cultural and attitudinal differences. Equally importantly, we need to be zero-tolerant when we see apathy, discrimination, injustice, the usual corruption, and unfair use of political/administrative clout, etc. in our midst.
Safety, I wished?...Dream on!
Safe, I have wished...for 2010.
They say, if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans!
Pray, tell me, can cases like Ruchika's make anyone feel at ease?
Will we have time to talk about being 'safe' from anti-national, external conspirators against India, if we have not even addressed offenders from within, like SPS Rathore?
And it goes without saying that the probability of feeling happy when not feeling safe, is as much as that of Kumar Sanu or me winning the Miss Universe title.
Peeping into the future through the eyes of our approach in the present
There are some things that bother me a lot:
It's already sad to see a crime being committed. One cannot undo a tragedy once it has occurred, but the least one can do is to not defend the perpetrator of that wrong. You are wronging the victim much more.
KPS Gill's brazen and bizzare defence of Rathore is shocking, disgusting, and totally shameless, to say the least. What totally beats me is why we haven't raised our voices against such defences.
The article I have quoted still doesn't cover everything. I saw his interview on a news channel and he actually asked for a review of the law against a crime/charge such as molestation, which per him is frivolous and nothing serious.Why??
Is such stout and abominable defence of a crime called for?
If this is what we do in the name of democracy and free speech, knowing fully well as to who is in the wrong, then shame on us.
It won't be surprising if in the coming days, we see more and more such gentlemen coming out seconding dastardly acts while using their right to freedom of speech. Honestly, what really beats me is how can we not accord punishment sooner to known offenders, in clear open-and-shut cases where the least the victim deserves is to see justice being meted out ASAP.
Coupla Other Newsmakers
As 2009 drew to a close, a Nigerian and an octogenarian chose to hit the hall of shame. The former decided to wish Merry Christmas in his own not-so-merry way, mid-air on a US flight, while the latter, a governor, decided to lead by example in preaching make love, not war to 2 (or were they 3?) ladies.
Ofcourse, both remain unrepentant and least apologetic about their acts, the terrorist defending it and the politician in a gubernatorial position going a step ahead and even denying it!
Lessons
Talking of the ameer-baap-ka-bigdaa-beta and failed hijacker, among the first things Obama did was to take responsibility and ownership in ensuring that "the buck stops with me" and starting off an action plan and learnings from the incident on how to ensure nothing of the sort even happens again on American soil. He might fail, yes, but what's heartening to see is an honest, conscious, sincere, vigilant and genuine attempt at making things work, ironing out the flaws...and it all begins with recognising the flaws, assimilating the lessons to be learnt and getting to work on incorporating them.
We are like that only, ji
What all have we ever pro-actively done, as a follow-up after the numerous terrorist attacks, to bring about accountability, transparency and an action plan that ensures no recurrence in future?
Nothing, except dishing out impotent, rehearsed and meaningless rhetoric such as "This won't be tolerated" or "We salute the city's people and its spirit".
Bullshit seems too respectable a term to be accorded to such soul-less, intent-less, tokenism and sheer crap.
Hockey's in a mess..but we couldn't care less
As I write, we have come to know that the hockey team is in a mess but we couldn't care less..oh, and even this wouldn't have occupied mind space and new real estate, but for a tweet by a superstar.
Question: Why does a Sharad Pawar, a Rajiv Shukla, an Arun Jaitley, or a Lalu Prasad, et al, not get involved in any sport other than cricket?
Who wants to improve cricket sports administration in a country where the only sport that needs least attention is cricket? More importantly, why? Would they have done so if our cricketing coffers weren't overflowing? Is it just a coincidence that they are all involved with only that sport, whose administrative and financial spoils are too apparent to be termed news?
Doing our respective parts
In all this, I just hope we, and even if not we, atleast me - I, try and just do our bit in not tolerating injustice/corruption at any level, in any form, and most importantly, also ensure that we do not spare those who have the effrontery to shield the guilty.
For, this is anyway, all that an individual can do - his bit. Nothing more.
But the operative word is Nothing Less. Nothing Less than this will do from each of us. On the other hand, if each of us tries, nothing more than this is required to make us a vibrant, genuine happy, just, and safe nation!
Here it is then..To doing our bit!
Cheers n Amen!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
In nothing but a sorry state
I have been thinking of what good could come out of KCR's blackmailing - no, I don't call it fasting coz it does not deserve to be equated with Gandhiji's form of passive resistance.
Bapu resorted to fasting as a means against the oppressive rule of foreigners, against injustice, and for the greater good of the nation. What KCR and other politicians do/plain to do is sheer blackmail for only political and personal mileage, and certainly not for the greater good of the nation.
In fact, this exercise has only gone on to foment passions pro and anti Telengana, and given a great opportunity to similar state-level self-centred politicians to make a beeline for 'their' states within what they might perhaps believe is their own country.
What KCR has done has been just like hijacking. It's only that this hijacking is not of a plane but of the government. It endangers not the passengers, but an entire public, and divides an entire nation. If you are a politician genuinely concerned about making a positive difference to your state and public, what stops you from doing it in your area? How does it matter if that area falls under an Andhra or a Telengana?
I believe just like we have (only after Kandahar) decided not to bow to any terrorist demand in the event of a hijack irrespective of the people on board, we must adopt a similar stance in the event of such open, shameless and brazen display of blackmailing, guised in the name of a fast-unto-death.
I am from Uttarakhand and I never quite understood the point of having a state for the heck of it, if the actual state of affairs does not change - for the people, for the region, for the infrastructure, for law order and governance. What's the problem if I belonged to UP and stay within UP instead of getting a new state for myself if the ground realities for me and all residents of the newly formed state would stay the same? There have been governments from both major national parties, and till now, I have not seen anything that would make believe that the creation of Uttaranchal expedited any development process or that any positive development would not have occurred had this state been UP, and not Uttaranchal.
People do not want name changes, administrative machinery changes. All we want is development, welfare, peace, security and good governance. State or no state be damned.
And are we not all Indians? Am I to feel happy if somehow people in Uttarakhand are better off than those in say, a Bihar? Are we all not one? Shouldn't we all strive for only one thing - the welfare of the ENTIRE INDIA??
If there's even a slight niggle in any part of my body, I feel irritated and concerned all the same, constantly till I am relieved of my pain. No other body part complains as to why I am showering undue attention on the affected part. In fact, even if there's a slight headache and the arms feel sore, the brain sends out a message for one arm massage to massage the other. There could be a a headache too but the head/brain does not contend the decision to take care of the arms, nor do the arms complain if they massage the head.
After all, it's all one body.
What good would it do if my brain were to decide to break my arm into smaller units and attend to it as a newly named, separately formed part of my body? How does that help me? Would that help me? Would I want to even think like that at all, in the first place?
Isn't it/Shouldn't it be the same when it comes to our country?
Aren't we all together in joy and grief?
Politicians are anyway always going to be petty and selfish with nothing but their own ulterior motives in place. Yes, there are exceptions but they are too few to make a substantial difference to the greater breed.
Who actually benefits from this new state-of-affairs?
Bodoland (Assam) | Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) | Gondwana (northern Deccan Plateau) | Gorkhaland (West Bengal) | Harit Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh) | Kamtapur (West Bengal) | Karbi Anglong (Assam) | Kodagu (Karnataka) | Kosal/Koshal (Orissa) | Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) | Mahakoshal (Madhya Pradesh) | Mithila (Bihar) | Panun Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir) | Purvanchal (Uttar Pradesh) | Rayalaseema (Andhra Pradesh) | Tulu Nadu (Karnataka Kerala) | Vidarbha (Maharashtra) | Vindhya Pradesh (Madhya Pradesh) | Mau Pradesh (Rajasthan)
Where's India in all of this?
Can any politician put hand on heart (oh, they don't have a heart anyway) and say that all that stops them from developing their area/constituency is the fact that they are part of their parent state and not separated from it to be known as one of the above-listed names?
Unfortunately, it's the direct beneficiaries themselves - the legislature and the bureaucracy only - who get to decide/approve the creation of a new state.
It's like getting the Anti-Corruption Bill passed in Parliament when you know that the number of clean, honest politicians in Parliament is as high as that of the number of Eskimos in Delhi. It just won't happen.
You should also be ready to accept that if the direct beneficiaries of a decision are the decision makers themselves, then it's stupid to expect otherwise. Our politicans are too selfish and not dumb, they are too smart and not stupid.
Bapu resorted to fasting as a means against the oppressive rule of foreigners, against injustice, and for the greater good of the nation. What KCR and other politicians do/plain to do is sheer blackmail for only political and personal mileage, and certainly not for the greater good of the nation.
In fact, this exercise has only gone on to foment passions pro and anti Telengana, and given a great opportunity to similar state-level self-centred politicians to make a beeline for 'their' states within what they might perhaps believe is their own country.
What KCR has done has been just like hijacking. It's only that this hijacking is not of a plane but of the government. It endangers not the passengers, but an entire public, and divides an entire nation. If you are a politician genuinely concerned about making a positive difference to your state and public, what stops you from doing it in your area? How does it matter if that area falls under an Andhra or a Telengana?
I believe just like we have (only after Kandahar) decided not to bow to any terrorist demand in the event of a hijack irrespective of the people on board, we must adopt a similar stance in the event of such open, shameless and brazen display of blackmailing, guised in the name of a fast-unto-death.
I am from Uttarakhand and I never quite understood the point of having a state for the heck of it, if the actual state of affairs does not change - for the people, for the region, for the infrastructure, for law order and governance. What's the problem if I belonged to UP and stay within UP instead of getting a new state for myself if the ground realities for me and all residents of the newly formed state would stay the same? There have been governments from both major national parties, and till now, I have not seen anything that would make believe that the creation of Uttaranchal expedited any development process or that any positive development would not have occurred had this state been UP, and not Uttaranchal.
People do not want name changes, administrative machinery changes. All we want is development, welfare, peace, security and good governance. State or no state be damned.
And are we not all Indians? Am I to feel happy if somehow people in Uttarakhand are better off than those in say, a Bihar? Are we all not one? Shouldn't we all strive for only one thing - the welfare of the ENTIRE INDIA??
If there's even a slight niggle in any part of my body, I feel irritated and concerned all the same, constantly till I am relieved of my pain. No other body part complains as to why I am showering undue attention on the affected part. In fact, even if there's a slight headache and the arms feel sore, the brain sends out a message for one arm massage to massage the other. There could be a a headache too but the head/brain does not contend the decision to take care of the arms, nor do the arms complain if they massage the head.
After all, it's all one body.
What good would it do if my brain were to decide to break my arm into smaller units and attend to it as a newly named, separately formed part of my body? How does that help me? Would that help me? Would I want to even think like that at all, in the first place?
Isn't it/Shouldn't it be the same when it comes to our country?
Aren't we all together in joy and grief?
Politicians are anyway always going to be petty and selfish with nothing but their own ulterior motives in place. Yes, there are exceptions but they are too few to make a substantial difference to the greater breed.
Who actually benefits from this new state-of-affairs?
- The politicians, who can claim to have created something for 'his' people
- The bureaucracy, the babus, who get to comprise or even manage a new administrative machinery for a new state, instead of having to languish as another Senior whatever...or Deputy/Assistant/Assistant to Assistant whatever in the babudom.
Bodoland (Assam) | Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) | Gondwana (northern Deccan Plateau) | Gorkhaland (West Bengal) | Harit Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh) | Kamtapur (West Bengal) | Karbi Anglong (Assam) | Kodagu (Karnataka) | Kosal/Koshal (Orissa) | Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) | Mahakoshal (Madhya Pradesh) | Mithila (Bihar) | Panun Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir) | Purvanchal (Uttar Pradesh) | Rayalaseema (Andhra Pradesh) | Tulu Nadu (Karnataka Kerala) | Vidarbha (Maharashtra) | Vindhya Pradesh (Madhya Pradesh) | Mau Pradesh (Rajasthan)
Where's India in all of this?
Can any politician put hand on heart (oh, they don't have a heart anyway) and say that all that stops them from developing their area/constituency is the fact that they are part of their parent state and not separated from it to be known as one of the above-listed names?
Unfortunately, it's the direct beneficiaries themselves - the legislature and the bureaucracy only - who get to decide/approve the creation of a new state.
It's like getting the Anti-Corruption Bill passed in Parliament when you know that the number of clean, honest politicians in Parliament is as high as that of the number of Eskimos in Delhi. It just won't happen.
You should also be ready to accept that if the direct beneficiaries of a decision are the decision makers themselves, then it's stupid to expect otherwise. Our politicans are too selfish and not dumb, they are too smart and not stupid.
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