Who's democracy is it anyways?
It’s been a week almost, since I arrived - sleepy eyed but overly enthusiastic at the Indira Gandhi International airport at New Delhi, after more than 24 hours of tiring journey from the US. The sheer joy of being in India was strong enough to surpass all the weariness that I had from my lonesome journey back home. It’s been four years since I came to the States and like many others, I too had started nurturing dreams of coming back to India - closer to family, friends and most importantly to the place that I first learnt to call home.
Strangely enough, the India that I saw from the Day 2 of my stay was nowhere close to the ‘India Shining’ that I thought I was coming back to – thanks to the rosy pictures portrayed in recent times, by one and all, in the leading Indian newspapers and magazines. The hot issue was of course the anti-reservation stir which has caught the entire country in flames. The very first day that I checked on the news I was shocked to learn that the students protesting silently for their rights out there in the scorching sun were lathi-charged by the so-called law keepers. It has been a week since then and not much has changed. With the government mostly maintaining its silence on the issue and urging the protesters to give up, the only people concerned seem to be the ones which have really given India the ‘India Shining’ image – yes, I’m talking about the medicos, the engineers and the entire young generation of India that is out there in the streets fighting each and every single minute for a right to justice, which was theirs to keep in the first place, but which had been snatched from their hands by none other than the sick politicians who rule this country, the ones which have turned a deaf ear to all these protesting voices.
Let me just stop here and state clearly my views on the issue. Do I really need to, I ask you? Because, not one sane minded person in my opinion would really support the pro-reservation policy for more than 50% reservation in higher education institutes that the Parliament has put forward – a policy that is politically motivated, innately flawed and totally unfair. A policy that is wrong in principle, in implementation and which smells of nothing but the vested interests of the vote banks of the slimy politicians, of those men and women who are scarring the future of our nation in the name of social equality. There, I said it and I’m not going to harp on it anymore. But what I would like to harp on is the interview of our HRD minister Arjun Singh with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN that I read yesterday and I have to admit that disappointment is too mild a word to use for what I read – I think the word that I would like to use is disgust, at where leaders like him are taking this nation, that so many others argued was on the path of unprecedented success.
The most striking part of the conversation was the fact that Mr. Singh was himself not aware of what percentage of the Indian population forms the OBCs, or the percentage of college seats that they already occupy in institutes of higher education or even what percentage of the present SC/ST quota remains unoccupied each year in these institutes. When asked by Karan if that was not an important number to know in the first place, before implementing any such reservation policy which affects the lives of thousands of students out there, he pleaded ignorance, saying that he does not know and probably does not even care about the figures. I wonder if he has any idea, as to how many innocent students sweat countless hours of their lives, to compete for every single seat in these institutes of higher education? I wonder if he has any idea as to how many parents go through a financial and an emotional roller-coaster throughout their lives, just to make sure that their children get through even one of those ‘coveted’ seats. Maybe he does but does not care about that too. When pointed out by Karan that although the government seems to have no case or rationale behind implementing these increased reservations in terms of the current need or efficacy of the system, why then was the government hell bent on implementing them nevertheless, his only argument seems to be the fact that it is the ‘will and desire’ of the Parliament which happens to be supreme. Really, and I ask you Mr. Singh, unquestionable too? How could he and along with him the entire body of parliament tell us, the world's largest democracy, to shut up and get on with our lives regardless of whether the laws put forward by the elite and perhaps a selfish, coward group of the politicians are fair or in the public interests or not. Who gave them such a right to scuttle the democracy of our nation and to squash the spirits of people, who for a change have started believing in hard work rather than quick fix solutions to their careers and lives? Equally interesting is how he single handedly ruled out the fact that the parameters of the so-called ‘modern society’ were not really applicable to India, a country which many others believe today is at the cutting edge of technology. Another interesting bit of conversation was when Mr. Singh agrees with Karan on the fact that the existing reservation policies are not working, but counters that if they are not working, it does not mean we do not need them. Isn’t that what common sense dictates? Fix the existing wrongs before introducing fresh mistakes. But then again, maybe the whole gamut of politicians, do lack the sense which is no longer common. Perhaps the most shocking part of the entire reservation stir is that the government has proposed to conveniently increase the seats in all these institutes and colleges of higher education, including the IITs and the IIMs without any consultation at all with the faculty, the students or the alumni who have given these institutes such a fame or the people who have brought these colleges to a stature where they are today. Without brooding on the efficacy of such an increase and the effect the 50% reservation would have on the quality of education provided in these institutions or the quality of students produced by them, the leaders of our nation have proved yet again that they do not care about the struggles of our nation anymore. Leave alone respecting the doctors who serve this nation day in and day out, the government does not even care for the brightest lot of our country that graduates from institutes as IITs, IIMs or AIIMS.
Sadly what I see today, is India burning and not an India shining. Who are those people, those nations who are insecure of the rising intellect and confidence of our nation – tell them, they need not worry anymore – because we have a poison so strong, in the name of corruption breathing in the very veins of our country, that it would eat us from the inside long before we become an enviable nation. The live example of this are the politicians who swear to set our country back by at least 50 years by broadening the base of discrimination on caste, in the veil of reservations. And what is the result of it all? Quiet people mourning this very moment in various corners of our nation - the death of a long borne faith in the political system, of trust in the present state of affairs in our country and perhaps, the death of an already failing democracy.
Am I still hopeful, you ask? A part of me is, for sure, because I strongly believe that what has come up in the last few weeks would go a long way down in India’s history for a struggle to a fairer democracy. I am because I know that many people have realized that to be aware and to speak out against the system is the key to bringing about a much needed change in the Indian politics. And I am because yes, I belong to the Rang De Basanti generation, which is tired of the complacency and wrong doings of our politicians, a generation that is learning to fight for its rights, but also a generation that is smart enough not to believe in the much hyped comparisons of the endings - of movies, of courtroom rulings and of lost causes of system failings**
So, do not mistake it all to be the closing of yet another chapter Mr. Singh, because this really might just be a mere beginning.......
Strangely enough, the India that I saw from the Day 2 of my stay was nowhere close to the ‘India Shining’ that I thought I was coming back to – thanks to the rosy pictures portrayed in recent times, by one and all, in the leading Indian newspapers and magazines. The hot issue was of course the anti-reservation stir which has caught the entire country in flames. The very first day that I checked on the news I was shocked to learn that the students protesting silently for their rights out there in the scorching sun were lathi-charged by the so-called law keepers. It has been a week since then and not much has changed. With the government mostly maintaining its silence on the issue and urging the protesters to give up, the only people concerned seem to be the ones which have really given India the ‘India Shining’ image – yes, I’m talking about the medicos, the engineers and the entire young generation of India that is out there in the streets fighting each and every single minute for a right to justice, which was theirs to keep in the first place, but which had been snatched from their hands by none other than the sick politicians who rule this country, the ones which have turned a deaf ear to all these protesting voices.
Let me just stop here and state clearly my views on the issue. Do I really need to, I ask you? Because, not one sane minded person in my opinion would really support the pro-reservation policy for more than 50% reservation in higher education institutes that the Parliament has put forward – a policy that is politically motivated, innately flawed and totally unfair. A policy that is wrong in principle, in implementation and which smells of nothing but the vested interests of the vote banks of the slimy politicians, of those men and women who are scarring the future of our nation in the name of social equality. There, I said it and I’m not going to harp on it anymore. But what I would like to harp on is the interview of our HRD minister Arjun Singh with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN that I read yesterday and I have to admit that disappointment is too mild a word to use for what I read – I think the word that I would like to use is disgust, at where leaders like him are taking this nation, that so many others argued was on the path of unprecedented success.
The most striking part of the conversation was the fact that Mr. Singh was himself not aware of what percentage of the Indian population forms the OBCs, or the percentage of college seats that they already occupy in institutes of higher education or even what percentage of the present SC/ST quota remains unoccupied each year in these institutes. When asked by Karan if that was not an important number to know in the first place, before implementing any such reservation policy which affects the lives of thousands of students out there, he pleaded ignorance, saying that he does not know and probably does not even care about the figures. I wonder if he has any idea, as to how many innocent students sweat countless hours of their lives, to compete for every single seat in these institutes of higher education? I wonder if he has any idea as to how many parents go through a financial and an emotional roller-coaster throughout their lives, just to make sure that their children get through even one of those ‘coveted’ seats. Maybe he does but does not care about that too. When pointed out by Karan that although the government seems to have no case or rationale behind implementing these increased reservations in terms of the current need or efficacy of the system, why then was the government hell bent on implementing them nevertheless, his only argument seems to be the fact that it is the ‘will and desire’ of the Parliament which happens to be supreme. Really, and I ask you Mr. Singh, unquestionable too? How could he and along with him the entire body of parliament tell us, the world's largest democracy, to shut up and get on with our lives regardless of whether the laws put forward by the elite and perhaps a selfish, coward group of the politicians are fair or in the public interests or not. Who gave them such a right to scuttle the democracy of our nation and to squash the spirits of people, who for a change have started believing in hard work rather than quick fix solutions to their careers and lives? Equally interesting is how he single handedly ruled out the fact that the parameters of the so-called ‘modern society’ were not really applicable to India, a country which many others believe today is at the cutting edge of technology. Another interesting bit of conversation was when Mr. Singh agrees with Karan on the fact that the existing reservation policies are not working, but counters that if they are not working, it does not mean we do not need them. Isn’t that what common sense dictates? Fix the existing wrongs before introducing fresh mistakes. But then again, maybe the whole gamut of politicians, do lack the sense which is no longer common. Perhaps the most shocking part of the entire reservation stir is that the government has proposed to conveniently increase the seats in all these institutes and colleges of higher education, including the IITs and the IIMs without any consultation at all with the faculty, the students or the alumni who have given these institutes such a fame or the people who have brought these colleges to a stature where they are today. Without brooding on the efficacy of such an increase and the effect the 50% reservation would have on the quality of education provided in these institutions or the quality of students produced by them, the leaders of our nation have proved yet again that they do not care about the struggles of our nation anymore. Leave alone respecting the doctors who serve this nation day in and day out, the government does not even care for the brightest lot of our country that graduates from institutes as IITs, IIMs or AIIMS.
Sadly what I see today, is India burning and not an India shining. Who are those people, those nations who are insecure of the rising intellect and confidence of our nation – tell them, they need not worry anymore – because we have a poison so strong, in the name of corruption breathing in the very veins of our country, that it would eat us from the inside long before we become an enviable nation. The live example of this are the politicians who swear to set our country back by at least 50 years by broadening the base of discrimination on caste, in the veil of reservations. And what is the result of it all? Quiet people mourning this very moment in various corners of our nation - the death of a long borne faith in the political system, of trust in the present state of affairs in our country and perhaps, the death of an already failing democracy.
Am I still hopeful, you ask? A part of me is, for sure, because I strongly believe that what has come up in the last few weeks would go a long way down in India’s history for a struggle to a fairer democracy. I am because I know that many people have realized that to be aware and to speak out against the system is the key to bringing about a much needed change in the Indian politics. And I am because yes, I belong to the Rang De Basanti generation, which is tired of the complacency and wrong doings of our politicians, a generation that is learning to fight for its rights, but also a generation that is smart enough not to believe in the much hyped comparisons of the endings - of movies, of courtroom rulings and of lost causes of system failings**
So, do not mistake it all to be the closing of yet another chapter Mr. Singh, because this really might just be a mere beginning.......
**P.S: I have to honestly thank news channels like NDTV for providing me the motivation to write some of this, based on their useless coverage during the whole reservation stir, coverage which was concerned not only on analysing how exactly the current situation was borne as a result of RDB, but also on if the end to the whole thing would be inspired by RDB too. So, instead of focussing on the real problems and how they should be circumvented, count on them to always come up with futile 2-3 hours discussions on irrelevant topics. God save our country from such pretentious media and journalism!
posted by El enigma @ 2:24 PM
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