THE CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY IN INDIA
The recent incident of a gang rape, battery and
attempt to murder of a 23 year old girl, in the country’s capital, Delhi is not
just a shameless and brazen act of criminality, indulged in by a clutch of
hideous scum who disgrace and embarrass men as a species, but is also an all
encompassing metaphor for the larger rape, loot and plunder of the country; symbolized and enacted on a near regular basis on the floor of the Indian
parliament, without prejudice to either gender. The unfortunate girl has become
a sacrificial lamb to arouse and engender the anger and wrath of the people of
the country, to come out in such large numbers on the roads of Delhi, as can
rattle both the Houses of the parliament, only to make a statement about the
growing apathy of the government towards people’s issues. Women, of course, who
continue to remain the physically weaker sex and not sufficiently empowered to
take their rightful place in the social mainstream of India, are the worse off,
only because they suffer the indignities hurled upon them because of their
gender by both , the people and the institutions of the government. Every time
an eventuality takes place in the social canvas of a city, town and village, it
is then and only then that the government of the day or else the public
institutions or administration gear up to prepare for another similar such
happening. Whether, it is the series of incidents involving children falling
into bore holes left uncovered and thus dying, or incidents of recurring
impropriety indulged in by the very guardians of civil society against women,
or the macabre hegemony of the Khap panchayats against boys and girls who
develop friendly liaisons and fall in love, or rapes of innocent children,
young girls and women by perverts among us or road rage resulting in acts of
violence and even murder; the government and public institutions invested with
the responsibility to preclude these from occurring or else happening are
woefully unprepared or under prepared to either regulate or prevent these. In most
such cases as come to public notice, thanks to the ever alert and vigilant
media, which is thoughtlessly accused of sensationalizing matters for catching
eyeballs, the police and the lower government functionaries are to be held
accountable for dereliction of their duties and being insensitive to the woes
of the people, for whom these are meant. This does not in any way exonerate the
respective apex hierarchies and the people’s representatives, who are charged
with the constructive onus of ensuring the security of the masses and the taxpaying
public at large.
Today, the country stands at a historical
crossroads, which undermines the credibility of the political system which we
have adopted for ourselves and as enshrined in our constitution. Irrespective of
the merit of the binding document which defines our System and its Constitutional
ramifications, it cannot work for us. Only, because, we as a society and people
are not worthy of it. We get the type of leaders and government within our
political framework, which we deserve. Should we as a people want to bring
about a much needed and welcome change into our political thinking, then it has
got to be something which is not hackneyed and adaptive, but instead radical
and out of the box. The choices therefore get limited and insinuate something
as radical as a revolution in the country, which examines the possibility of
considering an autocratic dispensation for a stated and predetermined period of
time. Even though I am a votary to support the likes of the Aam Admi Party and
civil society movements, which can keep a tight leash on our government and its
institutions, but the manner and speed with which we repudiated our idealism
and cultural values that, we swore by when we became independent from colonial
rule, prognosticates a similar fate for the embryonic political party headed by
Arvind Kejriwal. Therefore, it boils down to the postulate of being honest,
upright, righteous, correct and competent only till such time, as one has not
been sucked into the power game of Indian Politics. Then it is all the same,
and it reduces itself into a comparative equation. Even though I may be read as
tilting at the windmills, by making such a radical suggestion to replace the
most evolved and progressive form of government, which is Democracy; yet it is
probably the better of the two choices which we are headed for, the other being
a blood bath supported by vested foreign interests.
It is heartening to see the crowds that, have
spilled onto the roads and avenues of most cities and metropolises in the
country, in anger and rage over the scurrilous act of five or more men who
disgrace and mortify Indian society today; because it is this very sentiment
and feeling against the ineptitude and hypocrisy of the political class and the
government that, must get tweaked into a more enduring and all encompassing
uprising against the POLITICAL SYSTEM obtaining within the country that has let
down the NATION. The presence of the youth in this mass upsurge of disgust
against the government of the day in Delhi and the Centre augurs well for the
future of the country and it is this emotion which can shake the foundations of
our polity for our collective good. An honest audit of the achievements of the
political class in the recent past will bring India to shame like never before.
Corruption, more corruption and yet more corruption. The political class has
mastered the art of subterfuge and hypocrisy by which it confounds and
inveigles the voter who elects its representatives, driven by hope for a better
and dignified future, which articulates and embraces the promises as enshrined
in the preamble to our Constitution. This
joke has been going on for too long and I only hope that the people are able to
sustain their resentment against the entire political class and come out in a
referendum in support of a change of the form of government. This is the state
to which this scurrilous and self interest driven class of people, who
represent us in the temples of democracy, have brought us to. We must think
lateral and out of the box, to stymie the politicians from continuing to RAPE,
PLUNDER AND LOOT THE COUNTRY.
Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal
+919410900051
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