It is always in the name of aam aadmi! He is the rallying point, be it for the Government, opposition or activists. But with so much of ears and tears directed at his plight, is he any better? Indeed, the real question is not that, but what hurts him more, the official policies or the ‘protests’ targetting them!
Author: T R Jawahar
Even in times when it was believed that one man’s freedom to be nosy ended where the other man’s nose began, the borders were hazy. Today, with cultural and geographical barriers melting away in the heat of high voltage communication tools and media options, drawing out lines of control for freedom of expression is akin to making markings on water or in the air! In this context, the raging debate on free speech seems tiring and outdated.
Water is a great ground leveller. Add grim, total darkness wrought by the now familiar power outages to the scenario and terra firma mingles seamlessly with the atmosphere above, creating a uniform morbid nothingness that the senses cannot pierce or perceive.
This is a status-driven society. Everyone and everything needs a niche. All things created by God, be they sentient or not, have to fit into some man-made category or the other. Of course, G himself appears to have his own classifications, but that is a dangerous religious terrain and we will skip it. In any case, intra and inter-religious conflicts have proved that even God is subjected by His subjects to status questions like true and false.
The first question that struck me on hearing of the banking strike was: Why only two days? I mean, does it not make sense for the bankers (their frequent strikes make sense to no one else) to extend their strike-holiday by a couple of days more so that they can enjoy an extended weekend? In fact, that’s their tradition, vouched by the strike-festival calendar of many years! Also, if their cause justifies two days it can as well vindicate a longer span too.
How can the party system be blamed? After all it is the core concept of a democracy as inherited from the West and practised even in the US, Europe etc. So how could it be taboo in India?
I refer to the key factor that made the party system a bane in our democracy: Personalities! Barring probably the Left and the Right which are cadre based, all parties in India are leader-dependent,
No house can be set in order or cleaned up from outside and that includes the hallowed Houses that run the country. Team Anna (that-was)’s decision to take the political plunge, therefore, is a natural organic development that should be welcomed. Is it not a good test of the samaritans’ motives and mettle as also of the citizens’ seriousness to shed the baggage of sleaze? But the ‘You too, Anna’ tone of many is quite amusing. One supporter has even filed a cheating case against Kejriwal for breaking the promise of ‘no politics’.
When I landed in hospital two years back with palpitations and hypertension, the doctor, a good friend despite being my reader, said: ’I have been expecting you for quite some time’! He claimed with authority that his was no idle prophecy but a natural professional conclusion.
Here are a few sample questions that the JPC on 2G scam asked the CBI Director A.P.Singh on 24 July: Why did the CBI show lenience towards PM MSingh? Why was PChidambaram not interrogated? Why did it believe in the innocence of Attorney General Vahnavati? Why was Dayanadhi Maran not arrested when Raja was for the same reasons?