An Introspection

Enough said of the legacies India has given to the world hundreds of years back. After 64 years of being an independent country what have we achieved independently to brag about? Every year when January or August appears, we start chewing the same old corn of what religious leaders have done for the country, how independence was achieved and how finally India emerged as a democratic country.
Why have we never given a little introspection on our country nor have we ever tried to change us or our surroundings a little bit? Let me walk you through a few social and political threats India has been facing from Independence to this date.
India - a country devoid of caste, creed, ethnicity and geographical distinctions?
India widely boasts itself of being a secular country which treats every citizen equally irrespective of caste, creed and sex. How far is this valid? We can’t find a single institution, both Government and Private, which doesn’t have a column of community, caste and language in it. I was under the impression that it is only the Government and politicians who create this divide for their own monetary and vote gains which proved to be wrong a few days back.
A simple difference of opinion on fixing exam dates in my post graduate class resulted in complete pandemonium. Being a class where people from all over the country come together, it is a mixed population where we can find people from Tamilnadu to Kashmir, Rajasthan to West Bengal and from the metropolitan city of Delhi to tiny town of Tenali. Once a quarrel between two parties started, people started taking sides. Ultimately it became South Indians versus North Indians. The ‘Northies’ accused some of their friends for not participating in the bicker as they were south Indians. The same happened in the other group finally creating a split between the class. I have been wondering since then that from where North and South India came in fixing exam dates. When this is the case in a highly reputed Government Institute where every single person is highly intellectual, how can we expect the illiterate and the commoner to have the feeling of national integrity and unity?
The possible solution is to remove columns of caste, creed and community from all applications which I hope would result in removal of the same from the hearts of many Indians in a few years.




The Voter and the Voted:
When India is referred as a democracy, it does naturally imply that people are the supreme authority for who the Government provides service, by who the Government is being formed and from who Government is created. If so, why did we the citizens of India uproot all the social obstacles that India has faced so far? The mistake must lie either in the hands of the voter or the voted. Unfortunately, both the voter and the voted stand guilty.
When the constitution of India was being framed there were hordes of men who were illiterate but still held high moral values (Kamaraj, AnnaDurai etc.). The constitution could not deny such esteemed leaders their right of participating in elections and neither can they deny their right of vote. Thus came the right of Universal Adult Franchise and right to contest in elections by every single citizen of India. But at the present age when even many of the ‘educated’ have loose morals and where corruption is the law of the land, the illiterate become easier targets of vote bank politics and money for vote. Politics has become a money minting occupation that requires neither qualification nor a basic skill. It has even degraded to an extent where local gangsters have and are still successful and respectable politicians.
As for the voters, the illiterate become victims of ‘money for vote’ politics or they are brainwashed by parties which tempt them by feeding freebies. The literate who have the ability to bring a change shun their voting rights and stay at home.
The possible solution can be to bring about a change in the two rights stated above. The voter must definitely have an idea of the happenings around the nation and a minimum qualification must be affixed to excise the right to vote. Also the right to vote must be made compulsory and failing to do so should be made a punishable offense.
The voted must definitely satisfy all the above said criteria and also must show a definitive thirst for social causes by actively participating in social activities for a minimum of two years. Such credible certificates by organizations must be exhibited and verified by the election commission immediately after the candidate files his nomination papers before the election dates.
Though these ideas seem to be far from being realistic, I am sure such drastic changes are required at dark times to prevent India from falling into wrong hands that are capable of selling the our country for a few pennies.

Divide and Rule: From 1900 to 2000...

Some hundred years back, when the British were finding it difficult to control the riots and mutinies against their rule in India, the British came up with a wonderful tactic which was good enough to make them continue their rule for another half a century. Their idea was ‘Divide and Rule’ policy. They initially started favouring Hindus and went against Muslims who were in the fore front during the 1857 struggle. After 1900s they started favouring Muslims. Though the community who they favoured changed constantly till 1947, they made sure that the age old enmity between Hindus and Muslims always remained afresh. This separatism reached its climax when they decided to split Punjab and Bengal into west and east thereby completely separating Hindus and Muslims both physically and mentally leading to creation of India and Pakistan in the end.

And why am I stating this well known fact now? After sixty years of independence?? Let’s make a quick view of the present Indian situation! Every form, every application and almost every ID card in India has columns like ‘Religion’, ‘Community’ and ‘Caste’. Indian Constitution proudly brags that India is a secular state and every Indian has equal rights – ‘Right to equality’. Here is an excerpt of what was given about right to equality in my primary school book, “Blah… blah… blah… All rights universally apply to all citizens, irrespective of race, place of birth, religion, caste, creed, color or Gender. But certain provision is provided to minority classes for their upcoming.” This last clause of ‘minority class’ constitutes almost 70% in Tamilnadu and around 50% average all over India. Since when did 50% and 70% percent become minority??? I was informed by someone that when constitution was initially formed it was framed in such a way that the privilege was made only for a few years. Then why did it extend till now?

Politics! Apparently, our politicians too find that Divide and Rule Policy is the best way to rule when they are rotting in their own corruption. Split the population into factions, make them brood over their own sect of people, never make them realise the truth and most important of all constantly remind all the important vote sections from which they could extract votes that they are a minority and shower them with more privileges. We have moved a long way from the real caste discrimination when higher class used to discriminate the weaker sections, to self-discrimination where people condemn themselves to the ‘backward classes’ so that they extort maximum possible privilege. It even gets worse: One such ‘community’ still does frequent strikes and bandh demanding the Government to discriminate them to a further backward class. The Government too happily encourages them indirectly. India has degraded from the point where discrimination was seen as cruelty to the point where discrimination is self-inflicted!

So ultimately, I don’t find much difference between India before independence and the present India if you minus the technological developments. The British plundered our wealth for their country in the name of Colonialism and Imperialism and remained in power using the divide n rule policy. At present the politicians plunder our resources, deposit them in tax haven countries and make people ensconced within their shells of caste, community and religion, a modified and better version of divide and rule!!!