So, what does the second term of Bush in his White House tell us? That America is the next kingdom, where the “Sun never sets”? Although, we have to appreciate the modesty of these people, they haven’t gone the whole hog and usurped the invaded countries as a part of their nation, the 52nd and 53rd state perhaps. The US of A’s election mandate is quite clear. “You keep fighting Mr. Bush, we are behind you, after all only the Americans are civilized people with the right to live, never mind what the cost is, both in the physical as well as logical sense of the word”.
The media, the quintessential example of what Arundhati Roy quite aptly called “Free if you Agree Speech” is selective in sieving the reports coming in from Iraq or elsewhere. The same terrorism that the USA swore to abolish from the face of earth is a partisan of the Pakistan Government. But again, do we deserve a better treatment? Do not think of me as non-patriotic. Mend your internal strives before commenting about the externally encouraged terrorism. Cross border acts of violence and usurpation are terrorism, but when internally things happen, they are hindutva/riots instigated by the minor community. That too, the reports differ from news agency to news agency depending on whose payroll they are in. Needless to say these are all doings of the politic and if nothing else, we’ve learnt the concept of “DIVIDE AND RULE” well from the old Empire (watch it, old Empire, the new Empire lies a lot to the south and west of the older one!)
Be it the Babur Masjid demolition, Gujarat riots, the Maoist insurgency, the Veerapan fiasco, name anything and all you see behind is a political party reaping benefits. It is not a people movement, everything is biased and we’ve become a very selfish lot indeed. Our country is bleeding internally; festering wounds are being raked even deeper by the so called political leaders, all for personal benefits. To marry off their son/daughter in an event sponsored from the state treasury perhaps, or save up all the money for their half a dozen kids from almost quarter a dozen wives each. You know, if we have complacent people, who have to choose the lesser of the 2 evils, what is democracy then? What is the advantage to the people? They are not bothered, they vote for the lesser of the 2 evils only so that the elected party can even out on their evil-index by being in power. By the time the next election roles in, obviously the opposition has fallen lower in the quotient.
Take anything for that matter. Take reservation perhaps. Everybody knows that most of the caste certificates are hoax, students of well off families get to “study” (I beg to differ on this count!) in good colleges whereas the really deserving dalits and adivasis are being made to drink from a separate set of glasses and not wear footwear while inside the village and now they are asking for reservation in the private sector. How long would it be before a leading supporter of a coalition government start pushing on this and the ruling government wouldn’t have any other option but to bow to the pressure and relent.
So, why am I talking about all this? What can I do about all this? Is refraining from the whole process of election, which is by right for us to exercise, the only way? Then again, wouldn’t people with fake IDs use up those too?
The media, the quintessential example of what Arundhati Roy quite aptly called “Free if you Agree Speech” is selective in sieving the reports coming in from Iraq or elsewhere. The same terrorism that the USA swore to abolish from the face of earth is a partisan of the Pakistan Government. But again, do we deserve a better treatment? Do not think of me as non-patriotic. Mend your internal strives before commenting about the externally encouraged terrorism. Cross border acts of violence and usurpation are terrorism, but when internally things happen, they are hindutva/riots instigated by the minor community. That too, the reports differ from news agency to news agency depending on whose payroll they are in. Needless to say these are all doings of the politic and if nothing else, we’ve learnt the concept of “DIVIDE AND RULE” well from the old Empire (watch it, old Empire, the new Empire lies a lot to the south and west of the older one!)
Be it the Babur Masjid demolition, Gujarat riots, the Maoist insurgency, the Veerapan fiasco, name anything and all you see behind is a political party reaping benefits. It is not a people movement, everything is biased and we’ve become a very selfish lot indeed. Our country is bleeding internally; festering wounds are being raked even deeper by the so called political leaders, all for personal benefits. To marry off their son/daughter in an event sponsored from the state treasury perhaps, or save up all the money for their half a dozen kids from almost quarter a dozen wives each. You know, if we have complacent people, who have to choose the lesser of the 2 evils, what is democracy then? What is the advantage to the people? They are not bothered, they vote for the lesser of the 2 evils only so that the elected party can even out on their evil-index by being in power. By the time the next election roles in, obviously the opposition has fallen lower in the quotient.
Take anything for that matter. Take reservation perhaps. Everybody knows that most of the caste certificates are hoax, students of well off families get to “study” (I beg to differ on this count!) in good colleges whereas the really deserving dalits and adivasis are being made to drink from a separate set of glasses and not wear footwear while inside the village and now they are asking for reservation in the private sector. How long would it be before a leading supporter of a coalition government start pushing on this and the ruling government wouldn’t have any other option but to bow to the pressure and relent.
So, why am I talking about all this? What can I do about all this? Is refraining from the whole process of election, which is by right for us to exercise, the only way? Then again, wouldn’t people with fake IDs use up those too?
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