DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI raises some very pertinent questions on the willing suspension any due, stern action against the hooligans who enjoy pride in holding the society to ransom, who love to stage naked dance of death and destruction, and who choose to loot the coffers at will.
Are the two Thackerays of Mumbai not a security risk? Do they not pose a challenge to national stability and solidarity? Have they not been given a too-long rope by the State Government and the New Delhi dispensation? Would the late lamented Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, whose 92nd birth anniversary was celebrated countrywide on November 19, too have behaved in the manner the UPA Government, led by the Congress, is behaving?
TORMENTED
These questions once again tormented the national psyche in the wake of the Shiv Sena-inspired attacks on the TV channels last week.
Earlier, the irate Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena (MNS) activists had launched a well-planned attack on a Mumbai legislator, Abu Asim Azmi, while he was taking oath of office in Hindi, the first official language.
The Shiv Sena chief, Mr Bal Thackeray, lets no opportunity go to berate Muslims. He is on record to have proudly admitted his men participated in the destruction of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. His hate-spitting editorials in Samna have, time and again, hurt the sentiments of the major minority of the country. Despite complaints, no action has ever been taken against the subversive writings.
Why? We ask!
Is he above the law? If no, what message he and his patrons in Mumbai and New Delhi are sending to plural Bharat? Is law only for the resource-less or for a particular section of our society? What does this indefensible latitude mean to a citizen, to a taxpayer, to those who are concerned and to all those who want to live with dignity in their country?
LONG ROPE
What message this long rope delivers to the rogue, who organise mayhems in a calculated manner?
What message this official unconcern sends to other anarchists and other unsocial elements of their ilk? Would they hesitate in emulating the example of Mumbai thugs?
And more importantly, what message does the said laissez-faire attitude deliver to the Headleys and the Ranas?
The current variety of politicians mocks the voter. He or she does not send his or her representative to hold the peace-loving society to ransom. Nor does he or she send him to tolerate the goons in white collars.
The Constitution of India did not, and does not, provide a lame, crippled or physically challenged Prime Minister or Chief Minister.
WEAKNESS OF THE WEAK
In the past, we had weak Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers. Today we have a weaker Prime Minister and weaker Chief Ministers. Their weakness does not lie in lack of power. Their weakness lies in their lack of probity, moral courage, administrative integrity and the much-expected straight-forwardness. More often than not, their weaknesses are exploited by their unscrupulous subordinates. When these subordinates cause damage to the national interest, no action is taken against them because the guilty raise their finger against similar activities by their superiors. The real weakness of the highups lies in the alleged sordid activities committed by them.
Both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister enjoy veto powers. The point is what prevents the two from behaving like robust persons. Their raison de’tre lies in their political manhood. But this manhood rarely comes to public notice and the corrupt brazenly challenge their superiors, who, in turn, prefer not to take stern action against the accused.
Sadly, our leadership and national parties suffer from this virus badly. Their internal strife, craze for luxury, property and wealth and absence of accountability has devalued their worth. Both Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh are perhaps the sole exceptions in this regard. Today all the thinking and feeling sections of our society bemoan the too-obvious cheapness of politics, political leaders as well as political parties.
Just think of a well-meaning foreigner’s impression about Mr. Madhu Koda, former Chief Minister of Jharkhand. He is openly threatening the powers-that-be with spilling the beans in case the current investigations continue against him. The result is that till date even formally he has not been arrested, while charges against him involve him in malpractices worth crores of rupees.
How our politicians rationalise failures of their subordinates? An answer to this question lies in the argument trotted out after 26/11: “It was an act of aggression like war. It is not fair to believe our policemen were trained or equipped to repulse it.”
How the professional politicians, giving not much importance to probity and values, appease their opponents? They just endorse their parochial agenda, as did the Maharashtra Chief Minister on November 20, when he asked the Railway Minister to especially recruit employees from his state, a proposal to which Ms Mamata Banerjee readily agreed.
Earlier the Chief Minister of the BJP-run Madhya Pradesh had publicly made laud thinking on the sons-of-the-soil philosophy.
Recall here Mr Narendra Modi’s requests to the Centre, made a few years ago, not to assist Gujarat financially as his state had sufficient means of earning.
All the saffron outfits with different hues and colours think alike. They are definitely happy at compelling the Cong-NCP government in Maharashtra which has failed to show reason to the bellicose. Obviously it is more by choice than chance.
A time does not seem too far off when, if this sort of acceptance of undemocratic demands continues, our states and Union Territories may start thinking in terms of sovereign status.
Think-tanks, social scientists and reformers, are you listening?