Himani Gautam for BeyondHeadlines
Ever seen a minister with many a samosa nestling in his waistline, tumble into the greenery, with feet up in the air, while bending over to offer flowers at a Samadhi? Clickety-click!! I still hang my head in shame when I think of how the international media had a field day lampooning him. Well, for those of you who don’t know about the incident, this happened only in India.
The political conundrum is one aspect of our country that I can never get a hang of. They say that we are the largest democracy in the world, and they are quite right. However, what everyone of us forgets is that we are also probably the most ancient parliaments in the world, and before you flush with pride upon reading this, let me tell you that it is not an honorable title for a nation to carry. Here is why. The reason we call our parliament the most ancient is because, unlike many international parliaments or democracies which have young and vivacious leaders, like Obama and Sarkozy, we have 80-year old fossils at our service. The very fossils who are too clumsy to even bend over and might just go topsy-turvy any moment. And, these leaders are definitely quite experienced, thanks to their age, in the field of pocketing up our assets. 35 to 40 years in Indian politics teaches you something.
And why restrict it to politics?
You got caught drinking and driving? Chickening-out from the situation and escaping the hands of law is easy-peasy. Give the hands of law your heavy wallet to clutch.
You have paid a heavy amount for buying government services? Well, hope you kept a track on the path through which your money went to the government employees. There are chances that a sorcerer might have made the money vanish or a great vulture might have swallowed all of it preventing it to reach the authorities. And if this happens, their services won’t reach you either.
Talk about minting money, and even our national level players have fallen short of their goal to display true sportsman spirit, a case in point being the recent spot-fixing abysmal dirt. It was disappointment, and more than disappointing, disgusting to know how our heroes took a shortcut to success.
So, in a nation where more than 70% of the population constitutes of believers, who believe in that almighty who is omnipresent and constantly watching us all, it seems that it is the corruption and venality that is omnipresent. It is in those PWC offices, it is in those police stations you turn to if you have fallen victim of a crime, and even in those privately owned schools and institutes on which you rely for your kid’s future. The largest democracy, we definitely are. The ‘youngest nation’ is another title that we are proud to carry with us. Yet, when it comes to the involvement of the young people in politics, or to the execution of true democracy, we duck our heads like a flamingo, in the sand.
So, our beloved nation toils hard to be at the top, only to get pulled down by the very people who are supposed to take it further on the path of development. We should not only remain optimistic and hope that the scenarios will change, in fact raise our voices too. Knowing that, change would not occur all by itself, but by patient and concerted efforts by those who are sensitive to the issue.
