Most of our childhood bedtime stories started with "Once upon a time, there was a king..." That is the tagline seems to be inspiring our politicians. They don't want the future kids to listen to the stories that go like – "Once upon a time, there was a democracy, with elected representatives who were answerable to the people through the electoral process, the courts and the Lokpal." They just want to insert a big and bold "....not answerable..." in the story.
In our civics lecture during school we learnt India is a Democracy. Well, they taught many other things but so what? A lot of it was myth. You know education ruins. Politicians want us to enjoy our confusion about India and do all sorts of hoodwink tricks. The latest salvo from it is that MPs and the PM should be kept out of the bill's purview, which in turn renders the bill impotent and pointless even before it is enacted. The issue is not the bill or the government. It is simply what you can do in democracy or what are you allowed to do in a democracy.
The action happened last night; government's use of force on peaceful protesters, while they were asleep was stunning. No matter how outlandish Baba was, he was within his rights. Teargassing and assaulting at 1am is not what democracies do. No government takes such a ridiculous decision. What inspired them ? If they are not using this strategy properly for their political mileage I see them in deep trouble. They might have to pay a hefty price for their 'karma'. It can lead to many such protests and then it will aggravate the problem. Opposition just getting another opportunity to get under government's nerves. A sense of displeasure that it has created among people may lead to bigger threats to the government. That's about democracy, you cannot escape people, you have to at least keep deceiving them. I know everyone involved here in the issue has something to do with politics making it hard to comment on. They are perhaps the smartest people on earth tricking billions all around the globe. But, over smartness kills.
Anyway, baba says he is continuing his fast with many more joining them, even the British didn't leave us after one protest and demonstration, sounds good. And before my blog gets teargassed and traumatized by Delhi Police, love to all and off-course Peace. There was always a happy ending to all these bedtime stories.
Ref: Few sentences in the Blog were taken from Chetan Bhagat's latest TOI column
