Tell us which side you are on

THE TIMES OF INDIA
08 April 2011

Tarun Vijay

A government which took no time to send interlocutors to talk to anti-national terrorists in their holes in Kashmir without any strings or conditions attached wanted the anti-corruption patriotic people to come to its doors "without any conditions".

Arvind Kejriwal shone as bright as ever, living the Anna ideals so humbly.

We sat on the dais with Anna and exchanged a few words with him as the time was not to say but to experience and have your mind and soul purified at Anna "ghat". My friend Yati came from Kanpur and sat on hunger strike. So were my daughter Shambhavi and son Ritwik, next day, without even informing me. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, being tortured for exposing the hypocrisy of politicians, was represented by his advocate Jennifer Robinson. Those who didn't come must feel deprived their whole life.

That Anna has chosen to keep the movement off politicians is good, as most of them have lost all credibility. People, in general perception, have no respect for them and their joining the Anna movement could have been taken as if they are trying to shine in the reflected glory and grab fruits of someone else's labour. It may not be true exactly, as there are exceptions and ultimately the nation needs politicians, the good ones of course, to run the state affairs. JP never abhorred politicians. In Annna's scheme, is the country to be run by non-politicians? And what about some of those surrounding him who are known practitioners of ideological extremism of political colours? No sir, this is not the time to raise such issues. Either join with full steam as citizen or lose a moment that ensures a national rejuvenation.

The nation looks to have been admitted to an ICU, nothing is working except Hasan Alis and the Goan education minister caught with a horrific amount of US dollars. The government has facilitated the rise of the rogues and humiliation of the patriotic forces. Terrorists, mobsters, scamsters and anti-nationals have found a natural sanctuary in this government’s policies and programmes which are devoid of any scheme to bind the country and address serious security issues. The lethargy of the state power reflects on the fossilized security scene, which is too alarming to be ignored.

The state has failed to protect the honour of its citizens within the country and outside. The way honest socio-cultural leaders are insulted and humiliated in public is unprecedented, and on the contrary traitors find state protection and the Congress’s support going soft on Gilanis and Naxals. In lands beyond our shores too Indian students are tagged, subjected to an unheard kind of humiliation, forced to wear radio collars around their ankles that will leave an indelible mark on their minds forever. Yet we watch it helplessly issuing paper waste of statements that mean nothing.

Assam’s Tarun Gogoi is the biggest protector of the foreign infiltrators who turned the state into a safe heaven for the aliens converting more than 48 constituencies into Bangladeshi-dominated ones and getting involved in several thousand crore worth of scams. But the Prime Minister goes and appeals to the people to elect him once more. Nobody believes inquiries into 2G and other scams would yield any tangible results under this regime. The work in government offices has come to a standstill as the government has lost all moral authority to rule.

The satraps in various states are simply following a one-point agenda: to earn as much money, whichever way, to prepare for the polls, which may occur any time now. Serious policy planning or the monitoring of the state business has been lost in the woods of an anarchy reminding one of the pre-emergency days.

This time demands the people's expression of loyalty to the nation and let everyone stand and tell which side he or she belongs to — the national wealth creators like farmers, teachers, labourers and the common people or the looters?

Just go and join without caring for the blueprint of the next step. It will follow naturally; it’s a people's movement and hence growing at its own pace, like a plant’s biological progress. It will be self-defeating to raise doubts and keep a distance. The Congress in any case is a dying organization, sustaining itself merely on a family name, the biggest example of misuse of the Gandhi surname. The nation deserves a change; and this change is coming from the side of Bharat Mata holding a tricolour and the courage of a cyclonic monk Vivekananda. So change we must for a refreshing new era. Let the wind blow and refresh the socio-political weather.