I hate to write on politics. The recent developments in the global politics using religion for some selfish motives has long influenced me to stay away from them. Many youngsters opt to stay away from politics and that has only helped the politicians to continue their dirty game.
The November-26th-Mumbai-Mayhem bears a testimony to the negligent attitude of our politicians. As if that wasn't enough, politicians have spelt it out clearly in their press meet that immediately followed the worst ever terror attack on the Independent India. Mr. R.R.Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra openly displayed his irresponsible attitude that forced him to his resignation. He said, “In a big city such as Mumbai, incidents likes these keep happening.” What a shame on our democracy!
On 13th May 2008 a series of nine blasts rocked Jaipur claiming 63 innocent lives and leaving more than 200 people injured. Two days after the incident, Mr. Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of the Republic of India visits the places and remarks, "The nefarious designs of terrorists will be thwarted boldly and their attempts will be foiled," Mr. Patil said, falsely assuring the public that India was ready to tackle the acts of terrorism of any magnitude. Just see what happened over the next six months. There were serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, two separate blasts in Delhi, high intensity blasts in Assam and now the Mumbai Massacre. India is not ready to face terrorism; only her politicians are ready to give the same statements after each blast. Here are some examples.
After the Delhi blasts on 29th October 2005, here's how the Prime Minister reacted. "We are resolute in our commitment to fighting terror in all forms. I am confident that the people of India have the will, capacity and resolution to win the war against terrorism."
Over 200 people were killed and more than 700 were injured in the Mumbai train bombings carried out on 11th July 2006 and this is how the Prime Minister reacted. "No-one can make India kneel. The wheels of our economy will move on. India will continue to walk tall, and with confidence. Mumbai, stands tall once again as the symbol of a united India. An inclusive India. We will win this war against terror. Nothing will break our resolve."
Ahmedabad witnessed a series of 21 bomb blasts on 26th July 2008 that killed 56 people and injured more than 200. Here's how the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil reacted. "This is a time when we should not feel frightened and we should assess the situation correctly and try to help the people, who have suffered and plan to see that these things do not happen afterwards." Mr. Patil, what plan did you do to see that it would not repeat?
Three months later, Assam was attacked and death toll rose to 84, with injury toll close to 500. Mr. Shivraj Patil was ready with a statement this time also. "We shall nab the culprits involved in the blasts. Investigations are on and we should be able to come out with something concrete."
And to top it all, R.R.Patil made that nasty remark on the Mumbai attack. Mr. Patil, have seen on TV or the Internet how bad the situation was? If not, Click here to see some of the pictures [Warning: Some of the images are disturbing] and ask your conscience, if at all you have one. Don't make it another forgotten terror attack. Every life counts. To all you politicians, I shall quote my Swamiji's words. "Death of a million is but statistics, unless one of them is your relative!" -Swami Atmashraddhananda. [Swami Atmashraddhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and is currently serving as the Editor of the Vedanta Kesari, a spiritual monthly magazine published from Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai].
Even before terrorism influenced the Indian Democracy, even before Hiroshima and Nagasaki witnessed the most powerful bombs on Earth, even before London was stunned with the 7/7 tube train blasts, even before the World Wars I and II were fought, exactly 108 years before the 9/11 blasts, one Indian wished to prevent all the bloodshed. Yes, it was Swami Vivekanada, who made an impressive remark at the World Parliament of Religions on 11th September 1893 at Chicago. "Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.
"But their time has come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
Yes, friends, the time has come to toll another bell and begin the fight against terrorism. Surely, our politicians won't ring that bell. It needs brave men like Hemanth Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Gajendra Singh and other brave commandos who risked their lives to liberate Mumbai from the most atrocious terror attack. We need another movement, a second freedom struggle, this time against terrorism. But the question is, how many Karkares do we need to sacrifice?
Impressive One. But, what do you think could be the solution to stop this? Can we really stop it at all? If not, what else can we do? Thats the question we need to answer.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is clearly given by the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. It is not the bread-winning education that we need, we need man-making, character-forming education!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the root cause of all problems come down to human character. And in the grand, vast and supreme cosmos, this is of no significance at all whatsoever. You'v e got character forming education., but how do you practically want to tackle the existing problem? Given that, you have no control over how other people feel, think or how they are educated?
ReplyDeleteTo answer you question, one should have read the Complete Works of Swami Vivekanada. I am sure there's an answer there.
ReplyDeleteTerrorism s a strategy by cowards who hide behind innocent people- to destroy the brand called India, and to destroy the unity of this land.
ReplyDeleteLives will be lost,soldiers will become martyrs, families will be bereaved...
Reactions, campaigns, claims to stand united against terrorism etc, mean nothing.
There is no solution. It's no more survival of the fittest, it's survival of the luckiest.
This second largest nation in the world will continue to shudder to a few men with Ak 47s, and some ammunition.
Chetan That is interesting! I feel we need to do the following:
ReplyDelete1)Make voting compulsory for all the citizens of India above 18
2)Provide SINGLE identity card for all the citizens something on the lines of social security card in amny countries.
3)Make primary education compulsory to all the citizens.
4)Make military or NCC training for one year compulsory to all citizens.
5)Abolish citing religion or caste in applications to schools. Write only Indian. Atleast the next generation begin afresh!
6)Make graduation a minimum qualification for MLA/MP
Very idealistic isn't
Good luck Chetan.
Namaskara boss...good one...
ReplyDelete@Jagadeesh : Im sorry I don't know you but I read your comments and found it interesting.So here are a few things which you could help me with.
Belludi: Pardon me but my comments will seem like a parallel blog in itself. Please bear with me and spare me a few mins of your time.
1. Do you really think that this objective can be achieved? Let’s be realistic here. The reason we cannot achieve this is mainly because
a. The number of proxy votes that are cast in each election
b. Most of the rural / uneducated votes go to the person who has either given them more money or more booze than the other contestant
c. Most of the so-called “educated, literate” people claim that either “they do not have time!!” or “they are not interested”
2. Do you think that the unwanted elements can’t fake the SS cards? Take the recent case of a normal IT guy who wanted to have a “luxurious” life and made sure he had one by faking credit cards and cheating the banks themselves. I personally feel that the Govt employees and offices can be taken for a ride if someone wishes to do so (I don’t have to illustrate how clever they are given the road they take to become a Govt employee. It’s self explanatory )
3. Your third point is a valid one for the development of India into a so called “developed nation from a third world country” (I seriously do not think that we are a third world nation or that America is one of the developed nations. They’re just a bunch of jokers who are riding high on the dollar power which of course has been provided for by the “brain drain” happening in our country). No offence but I would really like to know how this point of your’s would have helped in anyway to avert the unfortunate incident that transpired recently
4. “It’s always easier said than done” I am currently in Israel which has the system of compulsory drafting of men and women (with the exception of ultra orthodox jews) into the military at the age of 18 for a minimum service of 3 years and I don’t think I need to explain the situation in Israel. Having the best equipment and intelligence,they are still prone to attack by the “Arabic militants” (read bastards). (I am just curious to know if you have ever been part of the NCC and also if you think your parents would let you go and serve the military)
5. Ahh…Here’s a good point you make but the sad state is that the pathetic politicians who rule our beautiful land would not let this happen (and you know why )
6. This is the SHOWSTOPPER point which you have made. This is one thing which can help improve our country to a great extent (If this rule really comes into place then I guess 99.9% of the existing leaders (read assholes) will be sent packing. The bad part is its not going to happen for the same reason as point 6
Here’s what I think we should do (just my personal opinion). We should fight “Fire with fire”. We have been reading too many times in the recent past that “Pak violates ceasefire…..again, Pak supporting Islamic militants in their land and providing aid, etc, etc. I think we need to end this once and for all.
Here’s one interesting policy which Israel has for its people. If some Israeli soldier or civilian is captured by unwanted elements , they promise the concerned people that they will get them back at any cost either “dead or alive” and they do it.
The Palestinians recently had captured 2 Israeli soldiers and in turn lost 63 lives due to attack by the Israeli army (Imagine that. Sending an entire army to just get back 2 guys) Now that’s what I call “giving them a dose of their own medicine”
And the other biggest problem that India has and as we all know is the POPULATION (which shows no sign of decreasing but has been on an exponential rise) The country which doesn’t want to show two people kissing on screen has the highest (yes, we will be the number one in sometime) population is an irony in itself. Can you imagine the degree of hypocrisy that’s present? Any element can come into the cities unnoticed (thanks to the ever vigilant police force) and wreck havoc as per their own whims and fancies.
The biggest factor contributing to these problems is that our land is ruled by a “bunch of pathetic hypocrites and liars” who are least interested in developing the country and more involved in developing themselves. We read about how the intelligence reports and warnings were neglected by these idiots and the entire nation has to pay for their “one small act of negligence”
Until we have the highest degree of security standards and the infrastructure and a new generation of strong, intellectual leaders who are ready and well equipped to handle any crisis, we cannot help but witness such “small” (according to RRPatil) stray unwanted incidents unfold and pray for the souls of those who gave their lives so that we could sleep warmly in our beds.
Thanks Sandeep for sharing your understanding on this topic. It's a burning issue and we as the youth should come forward and find a solution.
ReplyDeleteYes, the man-making education is ultimately preventive measure but the need of the hour is some proactive measure just as you mentioned and with all the problems that you listed, we need some dedicated leaders to come up with Policies and strengthen up our Internal Security to protect ourselves.
How can u write about patriotism or the prob our country is facing, when u urself r planning to study abroad and boost the ecomomy of some other country???well there is a phrase practise what u preach.i suppose ur a doctor?? take up a job in a rural health center, ur selfless work may bring about 0.0000001%of change,much bigger and better than an decorated article on ur blog..
ReplyDeleteAnumeha, I really don't know who you are. Yes, as you said, I am a graduate of MBBS and I am trying to pursue my higher education from US. I have never told myself or anyone that I will be settling in US. I don't intend to. It's just that Genetics is my passion and US has done some commendable progress in that field. I am going after knowledge.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone who leaves the country is a brain-drain. Remember Gandhi had also been to South Africa. Likewise, not everyone who resides in India is a dedicated citizen contributing to her economy. In this regard, NRI's are better than those corrupt politicians and Govt. officials who ruthlessly feast on the tax-payers' money. I know I owe a lot to this great country and I shall give back what it deserves in due course of time.
@anumeha
ReplyDeletePlease introduce yourself and what you do. That will help all of us here to figure out how much of "preaching and practising" policy you have adopted in your life.
It is very easy to write wrong comments without knowing the person, which clearly you have already indulged in.
I am sorry to say but you seem to be a pessimist from what you have written in your comment. "We" believe that we can change more than your measly 0.0000001% but for people like you for whom its easy to just sit and talk. Let's see what you have done to bring about your 0.0000001% change.....
well tats a blog showing the very incompetency of so called political big wigs... its very sad the situation remains still the same even after so many unfortunate events... now its high time that india should rise above all its religious and geographical indifferences . strong action should be taken on the political and diplomatic front against pakistan wher all these terrorists are trained better than our policemen...
ReplyDeletethe root cause of all this mess is the religious fanatism.. proverty ridden youths r targeted in their prime age and r brain washed...
for solutions about the religion ... as rightly said above by chethan.. its explained very well by swamiji ( in concise in jnana yoga)...
so make a pledge to rise and shine above the regional and the religious indifferences to make india a better place to live
good one doc....the former home minister had thought that his only job would be to passively read out press briefings prepared by his ministry. He proved to be a total failure and now he resigned from the job and is probably having a meal in an upscale hotel as I write this comment. Did it need all these incidents you enumerated in this blog to make him realise that he was no good? And we have politicians who have scant respect to the families of martyrs who laid down their lives for the country. Are we living in a civilised society still?
ReplyDelete