Today 22.01.2011 is halt! It’s not a celebration as this was the sad demise of
DEMOCRACY. “Bandh” as they call it, supposedly because governor of the state called
chief minister of the state a Thief!.
I switch on the TV with the jobless feeling and the only things that seems to appear on
the idiot’s frame is an imprudent statement which is making headlines or if I may call
it breaking news “Gov v/s Gov”, first time in the history of democracy or the country
known for democracy a probe/ prosecution against the Chief minister of the state, this
was directly from the governor of the state along with 2 lawyers In relevance to the land
scam that was in the news a fortnight ago. At last the governor had the vitamins to start
a probe against the Chief minister and his ministry (along with a few bureaucrats) and
seems that our chief minister took it a little personal and defensive and took off to delhi
for a “meeting”, meanwhile his followers of course of the same political party staged a
protest and called for a bandh! In my case I call it the “HALT”. This was a fight from
the government against the government and if you are wondering how many govt’s do
we have, then stay puzzled as this was a mockery of democracy as the state closed down,
came to a halt to fit one man’s ego pants! And to make matters
worse the media showed the same live and had debates and talk shows to entertain what
was happening. This was democracy – for the people, to the people and by the people,
although the assumption or the perception about the “the” in phrase had changed.
This had basically affected every common man in the state with the petrol bunks shut
down, buses stopped, shops shuttered down and tea vendors selling tea to the police men
along with cigarettes and all this was, FOR the PEOPLE.
Every once in a while I face this difficulty because I am an alcoholic of course - basically
the dry day due to elections and I don’t really understand why we have elections the way
we have dassera – for about 10 or more days a year. I have to forcibly celebrate dry date!
, the point is that this day we vote, we vote for a person as our representative who can
change things and make our city, state, country a better place to live, We the people vote
for these men – the politicians to be specific, a “Lott” of people that we are forced to pick
from because we lack the guts to stand up for ourselves and we end up with the leaders
like our very own Chief minister, because of whom we face the halt today! So it’s BY the
people that he was elected and because of which we face this daisy situation.
And after all this the person who pays the price for all the fuss and strikes and halts, it’s
the common man who cannot commute on the occasion of Halt and its him who has to
pay the taxes and still not be able to avail the public transport –so all these difficulties
goes back to – TO the people, yes.
So in this boobi trap that we’re caught amidst our daily life, we wonder whom to blame
this time? Is it the government or the opposition? Or the politics on the whole? Maybe
the media! The blame game goes on while we along with hundreds of other people watch
democracy being torn apart and ripped butt naked while our politicians wear faded white
shirts, fading from them washing off the dirt from the kurtas, trying to come clean of all
possible scams, stings, and all other allegations to stand straight for the next elections and
by large they do win and get back to their position.
Here the question is “Is the halt worth it?” this is not just the halt for a day, but a halt
on nation’s youth, halt on their ideas, halt on their education, halt on the growth of the
economy and halt on everything that would let us reach there! Where we were supposed
to be, “tomorrow”! So is it worth it?
Is it worth stopping for one person’s ego? Or to stop and watch while democracy is
made mockery out of and read ridiculous headlines such as Gov v/s Gov! while our
politicians taking advantage of their position in the system, while we all watch our state
face, a fall, down in shame. It’s we who feed this negativity by staying silently in our
homes; we are not safe there because politicians, my fellow step sisters are killing what
is ours and depriving us from what we should have i.e. our tomorrow for which we work
for. Thus keeping us at HALT, yes that’s where we are right now, we’re NOwhere and
NOW- where? It should actually be NOW- here! In a country with 1 million populations
and with only 10,000 people in politics who are in the system among whom 9,990 are
corrupt, we still stand a chance to change and challenge them with .9 something million
population with of course help of vitamins to change the system, that we all happily point
out with nicely painted finger nails. Yes its our collective effort that can bring about a
change and help the people at large to stand up and redefine DEMOCRACY from their
own definition of democracy.
So I resist this halt, things like this cannot stop me from what I deserve, I.e. a better
tomorrow, better than TODAY at least. And I would not let my today fall for one man’s
defensive ego mechanism and would certainly not support such a cause, by supporting
here I mean by not stopping as per the HALT norms. Its we who got this onto us because
of the choice that we made, a choice to make a choice, a choice to stay silent and date
our TV sets and have a live in / open relationship with FACEBOOK! Instead of staying
silent and falling prey to these HALTS we should all make efforts to educate ourselves
and others to start a revolution to reach the Utopia where democracy lives in peace along
with its leaders. Its we the people that contribute the most to corruption by not doing
anything about it and also by supporting corruption in all possible ways. And its is
futile to do the right things in the wrong island; we need a channel, a platform through
which we can do the right things I.e. by getting into the system and getting our shinny,
shimmery painted fingers dirty.
And from this we would not have to face day when honorable ministers and beauracrats
take such steps to prove ego’s and call for HALTS. Not so surprisingly the state would
not pay for the day’s damages to every individual of the state, 1 more day in the calendar
of our country, goes hunted, and falls prey to these political monsters.
Lastly forgive me, for I do not have eloquence in the language that we stole from
England, apart from their toilet seats!
Rajeev Good Night
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