Friday, October 30, 2009

THE NEW-GEN SAFFRON CHAP WITH INDIFFERENT COMMUNAL IDEOLOGUE


Varun Gandhi the new and young face of Indian Politics is inheriting divisive politics, the strategy adopted by slew of good Indians. Thanks to his speech and that should have sparked the minds of intolerant hibernating sections of society. I greatly appreciate Varun for his demeanor against the minorities. He is an astute politician who knows “How to garner the attention of general public with the tactics of communal rhetoric?”

Varun the descendant of Nehru family has a great family pride attached to his name. With the degree in economics from the London school of Economics and authored a book, it gives a general feeling that he might have a good potential to be a leader. It was quite disheartening to hear such a rancor speech from him. Are we still mired in the age old Communal and hatred speeches with this young gun of India adding to the fray?

Vote bank politics which is in vogue during election campaigns is an appalling way to discriminate people which encourages people to vote on the considerations of belonging to a particular caste, creed or religion. The politicians have handled this weapon extremely well to garner votes by breaking the society into major and minor sections on grounds of religion. This divisive attempt has showered in an acrimonious attitude amongst various communities. This has at times developed into a killing rage with ruthless murder and destruction meted out to people of different communities. This is a very sensitive issue and we don’t want another Godhra riot or Anti-Sikh riot. Varun Gandhi’s diatribe against minorities in order to appeal to the major community is a sheer attempt to galvanize the vote banks. “Chopping of hands” or “Lotus Hand” and other verbal assault have the potential to invoke another communal clash. This embodies the Varun’s immature and intolerant attitude to popularize votes.

History has shown us the painful and enduring genocides, communal violence, riots and host of other grisly mass killings of people. I don’t like reading history books about facts and the wars waged to get through the exam but we can’t miss the important learning that we can carry it in our life. The humanitarian crises, the sufferings of people, greed for power, incitation of hate speeches, racial discrimination and slew of social messages that can really impart a rightful mindset. Yes, we had seen these great communal riots with the dawn of that thought of partition of India with two great religions of this world fighting over and I am still watching it and my next^n  generations will. Should it take another 1000 years of history to have a rightful impact and education to people? The gruesome and horrific incidents that inflicted on people whoever it may be a minority or any religion for that matter is a great cause of concern for every citizen of this country. We talk about the ethnic killings of Tamil in srilanka and are we giving the same attention to the insecurities faced by the minority? Are our leaders taking the right lesson and I don’t think Varun did. We had known this is not the first time. Let’s bring in Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray’s hate speech and his deprivation of fundamental right to vote and to contest elections has not elicited a meaningful attitude in the minds of politician. Forget about the old politicians with their inexorable mindset but to see young politicians like Varun who might be a future leader to be in the same lines is very disappointing.

Campaigning is a very good platform for any aspiring young politician to address larger sections of society about their concerns and propagate your agenda to benefit the common people. Being rhetoric and wanted to sound populist is common. What we need is elitist. Elite in terms of addressing people’s concern upfront without regards to any religious community, and bringing in transparency and greater governance would be greatly appreciated. Varun with a degree in economics had a right choice to address the current economic situation and bringing prosperity in the lives of people but to our dismay he has turned out to be usual politician. What we need is a true aspiring leader a class apart. With larger pie of young citizens and urban population, you have multitude of ways to reach them, get their expectations and address them. This remembers me the Obama’s reach for people through internet and he rightly talked about the real concerns of people. The Interview between Barack Obama and John McCain that was broadcasted in CNN was really a splendid discussion about their plans and why they think it will work and all sundry. I can’t expect such a discussion to happen in India. We know the playing grounds are totally different but the manner in which they carried out without much of a blame game can be emulated.

We as citizens have a greater role to play in choosing the appropriate candidate. I would not expect the next generation to say the antonym of secular as saffron.  Secular outlook, good governance, transparent administration, employment opportunities, improving agriculture, empowerment of women, better economic policies, finer internal and external security to meet any threat and host of other things is what we expect and no mud slinging or vendetta politics. We should also address the concerns of coalition government. We need greater education and awareness among the voter’s especially rural and tribal areas to usher in a change. People who have myopic sight at elections just to get into power with their hate speeches and stuff should not be voted upon.

Varun should be penalized for his communal speeches and election commission to its part has to act decisively against any such act. There should always be a watch on political speech by concerned authorities and should bring in justice faster against those guilty of propagating hatred ness among communities. Let’s hope we will see some light with the days to come.

P.S. the views are not against anyone but the free expression of thought

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