Khamosh – Quiet India

So at last our Government does it!

I am sure soul of Joseph Stalin & Joseph Goebbels, must be very happy today, wherever they are.  Our country which basked in the glory of “Freedom of expression” has now made its citizens yearn for “expression of freedom” and sadly enough not much choice is being given. What else can be said when the Government is trying to gag its citizens.

While in the recent past, we saw, if I can call it. monarchies like Egypt which gave in to the voice of its citizens, but here in our own backyard, things are different.  Here, the Government of the “so called largest democracy of the world” is leaving no stone unturned in doing everything undemocratic. Why is it doing so?

The most important and undeniable fact is that Government is well aware of the power of the opinion and how, in the current date, this opinion is very much against its working , its ethos and its existence. And why not! What has this Government done to alleviate this feeling of despondency, disgust and betrayal from the minds of its citizens.

While this Government, since its first day left no stone unturned in breaking all records in corruption (though our brave smart and “witty” PM had assured nation that it will eradicate corruption in first 100 days-well yes this government knows how to joke) but then that killed the financial health of our nation which was known as Sone Ki Chidiya but UPA got all its motivation from British concept of “drain of wealth”.

BUT, the recent incidents which shook the social fabric of the nation were the final blow that this beleaguered nation could take.  These incidents manifested, yet again, the intent of our Government in NOT resolving key isues which can break our nation.

It yet again manifested the short sightedness of this government which can literally put our peace and unity at stake, for its mere survival.

While UPA had already shown its non-tolerance to Public angst on the midnight of 4^th/5^th June 2011 at Ramlila Maidan, Delhi which resulted in the death of a 51 year old Rajbala who was a “THREAT’ to the nation oops the government perhaps. But that is past!

The recent Assam riots which was a conflict between Indians and Illegal immigrants was ignored. Of course it resulted in over 70 deaths and millions going homeless but it did not register any urgency in the government.

If it was not enough, there were “incidents of small violence” at Azad Maidan, Mumbai on 11^th August. The violence happened at a ‘protest’ movement by a muslim organization Reza Academy which protested against Assam riots (but didn’t B’deshi muslim illegal immigrants take part in it) and so called violence against muslims at Myanmar! Reza academy is perhaps more concerned about incidents involving community members form other nations!

And the final crusher came in the form of mass exodus of NE Indians which was evidenced at Bangalore, Pune & Mumbai . The exodus happened after a SMS based threat created panic in the minds of NE Indians settled in these cities. Government quickly called the entire SMS a rumour which perhaps it was but fact remains it made thousand flee from one part of their own country to another. And case in hand is the Maharashtra Government which did nothing during the exodus from Pune but now is offering “chartered planes” to bring back the NE Indians. Hasn’t the maharasthra Government heard of something called Train which is more economical?

What did the UPA government do? Nothing? What did the “newly rewarded” Home Minister do? Nothing! Of course no media described the efforts of RSS to help our citizens from NE in all the cities. But it is a different story.

And if it was not enough, we got to know about the “father” of all scams- COALGATE which directly involved the PMO. It was but natural for all the citizens, who are also tax payers, to feel angry and vent their feelings?

And here comes the big question? How could people vent their angst when many and more think that many of the media fraternity (both print & TV) are not doing their desired job diligently. It is not sharing the news. In such an event, it was but natural for people to resort to social media to share their anger. What’s wrong in it?

But here our Government was “proactive” (maybe it is too inspired from Mr. Rahul Gandhi who thinks he is active for politics) to immediately ban some sites and taking this proactiveness, even further, it also banned some popular twitter accounts namely Mr. Kanchan Gupta & Mr. Shiv Aroor (both are eminent journalist, By the way). So is the Government so insecure as to get threatened by two people? Where is the equity of the Government, if it had any in the first place?

But the same Government was very quiet when people like Ms. Arundhati Roy vented her ire against our forces deployed in Kashmir, when she almost raised demand for free Kashmir? Why was Ms. Arundhati Roy NOT banned? Wasn’t she or rather ISN’T she a threat to our social and internal peace?

It is a time for a serious introspect for the Government. If it has to improve its image in the minds of the people, it should not just believe in placating those 500+ people inside the parliament but rather millions outside it. It should send right signals which encourages a public debate, it should take views in the right ernest and address them. Whether it does so, remains to be seen.

But till then, let it be Shotgun Sinha’s famous rhetoric for all o us – KHAMOSH because our government wants it so