Of Senile "Buddhas", OBCs, India and Bharat

Now, before you accuse me of being an armchair critic, let me take up that tag myself, in the sense that I am not out on the road shouting slogans against Arjun Singh and planning to contest the next election against him. However, asking any and everybody who speaks up against idiotic government diktats to take to politics is too simplistic to be of any practical value.

I mean the likes of Arjun Singh have got no stake in the future, educational or otherwise of the country. They have lived their lives, have ensured treatment in New York for themselves whenever they fall ill and have amassed enough property to last the lifetimes of their next seven generations. Themselves, they are at such a juncture in their lives that they realise that had they been able to secure a position in history by some real meaningful initiatives, it'd have already happened. Now, in this twilight hour and if the need to be in history is very strong, the only recourse is do something, any damn thing to get immortalised - even if it is completely shortsighted, suicidal for the booming economy and a professional harakiri in the life of the country. What it does indicate is that Arjun Singh is not as senile as he might sound while it also doesn't indicate that he is as sensible as he tries to pose.

Isn't this ironic that the decisions having potentially far reaching impact on the lives of so many young Indians have to be taken by a "Qabar mein paon latkaye", senescent old man whose only perceptible and even achievable mission in life remains to be stuck with Fevicol to ministerial perks for whatever years gods plan to have him unleashed on our land.

That brings us to another very pertinent question. Somewhere or the other, our high handed snobbery, "Ooooh, voting is for illiterate people in villages of Bihar" attitude is responsible for this. How many educated, intellectuals go to vote - its as if, we, the millenium generation live in India identified with global brands and multiplexes and voting is a thing thing too retrograde - only to be relegated to those wretches still living in Bharat. I read an improvised cliche once, something to the effect that those who condemn politics to be the last refuge of the scoundrel are bound to be ruled by those scoundrels. There is more truth in that than it appears to be, prima facie.

Why is it so that while the international community keeps going ga ga over the Indian middle class while the same middle class has absolutely no political identity in its own country. Why do the politicians think in terms of forwards, backwards, SCs, STs, OBCs, Muslims and not middle class. Saying that we number too little is being evasive and simplistic. I don't have the statistics but I am sure that in at least a few constituencies, we should be in numbers enough to make a difference - provided we make that count. Said simply, provided that we vote.

I know that currently, the numbers may not be high enough to make it a vote bank but then shouldn't we start somewhere.

What this quota chaos has done is that it has removed the artificial protective layer that said, "Oooh, politics only affects people in Bharat, not in India". No my dear friend, it affects each and every person on this land. While we are here, we cannot be detached from the systems, processes and policies here. And its not something insignificant.

In the end, as Amitabh Bachhan said in Deewar, "Agar aapne ise mazaak samjha to baad mein bahut royenge..."