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Analysis | Share This Page | |
It’s TIME We Grow Up! |
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by Dr. Rajinder Puri |
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More that things appear to change, more they remain the same. Over four decades ago Indira Gandhi was splitting the Congress party in the midst of an inner-party power struggle. To galvanize public opinion in her favour a series of daily meetings which I attended to observe were organized outside her residence by motley groups with the respective banners of their organizations. The demonstrators consisted largely of the same band of paid demonstrators marching under different banners. The demonstrators were supplied and led by the late Joginder Singh Dara, a leader of the Indian National Trade Unions Congress (INTUC), and a dear friend of mine. The crowd rarely exceeded five hundred people.
Each time Indira Gandhi would come out and address the motley bunch with her shrill vacuous speeches. The national media would play up this small daily ritualistic demonstration as proof of a great nationwide wave in her favour. After the New York Times editorially endorsed her daft populist decision to nationalize the banks – which were already under control of the government controlled Reserve Bank of India – Indira Gandhi proudly referred to that in one of her speeches. I quote from what I wrote at that time. I wrote:
Doubtless in the view of American corporations ably represented by NYT bank nationalization, which rendered banks under strict control of the political class, was economically advantageous for American interests.
For the love of God, have all our politicians and TV channels gone stark staring bonkers? Whatever TIME wrote regarding economic reforms or of corruption has been commented upon more explicitly, authoritatively and effectively by sections of Indian media. Did the politicians or the electronic media take the slightest notice of that? Of course not! The stale comments of the TIME cover story came from the Great White Father who calls the shots from abroad. Never has India’s ruling elite appeared more pathetic. Never has the state of Indian politics been more humiliating. The servile crowd that rules India talks of becoming a global power while dancing to the tune of foreigners who call the tune. Nothing could demonstrate more glaringly the intellectual slavery of India’s ruling elite that has emasculated this billion strong nation for over six decades. Is it not a time for change, a time to grow up? There is a new generation of Indians out there which has been exposed to the Internet, to many foreign lands, to the competitiveness of ethnic rivalries and national identities worldwide. It has not been groomed solely by our former colonial masters as were their parents. They should assert themselves if they want a level playing field globally for the nation they will inherit. They should not heed protagonists of the Lokpal Bill who cannot genuinely think out of the box. |
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10-Jul-2012 | ||
More by : Dr. Rajinder Puri | ||
Views: 1394 Comments: 0 | ||
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