Wo to abhi bachha hai

India against corruption

“Practise what preach”, this is an ideology which is taught to us from our childhood. But it seems like an outdated concept in this real world. Our politicians preach living a simple life while driving in a SUV and that too on public expense; our cricketers preach playing fair, while the winners fall to the bottom of fair play table. Our actors preach, “No to drugs” while Caught in camera in inebriated state. Media preaches fair jurisdiction and jurisdiction for all while carrying out “incriminate the accused campaign” and the list goes on. But this is not about the actors, politicians, cricketers, media; it is about the common man.

This is about an incident which I came across in a small town in M.P, last year. During the month of April 2011,there was a large hue and cry regarding the anticorruption campaign and the Lokpal bill. The rage reached to the level of a revolution, where the whole country seems to be united under one agenda. Although the movement is a very noble one, though I doubt its efficacy and efficiency and that so after witnessing this incident I have lost all the confidence in the cause.

There was a large gathering in the centre of this town and it looked like the whole of the city has assembled. There were people everywhere; it was quite an impossible task for a head count. Though clearly dominated by the student community and that so specifically by the college goers. There was a banner of some student welfare association/community, so it was evident that it was a muscle flexing exercise for the group. There were no traces of officials from the main group or the procession’s affiliation to them; it was a clear attempt to hog the lime light by the local student leaders. There were some unofficial banners and Gandhi-topis. Hundreds of policemen and traffic policemen were deployed by the local govt. at the venue; there were barricades all over the road. The procession carried on well with occasional slogans like “bharat mata ki jai”,” vande matram”, and some defaming the politician and the govt., with the procession was a DJ which played some patriotic numbers just to show how deeply all the participants care for the motherland. After every 100 metres of movement, the procession was halted and the leaders danced there were for 15-20 minutes just like a barat, crackers bursted.

There was an unfortunate patient in an ambulance caught in this mayhem; it was unable to find a way around the drama unfolding in the road. This was a case of clear insensitivity by the so called leaders which denied an ailing patient the treatment he needed. My eyes suddenly fell on some of the first year students as was evident by their appearance, hairs short as crew cut, heads stuck to the toe listening quietly to the high esteemed seniors who were as proud as a peacock. It looked like these first year students had nothing to do but to increase the strength of the exercise.

The procession ended with a speech by the leader, the vocals were clearly against the government, recent scams etc. The speech ended with enchanting of the slogans, “bharat mata ki jai”,”vande matram” and some defamation for the government.

I overheard some students saying “achha hua, hamare seniors ne aaj college band karwa dia, mene to sessionals ke liye kuch padha hi nhi tha”. This strucked my mind like a blow,the whole exercise had nothing to do with the movement, it was all for a holiday, more specifically to avoid the sessionals. These were the students of our nation who for the personal gain can bring a city to ransom. I moved on to follow the organisers where the final blow of disappointment was awaiting me. I found the organiser and the group almost fifty in number riding in around 18 bikes away from the venue. Almost every bike had two pillions along with the rider, against the law, and to the top of it nobody wore a helmet. They travelled barely 100 metres only to be stopped by a traffic police barricade. All of them were forced to stop and stand in a line while the police took custody of bikes. The leader tried to flex some power by subsequent show of some verbal power as well as physical but as the cops were armed, nothing could work on. The cops were keen on making a challan on each one of them and claiming a hefty fine. The organisers group discretely started collecting funds among themselves, which they have saved for a liquor party later in the day. The leader suddenly stepped up after a while and talked to hawaldar about something. The hawaldar guided him to the SI saheb. The SI took him for a walk besides the barricade. They returned after a while, hand in hand smiling and chatting as twin brothers lost in a kumbh, the reason for this entente was quite visible from the distance, as the bulge in the leader’s pocket had shifted to that of SI’s. The group moved on quite happily that they have avoided a clash with the law but the disappointment can be seen from their faces as they have to do away with their merrymaking plans and have to be a “teetotaller” that evening.

Now the most basic question remained the same:

Is this the way are we going to fight corruption?

Are the leaders suitable to lead and that so the tender minds?

Is the leader not an “Insensitive Indian?”