Amidst the appalling human horrors that this nation and the world witnessed over the last many days, as well as the complete failure of non-partisanship, and dreadful governance, there was a flash of light that showed the latent resilience of this country. The grand merger of Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum has put the company on the competitive map of the world. Once again, Dhirubhai Ambani has pulled out a trump card and shown himself to be a man who lives by creating challenges and taking them on! In a country where entrepreneurship is never encouraged or endorsed, breaking through and succeeding is a mammoth task. Reliance is now in the international league and with this, Dhirubhai has thrown a formidable challenge to his sons. Will he now step back and put them to the test?
Wherever one turns to in this blighted nation of ours, insane and redundant regulations have done one basic thing ? they have forced corruption to be the mainstay of life here in India. The bureaucracy that was designed to rule as the administrative arm of a colonial power continues unabated with the same mindset, becoming more and more repressive. No government is willing to cull them or rewrite the rules to generate a new energy that will get India to break loose in all areas of economic activity. Everything you do in this country is a painful and frustrating exercise. At each step there is a hurdle, usually a hugely foolish one, that prevents one from moving. It is like an interminable traffic jam. Intelligence and common sense has no premium here.
The politician has learnt that the bureaucracy, with its medieval mind, is an ideal buffer for the rampant non-performance and zero governance. The people, recognising this entrenched characteristic, have taken their lives into their own hands and find ingenious ways to survive and be productive. They are then told that they are not working within the stated parameters. But, the parameters are untenable. Finally, money power wins! We have reduced ourselves to virtual rubble.
When the Supreme Court puts Arundhati Roy into Tihar jail for a symbolic 24 hours on the issue of contempt of court, it opens itself up for all kinds of fundamental criticisms. The entire judiciary that lies below this apex court is ridden with wrongdoing, and has nothing remotely to do with the dictionary definition of justice. Instead of wasting energy and time on comparatively unimportant issues it should be rectifying, fast, the operation of jurisprudence in India. Each morning the newspapers tell horror stories of murder cases that are in court where the proceedings move rapidly from tragedy to farce. And, the entire population of India knows why. Shame has ceased to be.
Our leaders keep harping on the great Indian past but in the same breath they condone its destruction. Even simple things like preservation of national treasures, clean roads leading to them, availability of human facilities at the sites, removal of touts indulging in illegalities and suchlike are not addressed, let alone done. Varanasi epitomises the abject lack of care. An ancient city sitting on a great river. There is filth and more filth.
The administration is totally ineffective, there seems to be no municipality. Why doesn?t the VHP first clean its existing temples before becoming ballistic about the mythical one? Clean Varanasi. Ensure no sewage gets disposed along the seven kilometre stretch between Varuna and Asi as a start.
Why doesn?t the BJP government force a Kar Seva for that exercise? Why don?t they show their faces in Varanasi instead of allowing it to wallow in filth? Why not clean the Vishvanath temple and bring it to the cleanliness standards of the Golden Temple? You can virtually eat off the floor of the Golden Temple. Why is the VHP not as agitated about the conservation of Varanasi as it is about the Ram Temple? These questions need to be answered. Maybe Tarun Vijay should be given the task of cleaning India?s most sacred Hindu city and river. Let us begin at the beginning.
What happened in Gujarat was there for all to see. India has sized up Narendra Modi, the government, his party and his mind. India has also witnessed the flip flop of the National Democratic Alliance government at the centre. India has heard the voices, seen the images and the shenanigans. India?s majority, traversing all faiths and ideologies, have seen the operation of extremists and the response of governments. No more need be said. The damage is done. With every passing boo boo the damage increases for the ruling coalition. It is only a matter of time. And no amount of jingoism hereafter, or cries about the involvement of the ISI, will change the reality that there is a complete breakdown in ethics and governance.