With the endless murders, all and sundry toting guns and firing shots at innocent people on the streets, and the hijacking of cars on main roads in the capital, the Lieutenant Governor?s office and the police force that he commands must be taken to task. The LG?s office is silent about these horrors that are being inflicted upon the citizens of Delhi and most do not know that law and order is not under the chief minister. It is the responsibility of the LG. It is an absurdity but there is so much in India that is irrational, absurd and untenable.
The sad thing is that because the families of the rulers are protected with our money, they have no idea of the trauma that normal people go through living at the edge in this city of crime ? the capital of India.
However, the recent examples of the police being involved with the killing of those they are attached to for their protection, should put the fear of God into our rather unpleasant VIPs. It could happen anytime, for no reason, to anyone, including those who rule us and those who usurp protection for themselves and their families, neglecting the citizenry. It is only when the VIP realises that the unnecessary, abrasive and rude security men who strut around him could be a danger, and that people are revolted by the sight of these gun-toting creatures, that a new and clean atmosphere will return to this city in particular.
Delhi has been polluted by this self-imposed importance that smacks of deep-seated insecurity and a lack of confidence. What will these gentlemen and their families do when they retire to some colony on the fringes of Lutyen?s Delhi, where they truly belong? How will they relate to their roots that they had abandoned? Life is bound to be tough without the havaldars!
On the national stage, Sonia Gandhi met with the Prime Minister on the question, we are told, of whether our troops should be sent to Iraq. Messrs Vajpayee, Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh looked desperately glum in the footage, and surprisingly, Sonia Gandhi was smiling, her body language spirited. Most unusual but very positive. Needless to say, the Americans want India to send troops to Iraq since their body bags are mounting and their citizenry will soon put their foot down. Bush needs some ?dispensable? soldiers and so why not men from India, an acolyte of the US? We believe in the ?next life?, the Americans do not!
It is only as peace-keeping forces under the direct supervision of the United Nations that Indian forces should enter any such arena. To be ?used? in this manner is unacceptable. The folly conducted upon the world, at huge cost, by Bush and Blair must be borne by those two leaders alone. Just because we are third- or fourth-world partners does not mean we will allow our men to be killed for the misdeeds of the super power lot. Let us hope we keep our dignity aloft in this area at least.
And finally, the horror story of the state of our Bharat Ratna, Ustad Bismillah Khan. It just proves how utterly meaningless the Bharat Ratna and other such honours have become. It shows our complete lack of respect for the great living treasures of India. Government will spend crores protecting its transient ?officers?, travelling to foreign climes on inconsequential rubbish, but they will never come forward with a fresh idea and attitude towards something like this. The arts were nurtured and flourished in India when the patron was the Maharaja and his court. Artistes of all disciplines worked without pressures of survival and created splendid buildings, paintings, sculptures, crafts, fabrics, fine music and dance. With true patronage gone, replaced by government ?honours?, the devaluation of India?s only special asset has begun.
Independent India will go down in history as being hugely destructive of its inherent strengths in an attempt to clone the West. What this lot does not realise is that whatever little awe and respect the West has for us is because of the very things we are consciously destroying. We are plain insecure and will, therefore, be left behind despite all the hype and chatter.