The Rizvanur saga and the unchecked terror unleashed on the people of Nandigram have brought to the fore a frightening truth and many questions.
Does the Communist Party of India (M?is it Marxist or Maoist?), an ally of the Central government, have any respect for democracy and constitutional probity? Does it believe in operating by its own ?private? law and not the established law of this land? Is it stuck in its traditional Stalinist mode of disregarding individual rights, dissent and opposition, preferring the use of terror, oppression, suppression of facts and harassment, to override all human rights in the information age and new millennium? And finally, what is the difference between Right and Left fascists?
The impropriety of not deploying Central forces in Nandigram to attempt a stalling of the violence there, and allowing CPM cadres to run amok in full view of citizens across India, only proves that the government of the State has abused what should have been an impartial state authority, there to protect all citizens regardless of their political beliefs, their faith and so on.
It would be interesting to follow the terror trajectory and visit remote villages of Bengal to find out what the truth is in the rural countryside. Where in earlier decades there was no television to visually capture the reality on the ground, dictatorial political dispensations could get away with murder. Today, recent exposures like we have seen in West Bengal and Gujarat, are beginning to stir public consciousness about the real state of conditions in the country. And what we see appalls us. In West Bengal, the gospel according to Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong is showing deep cracks and bleeding gangrene wounds.
A young and new generation of Indians will not tolerate this relic of despotic rule and failed rhetoric. A fresh, ?inexperienced? leader, who is not carrying the baggage of the last 60 years, who is not parochial and partisan, nor wanting to push the public discourse to the edge in an attempt to polarise the contemporary socio-political narrative for narrow gains, and who, instead of the predictable, contained and exploitative political play of the last few decades, reaches out across the structured albeit failed political boundaries to engage with a post-independence generation of Indians of all castes, creeds, classes and faiths who have a dream, aspire for the best, are hardworking, want enabling infrastructure within which to operate and generate wealth and opportunities for this benighted nation, and who would want to actively participate in the excitement of development and growth, savour and enjoy the freedom and celebration of cultural and intellectual expression, and create an environment that endorses, aids and abets the continuance of a great plural, diverse and energetic civilisation that has the strength to absorb the best, can only succeed.
There is no risk in breaking loose from the present paradigm to devise and launch an inclusive, contemporary political language by changing the vocabulary and embracing the people with a clean and open plea for real change, putting an end to falsehoods, petty politics and rampant corruption that have suffocated India. The clean conscience of a leader is the essence of good politics. To speak out against the wrongs being perpetrated on innocent civilians is the first commandment a public person must adhere to. To be silent and non-committal when a ?colleague? is indulging in gross violations of morality because it may upset the apple cart and wreck the comforts of complacency, is wholly unwarranted. That alas, seems to have become the nature of politics in India.
Rajiv Gandhi did change the course for our generation, and there was a sense of excitement in the air till his government was disabled by the Bofors attack and investigation. A complete waste. The degradation, corruption and breakdown that followed have led us to chaos and anarchy. India urgently needs to change course again and usher in positive energy.
