Tony Blair in Delhi and the accompanying traffic snarls disrupted the working day for simple straightforward people in the Capital. All these chaps who need suffocating security must not be allowed to run loose in a city. They must never be housed in a hotel or permitted to drive down the streets because they ?pollute? the atmosphere. They should be choppered in from the airport to Rashtrapati Bhavan, housed in the high security compound, have all their bilateral talks there and be choppered back to the airport. That is the civilised way of doing it. Spare us the torture of desperate inconveniences and indescribable traffic jams because two individuals need to be protected for political mismanagement and for doing whatever ?wrongs? they did.
Political stances and pu-blic posturing by leaders has become ungracious and un-warranted. It is all so crass. There is no iota of dignity left in the manner most politicians conduct themselves. The official visits of ?international terrorist targets? affects the peace and quiet of everyday life. We now have threats from militant groups who want to blow up hotels if Pakistani prisoners are not released from Rajasthan jails. India was comparatively free of such activity, except in certain troubled areas like Kashmir. Now, with the Indian government joining the refrain of American and British leaders, and seen to have become a clone of those powers, we too will become a potential ?target.? We will rapidly become a danger zone if we are seen to be harping on the rhetoric of those western countries that have brought anger and antagonism upon themselves with their intrusive foreign policies. Why did we have to join this club and make ourselves vulnerable?
Did the United States and Britain think that the blatant aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq would not result in the kind of retaliation we witness today? Do they believe that the ?other? world will cower under their attack because they happen to have economic supremacy? If they did think they would get away with murder, they were mistaken. Revenge is human, particularly when innocents are butchered mercilessly by an invading power.
The United States has never comprehended cultures that extend beyond their boundaries. It has viewed the rest of the planet with deep arrogance. It has always wanted to dictate to the world community, never be a part of it. It is considered a ?rich? alien. That is the real problem and concern.
With hurricane Katrina, Shri Bush has been exposed. What supreme mismanagement and what a theatrical cover-up, thereafter! Will the American people hold him accountable? Or will they not see through the veneer he has around him? To think that the world?s most wealthy and advanced nation-state cannot be in full command of this particular disaster that has hit the country is scary. It speaks volumes.
The degradation of the environment by politicians influenced by land mafias is resulting in endless disaster situations that are becoming uncontrollable. Cities and towns are beginning to fall apart because of mismanagement and faulty decisions. Flood plains are sold as land for real estate development! Quick bucks ensue. Then comes a heavy monsoon, followed by floods. They guilty are never brought to book. Mumbai is the most recent case in point. Corrupt decisions were recent happenings. Will the officials, the real offenders, pay the price and be brought to book? Will an example be set for the future? Or will land be furiously reclaimed, rivers dammed and God knows what else.
Now we are confronted with a fresh absurdity?the linking of rivers. How much longer is man going to fight the laws of nature? When will man learn to respect nature and not decimate it? Why are those in power, decision-makers, administrators, business people and other privileged, educated entities so callous about the environment? Why are they motivated by greed? Why do many lack integrity? Why has India gone so wrong? Will the new generation in this country take on the challenge of restoring and then nurturing the strengths of this culture, this melting pot of all hues and shades?
A majority of Indian citizens belong to post-independent India. They are not carrying the baggage of the freedom struggle and partition. They are energetic, vibrant, entrepreneurial and raring to go. That is the great hope.