Messages In This Digest (1 Message)
- 1a.
- Re: GP Editorial: Destroying Society From: Sunil Dutt kainthola
Message
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Re: GP Editorial: Destroying Society
Posted by: "Sunil Dutt kainthola" kainthola@gmail.com bugyal
Sat Aug 9, 2008 9:22 am (PDT)
The editorial says 'Getting out of this mess requires a veritable 'yagna' in
which all issues have to be consigned to the fire of the constitutional
spirit.' However I would prefer to call it as a de-weeding exercise. The
actualization of Uttarakhandi dream depends on this!
Sunil Kainthola
On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 10:57 AM, Rajiv Rawat <rajiv@yorku.ca > wrote:
> /The recent outrageous behaviour of ABVP-affiliated students at Garhwal
> and Kumaon Universities who ransacked their respective administrative
> offices has brought to the fore the growing lawlessness and impunity
> which the ruling party's outfits are imposing on the state. The ABVP in
> this case are acting as stormtroopers for the government as it runs into
> tough opposition to its higher education policy that attempts to
> politicize the university administration with a direct attack on
> academic freedom. The Garhwal Post writes about this troubling trend in
> the following hard hitting editorial. While I don't always agree with
> the Garhwal Post Editorial line, they are right to point out the tawdry
> collapse of civility in Uttarakhand's politics, and the uses and abuses
> of the current government, which amazingly eclipse all previous records.
> /
>
> Lead Editorial
> Garhwal Post
> <http://garhwalpost.com/leftnewsdeta >,il.aspx?id= 427;&nt=Editoria l
> August 6, 2008
>
> Anybody who has been confronted in the middle of the night by drunken
> cops, with their identification tags off, knows how difficult it is to
> deal with the situation. One can counter miscreants with maximum force
> and 'extreme prejudice' in such a situation, but one's hands are bound
> when it comes to dealing with men in uniform.
>
> Such is the authority and majesty of the uniform. However, in India,
> there is so much of corruption and such political misuse of the police
> force that the average citizen holds the cop in complete contempt. The
> cop is considered just someone who has to be got past; the most
> convenient way being exercise of influence or by greasing the palm.
> Politicians rise to power not through convincing argument but by a
> constant process of challenging the police force on various morchas.
> When the politician does come to power, the natural instinct remains
> that of hostility. Having braved the cop's arrogance and lathi blows,
> the politician wants payback and on the street.
>
> The payback is in the way of the cop saluting the passing car, for which
> he has provided VIP passage by inconveniencing the ordinary people. For
> the small-town politician, in particular, this is the ultimate, the goal
> of all that he has striven for. Imagine his frustration and anger when,
> instead of providing him right of way, a cop actually reprimands him for
> breaking traffic rules. The rage is overpowering - the humiliation is
> all the greater because it is public.
>
> Civilised behaviour in India's fluid society is just a thin veneer over
> centuries of competition based on caste, community and class complexes.
> Individuals do not even know why they react to situations in a certain
> fashion. Getting out of this mess requires a veritable 'yagna' in which
> all issues have to be consigned to the fire of the constitutional
> spirit. Leaders and officials must emerge from a process that develops
> their nobility of character. No amount of rules and regulations can
> ensure the proper behaviour of politicians or provide courage of
> conviction to the uniformed man.
>
> There have been incidents ever since the BJP came to power in the state
> that have exposed the inner psychology of the party cadre. No matter how
> much benefit of doubt one gives them - after all they have sought votes
> in the name of Ram - their behaviour increasingly shows they want to
> enjoy an unbridled, feudal kind of power; to be just like the Congress
> was over the past so many years. Sadly, lacking the sophistication of
> the average Congressman, they are not being able to enjoy the 'fruits'
> of power very successfully. Be it exploitation of women, use of
> discretionary power to gather lucre or, peacock like, displaying
> feathers of office, they are doing it very badly indeed. As a result,
> there are scenes almost every other day of a vulgar use of petty power.
>
> It may be said that they have the power, and it is being able to do all
> these things successfully that counts. Manhandle a traffic cop and then
> have him suspended at the hands of spineless senior officials - thus
> come out looking powerful. How much the system has been damaged, how
> weak the civilisational structure has been rendered doesn't matter. One
> doesn't expect to be around when the barbarians come with their bombs
> and single-mindedness. The system will have become so weak and fractured
> that capability to stand up to the Jehadis and Maoists will be
> non-existent. Ordinary people should worry because those who have ripped
> them off will have long gone to live in ordered societies in foreign lands.
>
> --------------------- --------- ------
>
>
> _____________________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
>
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> @ http://uttarakhand.org & http://uttarakhand.net
>
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>
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>
>
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