By Kritika Sharma.
“INCREDIBLE INDIA!”
There was a time when listening to these two angelic words filled me with pride and respect for the mother nation. I could take pride being the citizen of a country which resonated the sentiment of communal harmony, universal brotherhood, oneness, & human herbs of compassion, sympathy & affection. A country spreading its wings to reach new horizons and pinnacles of glory without letting its cultural roots ward off.
But today as we stand at the threshold of development, this emotional connect through which India & its culture were recognized on world platform seems to have taken a backseat!!
It’s true the Britishers in their bid to rule India & rob it off its cultural heritage infused the venom of caste, creed & regional differences amongst the country men. But it’s our very own elected set of representatives who haven’t let this divide erode off but instead have deepened it further to continue enjoying their rule through this cheap tactics of vote-bank politics.
Instigating people to fight against their own brothers & sisters is one of the four walls on which the ruling party survives & strives. Religion and caste violence plays a central role in politics in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states with a population larger than that of Russia. Fanning the tension often brings political gain to parties that claim to protect different religious and caste groups from one another.
Political parties blamed each other for religious riots in the district of Muzaffarnagar, 130 kms northeast of New Delhi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) , that killed at least 31 people and forced hundreds to flee their homes this weekend, in a sign of rising tension between Hindus and Muslims ahead of a general election due by May, 2014.The media narrative exposes the blatant bias exercised by the Akhilesh government, second in line after the abrupt suspension of young IAS officer, Durga Shakti Nagpal which too breathed on communal bias.
The dust raised by the Durga Shakti Nagpal row is yet to settle. But chances are that the key issues that this suspension raises will be sacrificed at the altar of political brinkmanship between the Congress & the Samajwadi Party.Ultimately, her fate will be sealed on the lines of Ashok Khemka (Haryana), Cumashankar (Tamil Nadu) & Raju Narayanswamy (Kerala) who had no choice but to quietly get on with their job, from “insignificant” postings.
This breeding disease of corruption and communal politics is time & again surfacing reflecting that it’s high time the reins are given a jerk to set the wheels churning for an Incredible India in every sense of the word.
This tryst with destiny and our government-“destiny’s child”, needs to be taken to the next level to repair the damages inflected on the country through poor means of governance before the future of the country slips into oblivion.
