Another Republic Day. Remembering the day we threw off the foreign yoke decisively. Like every other Indian I too feel patriotic feelings rushing through my veins. But there is a tinge of sadness that mixes with this patriotism. How can I not feel sad when I see the slimy politicians taking salutes from ordinary men and women who are defending our borders for a living, with hardly a thanks or enough pecuniary benefits? The injustice of it angers me: the demagogue who is out to make a profit by selling off the country's wealth and security is taking, yes taking, salute from the real guardians of the country.
Today's Times of India Online has a report on a Goldman Sachs study that India will overtake the United States as an economic powerhouse by 2050, to become the second largest economy after China. Media survives by playing up such stories. When there is a boom you can sell such stories. But beyond the feel-good factor, we ignore the one class of people who can derail this dream - the politicians. Everyone else, except the politicians, and Islamic and Christian fundamentalists, have a stake in seeing India become a global economic powerhouse. Now, equating our politicians with terrorists may seem taking it too far, but the truth is the politician is more insidious than the terrorist.
If India did not have a licence-raj, a quota system, a separate set of privileges for the minorities, and umpteen other injustices, imagine where this country would have been today. Yes, the system is changing but the politician is not. They are trying to work the new evolving system to their advantage. And it is in their interest to build into the new India the same flaws that characterize the current Indian society and polity. Will the India of the 2050 be different from today's India, other than for its economic power? Nay, will India ever reach that 2050 milestone if these wily politicians and their crony bureaucrats are allowed to engineer the genes of the new India with the very flaws that have held us back for around 60 years?
Yes, it is time to think of a new India - a new India with a new political system. Junk parliamentary democracy. Junk the Westministerial system. They have been foisted on us by the West to prevent us from growing and achieving greatness. And the West has its handymen here in our midst in the form of our politicians. We need a better tomorrow - for India, for Me and for You. Let us think out of the box; let us get these parasites out of our midst.
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