The government better act against corruption, or an Indian Spring is not far away!

It is ridiculous to see the levels to which the Congress-led UPA government is going to divert attention away from the core issues raised by Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.
Not only has the government failed in its duty to govern, but it also showed some of the traits hidden in the Congress's DNA when it used the police to break up a totally democratic protest. A protest against the corruption which is eating into the common man's life and helping fatten the purses of the rich and powerful.
And then the government makes a ruckus about how Sushama Swaraj's jig during the protest in Rajghat will hurt Gandhiji's sentiments! They should be doing what they are supposed to do -- govern and bring accountability  not try to paint protesters' activities in black and white. The real world is a lot more grey!
This government has shown it cannot rule and worse, it is clearly trying to protect the corrupt -- or at least hoping the protests would blow over.
If young protesters aided by cell phones and the Internet can force change the world over, especially in parts of West Asia, India's rulers should well be warned that it can happen in this country too.
This country has a predominantly young population now -- a population which does not care about protecting fossilized social and power structures.
They want change and accountability; trying to protect elitist power structures with a veneer of democracy is not going to help.
India's politicians should see the writing on the wall or an Indian Spring is not too far away.

So why is India not banning the BlackBerry?

UAE, Saudi set to ban BlackBerry services
The Associated Press reports that both UAE and Saudi Arabia are set to ban BlackBerry messaging services. Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the popular communications device used by business and corporate users worldwide had been in talks with UAE authorities from 2007 over the issue, the report said.

The Gulf states' concerns are similar to what Indian authorities have been raising over the last couple of years -- the encrypted messages that zip between BlackBerrys cannot be intercepted, and that terrorists could make use of the devices and the network to plan attacks.
Why the Indian authorities chose to remain quiet after raising a hue and cry is a mystery. Contrast that to how the two Gulf states have wielded their power to deliver a strong no-nonsense message to the Canadian company.

While there would never be an end to the debate on whether it is right to ban the service or not, what I loathe about the Indian authorities is their apparent surrender to the arrogance of the foreign company.

Many of these western companies still think India is a banana republic and they can get away with what they want to do; think of how Canada denied visas to Indian security officials recently.

These companies still are living in a time warp and would like to believe they are the master of the world.

Whether India would end up banning the BlackBerry or not, we need to send companies like RIM a strong message -- that we will tolerate no nonsense when it comes to national security.