Great Indian politics....its equal, nowhere to be found !
We Indians know what politics actually means better than anyone anywhere in the entire world. We play politics, we live politics, we drink politics.....we cannot live without politics. Politics is our birth right.
Starting from the royal court of Mahabharata* to toady's every road corner, village, household, tea stall, school, fish market....politics is in our blood. This is our greatest heritage ! We all owe it to mama Shukuni** !
This is why when the time came (Independence) we opted for democracy rather than other "cracies". Because only democracy will provide us all with scope for showing our Shukuni-like talents. We are not saying all this out of proudness. It is a shameful politics of exploitation we are seeing these days in this country. It is not ideal democracy in real sense. It is the 'forced politics'. What is 'forced politics', then ?....Read on...
Suppose you have good source of income for a decent living. You don't want to involve in any kind of politics or show connection with any political party in this country. No way ! You will be forced to....
Only a few examples...
[1} If an election is round the corner, various political parties will come to your house asking for donations and with requests for attending their party's election rally or procession. You cannot deny them or else you will be labelled 'anti'. If you dare do, they will burn/ransack your house if their party come to power after the elections. You are forced to donate and attend their rallies.
[2] Poor farmers are more an exploited lot. If you do not take part in political rallies and processions of ruling party, chances are you will not get fair amount of your ration, loan from banks, monthly pension for aged people, subsidized seeds/fertilizers/pesticides etc and govt-sponsored rural jobs. You are 'forced' to....!
[3] If you happen to be a govt employee, you are more vulnerable. You know how hell like it is. Every govt office has a samiti ( or committee ) made up of its employees affiliated to ruling party. They , like a religious ritual, collect chanda or donations every month from its member-employees of that office. If you do not donate or attend meetings, your promotion may be held up or denied and ,worse still, you may be transferred to remote hill region or village as punishment. So, you're 'forced' to ....!
These are only a few of the hundreds of corrupt, inhuman politics in this country.
But, to me personally, what is most disturbing is the scene when you see underaged 10-12 years old children in political parties' processions , party flags in their soft hands and chanting slogans ! What they know about politics ? Is this the age they are supposed to do this ? Poor, undernurished women carrying their tiny toddlers piggy-back under the scorching sun are so common a scene in such political rallies and processions. They are all 'forced' to..... No escaping !
* Over 5000 years old great India epic.
** A cunning fox character in the Mahabharata..
