One man, who can become the face of modern invention, made a startling statement - "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". I respect him for the way he changed mobile devices with innovative features (sometimes 'inspired' by others) that made consumers nothing less than a King! That's Steve Jobs.
Indian politics, meanwhile, has raised the bar even higher. They also modified the adage. It's no longer "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish". Its now "Stay Foolish, Stay Popular". Based on some statements that our 'esteemed' politicians have made, there's no way for us to think otherwise. The issue in discussion is 'rape'. But, as I have always maintained, Indian politics is more 'issue-discussion' based than 'issue-eradication' based. Issues are not solved, they are just used to promote oneself to higher rungs of Indian politics. Here are some politicians (and a social group) who rose in the popularity charts for their utterly foolish statements.
Politician #1: She is the 11th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the first woman to hold the office. She is the first woman Railway Minister of India. In 2012, the Time magazine named her one of the "100 Most influential People in the World". She is popularly known as "Didi". Despite having such an influential profile, this is what she said:
"Earlier, parents would reprimand them if men and women held hands but now everything is done openly. It's like an open market with open options"
Politician #2: I have no idea who this politician is. I tried searching for "Dharambir Goyat" on Wikipedia and Wikipedia suggested I instead search for "Dharambir Goat". Seriously. Anyways, this guy is the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee member and Congress Hisar district spokesman. This spokesman spoke the following on the issue:
"90 per cent of rape cases are (a case of) consensual sex between the girl and boy. The girl gets into an affair with a boy and she goes with him without knowing that he is of criminal mindset. It's not the state government which is responsible for rapes. Infact in most of the cases it is consensual sex"
Politician #3: He is an Indian politician from the state of Haryana. He has been Chief Minister of Haryana on 4 occasions. he as been with the NDA and UPA on various occasions - a true politician. He is Om Prakash Chautala and this is what he said:
"We should learn from the past... specially in Mughal era, people used to marry their girls to save them from Mughal atrocities and currently a similar situation is arising in the state. I think that's the reason khap has taken such a decision and I support it."
And this is what the Khap Panchayat said - "Boys and girls should be married by the time they turn 16-year-old, so that they do not stray... this will decrease the incidents of rape"
I understand the fact that India supports free speech. But if you are representing a community / constituency, you ought to make responsible and logical comments. Or if you are presenting your opinion, do so with approved facts. Sometimes being silent shows you are more matured than opening your mouth.
And NO, I don't blame them. I blame each and every one of us. After all, we elected them! We gave them a voice and a platform and they made statements that can only be termed as - Foolishness. A slap on our faces!
Oh, and by the way, we haven't even discussed what the victim might be going through.
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| Image: Kind courtesy: www.sowetanlive.co.za/ |
I agree. Instead of blaming them, we must balme ourselves. Democracry is seriously rotting in our country!
ReplyDeleteYes Jenny, we are to blame. Also, I would rather say politicians are rotting our democracy.. I still feel democracy is the way to go for a country like India..
DeleteI am not sure whether they stay foolish to remain popular or they are popular only because they are foolish!!
ReplyDeleteHehe.. This way or that way, I guess they all mean the same :)
Deletewell true fault lies in us .. the people of the nation ...
ReplyDeleteBikram's
Maybe next time, we will decide our leader after considering all the facts..
DeleteWell highlighted, Binu! Perhaps its their frustration for their inability to stop such activities that tickles their illogical side of the brain. People, in power especially, should think twice before they speak. Really, how can they be so insensitive... the thought that came with your last line was very painful indeed.
ReplyDeleteSad state of our country Arti. People have this urge to speak out, get in the news irrespective of right / wrong reasons..
DeleteGreat points raised here, Binu!
ReplyDeleteThe politicians feed such bullshit into the minds of illiterate and ignorant people, who readily lap it up. The only way forward is educating the masses, something which will vehemently be opposed by these opportunistic politicians, though...
You have a great point here Vishal. There's a section of our society which gets influenced by such talk and this increases the divide.. Educating the masses is a long term option. But I feel politicians should be made to apologize for the statement publicly..
Delete:( yes thats exactly write we got to blame our selves for electing such donkeys!!!
ReplyDeleteI keep telling this India needs Leaders not politicians :| and I dont find any!
In fact I feel there are some politicians who are honest.. But they are either independents (i.e. not belonging to any party) or a minority in a national party. Hence, they never get the opportunity to lead the country the way it should be led..
DeleteI think we need young ministers. How can you expect 70 year old's to understand whats going on in the country right now ?
ReplyDeleteI have always liked Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia..they always seemed so genuine. I have Mr Scindia and he really can do a lot as a leader but the problem is the party wont give him a high place in the govt until he is 'old' enough
There was 2 ways to look at it Ritika.. One is exactly what you said. The other way is to have senior politicians (with tons of experience) to hold key portfolio's and manage them diligently and newer arenas like communication, IT, clean energy given to younger ones.. The assumption in the 2nd plan is that the politicians can be trusted :D
DeleteIts so sad that such donkeys are ruling the country with so many educated commoners who have more common sense than them!
ReplyDeleteAnita, maybe its because the intelligent commoners are more concerned about feeding their families than ruling the nation..
DeleteYes, we should be blamed. Look at western countries, people choose their leaders so wisely. Worst is when I see people touching their feet. Disgusting!
ReplyDeleteAnything to be in the media! :) This seems more like Reality television..
ReplyDeleteI guess its our doing in some way. The ruling party does not seem to have a vision. The opposition is non existent. Its not wrong to point out how they flawed, but they are there coz other chose not to. There is still hope though, and the situation will improve, the only problem is at what pace would that happen.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the word 'hope'.. that's the only thing helping us survive in this political environment.. Thanks for dropping by, Brijesh.
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ReplyDelete