Once upon a time there was a benevolent king who always had
the state welfare in his mind and deeds, he firmly believed in wellbeing of all
stakeholders in his kingdom and earnestly strived to fulfil the same thus was
liked by majority, people were happy, and kingdom prospered.
Suddenly, one fine morning a tribal chieftain rebelled with
his followers, stormed into the Kings palace with arms and ammunition to seek
freedom from the King but was overpowered by the men of the King and brought in
front of him for punishment. Being a conscious and a principled man, the King
heard the grievances of the chieftain, realized that the region of these tribes
was truly deprived of the progress due to administrative failure thus pardoned
them all and took the chieftain on board for progress.
Thanks to the visionary King, the kingdom was prospering and
the life of the people peaceful and enjoyable, four decades down the above
incidence yet again a similar rebellion took place from the same region, the
rebels captured, this time the King punished them all with a life imprisonment.
The ombudsman in the kingdom was astonished and asked the King as to why he
punished this chieftain while forty years back he had not only pardoned his
father but even made him a regional satrap.
The King replied that forty years back the rebellion then
was genuine, he could see the deprivation and hunger in the rebels eyes thus it was he who had to make
amends, take them into confidence, alleviate their problems to be inclusive
thus he made amends to ensure the prosperity in that region but this time he
could sense from the body language of the chieftain’s son greed for power and filthy prosperity for selfish gains and not the wellbeing of the
people thus had to be taught a lesson
and punished.
Three decades back Mr. Mahendra singh Tikait had led a farmer’s
agitation and succeeded in evolving a dialogue-based settlement to become a Mahatma
for Kissans of India. History is now repeated with his son Rajesh Tikait trying
to become one but the intent now it seems not a satyagraha (fight for truth)
but svagraha (Selfish interests) deserving punishment. Of course, in democracy,
he has right to protest but should not be at the cost of inconvenience, loss to
property, wealth, lives and progress. The democratic king is helpless thus time
for silent majority to stand up and teach them a lesson in their own dose.
The world moved from monarchy to democracy objectively to
make the society participative and inclusive to give equal opportunities for
all with constitutional guarantees in form of rights and their duties as
principled guidelines. Sadly, the duties are forgotten, principles are hanging
in the air, right has become might, democracy has become mobocracy, nepotism
has replaced despotism, rich richer, poor poorer, north south divide wider,
western materialism overpowers eastern values while disrespect, hate, violence,
corruption has turned people against people.
The current deplorable political situation in USA, U.K.,
France and India all democratic societies can easily be attributed to vote-Bank
politics over a period of time which has demeaned the voter’s intellect and exploited
the gullible Janata. It is high time that the responsible citizenry which has
remained silent majority to the ever-deteriorating situation rises to the
occasion and raise the voices in a democratic fashion to bring all culprits to
books and save ourselves from anarchy.
Initiate a dialogue to evolve a consensus towards developing
a vote-bank free society which respects the law, their own as well as rights of
other citizens along with full understanding of their own duties, value of
their vote with an effective “Just “system to ensure fair play, equal opportunities
and freedom to thrive and prosper.
Satish Shitut
Jai Bharat
