Long overdue and very well-deserved, the one tight slap that is all over the news today.
It is heartening that despite the general apathy we still have amongst us people who are stirred deeply enough to put themselves at great personal risk and take one bold step that speaks louder and reaches farther than any ‘democratic’ debate.
There are two types of people in India today: those who will turn up their noses and say “undemocratic” when all the evidence of democratic executive failure stares them in the face every morning as they read the news (which I hope they do), and those who see this act as an outpouring of pent-up frustration and anger at the audacity and shamelessness of one minister who has nonchalantly gone about making money and presiding over cricket matches while vast amounts of valuable foodgrain rots under his ministry’s supervision. One minister against whom the most serious allegations vanish from the news in a matter of hours, and who has amassed assets far beyond his legitimate means without a whisper of protest from either the government or the opposition.
While I applaud this revolutionary act of courage, I am also concerned for the long-term safety of the slapper and his family, who will be out of the public eye as soon as the news channels find something else to talk about. He has no godfather to protect him, and the genuine passion for which he is today being idolised will be used against him by his oppressors. For his act of righteous anger he will be called a criminal and punished, while the minister’s high-level crimes will continue unopposed.
