Ugly As Ugly Can Be
By Seikholen Thomsong
Communal riots tarnished the very birth of this nation. The British left the country dividing it into India and Pakistan, more than fifty years ago. Communal bloodshed threatened the polity to disintegrate. Remember the train loads of corpses that were said to have come from Pakistan or reached there. The scars were there for all to see. The wounds were never allowed to heal. Certain people keep opening them from time to time for narrow political gains or for imagined historical wrongs that they try to correct. The human mind in its crudest and basic state is never noble we have ample evidence.
We Indians hang our heads in collective shame each time some people cause us embarrassments. We would have to continue doing it. We seem to have grown immune to the communal hatred that some of our politicians and religious madmen are involved in spreading.
Gujarat is in the news again. The army was inducted to save the hides of Narendra Modi. The army’s duty is to protect the geographical integrity of the nation from aggression. It is a pity that an organization as noble and unbiased as the army has to be deployed to keep in power sectarian and petty politicians. The basic reason of its deployment may be stated as to restore law and order. However in truth it helps protect the very regime that has engendered the hatred by ensuring that things don’t get out of control. When seen on a larger spectrum the very induction of the army helps save the Modi government only. It has been degraded to protect the longevity of political masters. A man as unscrupulous as him had to whip up communal frenzy and when things get out of control had to make fervent plea to the center for induction of the army – the only organization that is not tarnished by narrow communal, caste or religious bigotry.
No wonder the morale in the uniformed services is said to be low. The army is an institution which today can boast of so many things that the political classes or the bureaucracy can never hope to achieve. When all else seem to be corrupted and debased the extent is much lesser in the armed forces. We have the culture, ethos and the tradition of the services to thank for.
Communal riots tarnished the very birth of this nation. The British left the country dividing it into India and Pakistan, more than fifty years ago. Communal bloodshed threatened the polity to disintegrate. Remember the train loads of corpses that were said to have come from Pakistan or reached there. The scars were there for all to see. The wounds were never allowed to heal. Certain people keep opening them from time to time for narrow political gains or for imagined historical wrongs that they try to correct. The human mind in its crudest and basic state is never noble we have ample evidence.
We Indians hang our heads in collective shame each time some people cause us embarrassments. We would have to continue doing it. We seem to have grown immune to the communal hatred that some of our politicians and religious madmen are involved in spreading.
Gujarat is in the news again. The army was inducted to save the hides of Narendra Modi. The army’s duty is to protect the geographical integrity of the nation from aggression. It is a pity that an organization as noble and unbiased as the army has to be deployed to keep in power sectarian and petty politicians. The basic reason of its deployment may be stated as to restore law and order. However in truth it helps protect the very regime that has engendered the hatred by ensuring that things don’t get out of control. When seen on a larger spectrum the very induction of the army helps save the Modi government only. It has been degraded to protect the longevity of political masters. A man as unscrupulous as him had to whip up communal frenzy and when things get out of control had to make fervent plea to the center for induction of the army – the only organization that is not tarnished by narrow communal, caste or religious bigotry.
No wonder the morale in the uniformed services is said to be low. The army is an institution which today can boast of so many things that the political classes or the bureaucracy can never hope to achieve. When all else seem to be corrupted and debased the extent is much lesser in the armed forces. We have the culture, ethos and the tradition of the services to thank for.
So Mr PM deploy the army sparingly unless of course if someday youas a poltical class, want to make the armymen so fed up with you all and decide to take the governance of the country into its own hands. Iam sure we do not want a military dictator though it is too farfetched to say we could have one in the near future.
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