A Nation Twiddling its Thumbs!

India is a nation of bullies; you find them almost everywhere, inside stately offices and inside lowly offices, on footpaths, in shopping malls, on the roads, inside cars and inside buses with tainted glasses. Rooftop proclamations say that unless you bully, you have perhaps not arrived.

A nation of bullies would therefore obviously not wince at being bullied and that is what all of us shamelessly witnessed when our puny yet notorious neighbor recently barged in, desecrated our land and two of its soldiers and then walked out with impunity, with this mighty nation left twiddling its thumb. What is the point in being an atomic and space power and also claiming to be an economic powerhouse in the face of our inability to protect or redeem the honor of the saviors, the armed forces of the nation.

A nation where the head of the government can be murdered in broad daylight and yet it takes decades to bring the killers to gallows, a nation where the desecrators of its parliament are awaiting punishment even after almost a decade and a nation steeped in corruption, indiscipline and low productivity is perhaps capable of only twiddling its thumbs, not taking decisive actions.

Perhaps if the nation valued its honor, we would have laid two thousand of theirs for two of ours and also would not have allowed the desecrators of the parliament and womanhood to go unpunished for ages. The impotence of the state in acting decisively even on issues that threaten the state itself is plainly inacceptable for a society that regards itself as developed. Vulgar crimes against humanity that we sadly witness with amazing regularity can only be tackled with a resolute will and an iron hand. 

Gandhiji had once said that silent acceptance of injustice is as big a crime as being unjust. It appears that he had the present day Hindustan in mind when he said it. A nation drifting away on the sands of time and a national fabric devoid of value systems is perhaps not the best scenario for a nation to find itself in.

Too many wake up calls, yet we pretend to be fast asleep!

Amen!