The nation is burning,
But the fire in me is still alive,
Many colours of the saffron brigade have arrived,
And many are yet to arrive,
But I still stand with my held high,
Waiting with my arms wide open,
For the loving embrace of the colours of democracy,
A true democracy.
In the first place, we must realize, one thing that, it is us, the people of the country, who have put such a power at the helm of the nation, and very easily, we can conclude that it has gone out of hand. Today, a young Dalit scholar commits suicide in a Central University, and the MHRD remains silent without accepting any sort of apology or releasing any official investigation into the case. Today, the Delhi Police, who incidentally report directly to the BJP government at the centre, beat the students in a peaceful protest and the ministry stays mute, extending the muteness to the public administrators too.
Many news channels are carrying on debates regarding the beating up of JNU students by the Delhi Police but the point they are missing is, the conflict of the ideologies between the conflicting groups. We need to remember that this BJP government is not the BJP ministry of Vajpayee, it is the ministry of not a BJP candidate but quite evidently, of an RSS Pracharak, who has got so much power bestowed upon him, that the first thing he did was to transfer the unlimited powers at his disposal to his saffron followers. I have already written in one of my articles, how the BJP government has caused the deterioration of the secular culture of the country. The biggest proof is the way in which they are trying to dictate the food habits of the people.
Rohith Vemula’s suicide brought to the fore, the disgusting practice of the ruling class of trying to outcast every single voice of dissent that arises from the campuses of the country. I question the rulers, if the campuses are not allowed to be the hubs of dissents, then where else do we expect the dialectics to come in for the development of the nation, as a whole. The ruling government tries to pin down very single voice, fearing that the fire of secular thought and the storm of freedom of speech might turn up the tide against them.
Very recently, some students from the JNU went up to the RSS office to protest against the rising saffron tide in the country. It is their fundamental right. Now, the police are very well aware of the method in which these protests go, there is a very well defined procedure for dealing with theses protests but the police instead, directly went on beating the students until the protesters were silenced down. Now, I must make you remember that, peaceful protests are the voice and spirit of democracy, and if you are going to try to push these protests down, then questions will be asked, and very soon, these questions are going to turn into another set of protests, and this time, they might not remain peaceful, because history has proved that the voice of democracy first speaks in a calm tone, and then if its subdued forcibly, it takes to shouting and yelling.
The ruling class of the country, today, treats any person, who is not adhering to the so called “good RSS ideology”, as a threat to the internal security of the country. The students, especially if found to be leftists, then they are treated like worthless beings, who are unanimously tagged up as “Maoists” and “Naxalites”. This is the type of democracy which the present government has given us.
Now, the BJP officials might keep on repeating the rhetorical and illogical explanations for the unfortunate turn of events, but they cannot deny that their attitude to the students and the youth, who disagree with their “outdated” and “fascist” ideology, has been violent and totally against the principles of a democratic state. The treatment that the ABVP got, for it being in close quarters with the BJP, in the Rohith Vemula case, is a glaring example of that.
The news channels carrying out the various debates must remember that it is, and it is, a concentrated attack on a particular ideology, the ideology which speaks of secularism and upliftment of the poor. It is a very planned and concentrated attack on the growing mass of progressive students who have been fed up with this fascist government at the centre. So, it is natural that the conflict of ideologies will take place now, and the media, instead of pulling it down, it must in fact, try to uplift this conflict in order to let the people of this country know, and the real face of the saffron brigade.
The police commissioner, when questioned about the protest and the inhuman attack by the Delhi police on the innocent students, he just said he did not get time in the day. Is it the behaviour we expect from a police official?
Is it the type of police official, with whom we rest the safety of our lives?
The answer is “NO” and very soon, if this attitude persists, the people of this country will put this very word, “NO” in the results of the elections for the BJP and lead the way for the establishment of a democratic and secular force in the country.
