Sunday, December 2, 2007

The dangerous new trend

Since the last few months, i'm observing a dangerous trend in Indian society, which I believe is not something natural but man made. I'm talking about the protest over protests. When some people would take to streets to protest against some unjustifiable government policy, then they are not to be met by police barricades. The state machinery will not oppose them. Instead they will meet another set of people who fall on the greener side of the policies. And so what one would witness is two groups of people fighting on the street, while the state looking the other way. In the end of course the state can prove that their policy is for the people, and thats the reason people took to streets to protest over the protest.
Such a thing started over the Narmada dam issue, when people took to violence in state of Gujarat against the tribals of Madhyapradesh who were opposing the dam. The tribals were losing everything they had (land,homes,cattles etc), while people in Gujarat would get less of electricity.
Then more lately in Nandigram in the state of bengal, we saw people fighting people. There was one group which opposed the SEZ project, while the other which opposed the opposition of SEZ (and hence maybe was in favor of that project). It made a perfect case for the state to defend their policy on the issue. Then what happened in Guwahati was shocking. The locals in the town attacked a procession taken out by tribals demanding schedule tribe status. It is hard for me to believe that a shopkeeper would leave his shop and go about attacking others.
And lastly a similar thing happened in Orissa. Some people attacked (with bombs and guns), people opposing another SEZ project.

It becomes very hard for me to imagine that those who attacked tribals on the street of Guwahati, or those in Orissa or in Nandigram were common people like you and me. I feel, somewhere they were payed group to attack and threaten those who oppose the state, while in the media the picture is given of people fighting.

So, the next time I take to street to protest over the government taking over the next door park to convert it into a multiplex, I should not expect to meet the police force. I should expect other people who are in favor of such a project. Common people like me. I'm scared of such a thought.
It seems we are moving towards south america of 70s. It becomes so much convenient for the state to divide us further. This time not on religious lines but on developmental issues. So there are two kinds of people, one who are pro-development, while others who are anti-development. And of course its the state who defines the meaning of the word de-ve-lop-ment.

Meanwhile in all the news channel the debate is on whether will it be OSO or Saanwariya or who will captain India in the tests. We need to escape what Swami Vivekananda once described as the propensity of the Indian elite to discuss for hours whether a glass of water ought to be taken with the left hand or the right hand.

3 comments:

Anirudh said...

South America of 70s. Educate me please. Atleast guide me to some reading resources. Thanks.

Harsh Satya said...

confessions of economic hitman by john f perkins is a good book to read. it gives and insight into the sponsored protests in number of latin american countries.

Unknown said...

ya just like d other face of coin, at times diversities of our country could prove detrimental to integrity of our country..
but at same time it cud prove to b a boon for our nation...
i wud b a happy man to read d +ve aspects n prospects of same in ur blog...
luck n hopes!!!!!!