First of all I would like to define what makes a nation
great. A country does not become great by its GDP. Nor it becomes great by its
growth rate. Good defence may make a country safe, but not great. A country
bountiful in natural beauty may be a great tourist destination, but nature
alone can’t make a country great. For me a country becomes great by its people.
The greatness comes by the collective greatness of people.
Our country was once great. It had world’s greatest
thinkers, philosophers, scientists and leaders. It had people who laid their
lives serving it. It had a class of rulers who went on exiles just to follow
their father’s words. It had people who used to work for common good, for
collective progress. People who were sensitive to their society, to the pain of
their neighbours, who used to respect women and treat her with dignity and
respect and who gave their children equal opportunities in life by teaching
them in same school (Gurukul). All those people made our country great. So
great indeed, that people from all over the world used to come here and marvel
at its greatness. So great that we still use that greatness as our best excuse
whenever we fail to put up any other point (we are used to say that our culture
and values are great in any discussion).
But sadly, I think we no longer qualify for that category.
Our once great country is no longer great. I know many would not agree with me
on this (I myself want to think otherwise). But the fact is India is not a
great country. A country which cannot protect its women and children from rape
and exploitation can’t be great. A country where common man doesn’t even have a
right to protest can’t be great. A country that can’t provide equal
opportunities for its children, where farmers are forced to suicide and yet it
endorses FDI, where perpetrators of worst industrial disaster are left free,
where “National Leaders” publicly say that they can’t stop bomb blasts, where people
know and judge each other not by name and deeds, but by caste, where every day
millions sleep hungry yet people are conveniently left free after scams worth
billions, can never be great.
A 23 year old girl was brutally raped and left to die along
with her friend in Delhi. All that we needed from our so-called leaders was
solidarity and assurance. Yet our puppet Prime Minister failed to address
nation (he did addressed us on TV in an emotionless speech, a week after the
incident). The angry citizens (mostly young people) next decided to protest for
it and demand for action. Instead of listening to their demands, the
authorities used tear gas, water cannons and lathi-charged them. The next day
was one of the blackest days in our democracy. Rajpath was blocked.
Metro-stations were closed. The common man of India lost his right to protest
that day. Those people were not demanding for a separate state nor were they
protesting on a religious ground. They didn’t had any weapons. And they were
not harassing police. Neither were they trying to attack any so-called leader
nor were they trying to hijack Rashtrapati Bhavan. And yet force was used on
them. I fail to understand the reason to close 9 metro stations including
Rajeev Chowk where more than 5 lakhs commuters come everyday. All 5 lakh of
them were not protestors. These 5 lakh include daily wagers, school and college
students, working professionals, tourists, etc. Govt didn’t even thought about
them. And then they went a step ahead
and issued a circular in media not to cover the rape story and protests
anymore. A girl is fighting for her life and these insensitive morons say not
to cover her story! A nation with such heartless elected representatives can’t
be great.
I was very disturbed with the incident (not only rape but
also the death of democracy). So I decided to join the protest for it. But if
the state of our political class is appalling, the attitude of common man is
pathetic to say the least. I was hoping to see a big crowd of people equally
disturbed. However, hardly 100 people came to protest. I guess others were busy
celebrating Christmas. A nation where people are so much indifferent to their
fellow citizen’s pain and sufferings can’t be great.
No matter how much we achieved in terms of GDP. But the fact
is we are amongst the last ten on almost all the HDI indexes. We may become
great again by developing on this front as well. We may become great again by
becoming more sensitive as a society. We may become great again by electing a
better class of people to represent us. But till then, we would remain a
backward, insecure nation and definitely not great.
