1.How India has deviated for the Ram Rajya / the welfare state that even Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of having. Ram Rajya is impossible to attain. Selfish rulers and imperfect citizens make that a pipe dream of sorts. About the welfare state of Gandhi’s dreams, it is hard to judge success or failure. A welfare state usually implies a socialist set up. We have a mixed economy, not by design but by accident. While this has protected us from time to time, it has led to muddled policies depending upon who is in charge. Thoughts of public welfare are bourne out of desire to win the next election rather than a desire to implement a long term strategy.
2.How our nation is divided and entangled in this big ignorant Lie that the Hindutva philosophy of "Ekam Sat vipra bahudha vadanti" meaning “God is one but there are different way to attain Him” is Communal. Swami is on the money with this one. Secularism is the most misunderstood term in the nation. The term Communalism has become a weapon in the hand of liberals across the land. Look at the hight of Hypocrisy, MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi is considered a secular leader where as Varun Gandhi of the BJP is considered communal.
An erudite thinker, Mr. MJ Akbar has admitted that India is a secular country because of Hindus. QED!
3.How it's not the India First or Nation First anymore. Was it ever? I have a feeling that only in time of war or cricket matches against Pakistan, do we show unity. The “common enemy factor” is not a good enough reason for us to exist as a country. On this blog we pride ourselves in being India first nationalists. We divide ourselves on the basis of region, language, caste, social standings and religion. If that is not enough, we find sub-castes, dialects and other ridiculous reasons. What we do not find are ways to unite. We also ignore the importance of our religion as a uniting force.
4.How we have crafted a new untouchable category of an Elite class from the politics, government, media, industry and entertainment. That is more of a human folly. Elitism, deplorable as it is, is a human foible and not an Indian one.
5.How our people are undisturbed / unshaken by the mega scams / scandals to loot the nation’s wealth. This probably is because all of us are involved in corruption either by directly participating in it or enabling it. Every time you go and use someone’s influence or your money to get work done, you are enabling corruption. That said, the government has to start the clean up from the top. Once that happens, the honesty will get forced down the throat of people at lower levels.
6.How we tolerate mediocrity and reward failure. Reservation in education, jobs and now promotions is a testament to the bankruptcy of our ideas. Forcing equality does not create it. On the contrary, it exacerbates it. We do need to help Indians who are poor irrespective of castes. Of course most of the dalits and OBC’s will still benefit from the poverty-based help. Of course our leaders who practice vote bank politics will never agree to a need based help program.
7.How cruelly we treat our women. All you need to do is look at the countries where women are treated as sub-human beings and you will realize that we are on a slippery slope to hell. Countries like Saudi Arabia can never progress. We can either be sensible Hindus (unlike misguided ones like Mohan Bhagwat) and treat women like equals or we can be like Muslims.
We are all sensible people and know the problems and solutions to some extent as well. Sometimes it takes an impetus to break that inertial barrier and get into a “can and will do” mindset. Every year makes us experience new things. It is up to us to learn from them.
A couple of well written article on the topic can be read at:
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/be-the-story-you-want-to-tell-column/20121231.htm
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/make-2013-the-year-of-angst-revolt-and-a-new-order/20121231.htm
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