“FORTY-TWO KILLED, FIFTY INJURED IN TWIN BLASTS,” screamed the headline on the TOI website. It shocked me beyond words. Sure, Hyderabad has always had some religious tension, hardly surprising given its Muslim population. But it was always the safest, calmest place I knew. And those bastards ripped apart Lumbini gardens and Gokul Chat – they didn’t even care who got killed! What an utter disregard for the sanctity of life… it would make anyone sick to the core.
The bombers used RDX – a simple explosive millions of high-school students across the country know how to make, at least in theory. That’s a chilling thought – life is so frighteningly cheap. A bunch of chemicals, a single twisted thought, a fuse in my hand – and I could send a dozen lives spiraling out of control. What’s there to stop me?
What, indeed? People blame the government: they say there should have been more security, that Hyderabad was a simmering stew of religious resentment waiting to boil over. That’s pointless. Is the government supposed to post guards at the door of every eatery all over the country and check that people aren’t bringing in bombs? Even if they check arms and explosives dealing (which they haven’t really done either), RDX is relatively simple to prepare even on one’s own. No, you can’t directly blame the government in this manner.
The keyword here is directly. The government set up the tension and unrest which indirectly led to this. It’s no coincidence that the rising blasts and terrorism is simultaneous with an increasing recognition of religious and caste differences, minority support and playing off different factions against each other. The government’s casteist and fundamentalist policies only serve to continually remind people of their differences rather than their unity. We’ve all heard the arguments over the OBC/ST/SC policies a million times, hopefully I don’t need to repeat them. Let me just state my stand: I don’t believe that any sort of ‘difference’ should even be recognized in the constitution besides economic ones, except of course where we’re actually celebrating our freedom and diversity to be whoever we want to be, with no discrimination whatsoever. The government continues to waste time worrying about how many Muslim leaders we have, how many minority caste leaders, cries bloody murder for the smallest ‘politically incorrect’ sentiment expressed and accuses its opponents of being fundamentalist and oppressors. Small wonder then, that such intolerance and discrimination is uppermost in the people’s minds. I’m reminded of the lyrics of ‘Across The Lines’ by Tracy Chapman: “Little black girl gets assaulted, ain’t no reason why/Newspaper prints the story and racist tempers fly/ Next day it starts a riot, knives and guns are drawn/ Two black boys get killed, one white boy goes blind… Choose sides, or run for your life. Tonight the riots begin.” And so it goes. Fundamentalist tensions and casteist policies = quick easy blasts = potential devastating massacre on the streets of Hyderabad. Can you hear the terrorists laughing in glee at how easily we fall into the trap? And can you see the politicians mouthing useless words of meaningless sympathy?
There was a time when politicians truly believed in their duty, and that the troubles of the country were their responsibility. As a child, I heard about Lal Bahadur Shastri resigning as Railways Minister following the train derailment at Ariyalur, and I simply couldn’t believe that a politician would do such a thing. The present apathy is so deeply ingrained! Today can you even conceive of any minister doing more than ‘expressing condolences for the bereaved’, let alone resigning? A friend of mine noticed my agitation and remarked ‘u still get shocked it happens so often’. All too true… we have seen so much tragedy and intolerance and utter senselessness that we have become numb. Yes, comfortably numb – what can we do except warm our asses anyway?
So I decided to move on and find out what was happening in other cities. In Mumbai, action has not yet been taken against the Shiv Sena leaders indicted for the famous 1992-93 riots. All they can do is talk about it. Here’s a clear example of politicians being responsible for this mess, and yet they are beyond justice! In Bangalore, a woman committed suicide after workplace harassment. And yes, she had approached the State Women’s Commission for help earlier. In Kolkata, some parents demanded that a primary school should expel the HIV+ kids there to keep their own children ‘safe’. And in Delhi, there is a heated government debate on whether to lower the drinking age from 25 to 21. Isn’t that farcical? A person can drive, vote, even raise a family at 18, but is too young to drink! As if anyone even takes that law seriously! Hm, perhaps the parliament had nothing better to do with their time and resources? The government is wasting its capabilities on non-issues, or worse still the wrong issues entirely, instead of focusing on things that matter. How can we worry about the drinking age when such a large percentage of the population lives below the poverty line, in constant hunger? What is the point of even discussing this on here when so many millions can’t even write their own names, and are consumed by deadly ignorance and superstitions?
Obviously such people vote for whoever can solve these issues for them, short-term. Who can blame them for being more interested in their bread and butter than a nuclear deal? The parties exploit these feelings and come up with promises which will garner them votes. The downtrodden simply feel grateful that someone is even paying attention to their voice. This power is a heady feeling. How often have you felt that parties these days are more interested in merely forming a government and holding on to it, as opposed to actually solving the problems of our country? And you and I are average apathetic middle-class citizens, already having given up on the government, content to let them have their way as long as they don’t affect our lives directly.
Well, let these blasts rock you back to the reality of our situation! That could have been you or your loved ones sitting at that restaurant that day, a victim of all the chain reactions resulting in the death of democracy. Don’t let this end like all the others: “Little black girl gets assaulted/ Don’t no one know her name/ Lots of people hurt and angry/ She’s the one to blame…” Don’t let this sink back into obscurity, wipe off the blame onto someone else, preferably someone obscure, and sit back with a clear conscience. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines democracy as ‘government by the people’. Yes, I would point the finger at the government, and of course sadistic fundamentalists everywhere, but we’re also part of the reason. It’s not separate from us – it’s our country, our responsibility too. We can write and express our views, join protest groups, get into government, start NGOs, work within our individual capabilities to eliminate the root of these problems – ignorance, intolerance and fear. I believe in the potential of India. No country is perfect. It has to become perfect.
