15 December,2009 08:12 AM IST | | Varun Singh
When my friend told me that the age of Gandhi is long gone, I had no way to disprove her statement. She did has a point. Silence, non-violence and peaceful strikes amount to nothing. For example, the Centre that had been sleeping for the last 10 years and paid no heed to the fast of Irom Sharmila, reacted with lightning speed to the 10-day fast of TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, demanding a separate state to be carved out from the existing Andhra Pradesh. Of course, the hunger strike succeeded only because it was also accompanied with violence. Does anyone remember Irom Sharmila, the Manipuri girl who has been on a fast for the last 10 years against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the North East? She started her fast after the armed forces personnel killed 10 innocent people including 18-year-old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner. Her silent fast never made an impact and the government authorities, politicians, the Indian media and the common man have all been oblivious to her.
The Manorama Devi protest: The dead body of Manorama Devi, a 32-year-old woman, was found in 2004. Her tortured and raped body was dumped just days after the Assam Rifles arrested her. Thirtyu00a0 women demonstrated naked in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters with a banner reading, 'Indian Army, rape us too'.
The state jailed them for three months. All this makes one feel that there has been no major change since the British era. General Dyer fired at innocent people in Jallianwala Baug and the same thing is being replicated by the police and Special Police officers in the naxal belts.
A magazine recently reported the arrest of 14 adivasi women in Nandigram. These women were holding a protest at the village panchayat office against police atrocities but the police termed them anti-state and booked them. The police called them hardcore naxals while the actual naxal was talking to the media hardly 1.5 kilometers from the police camp; strange but true.u00a0 Sometimes I wonder whether we need to follow the policy of parties like the MNS or the Shiv Sena to make a point. Has Gandhism died today in the true sense? The dialogue from Munnabhai where Munna says, "Accha hua aaj bapu zinda nahi hai, warna yeh dare hue logo ke desh ko dekh ke use bahut dukh hota," rings true. Far from being independent and self sufficient, we are a country filled with cowards, and those who support the truth are either put behind bars or disappear and then resurface as dead bodies.
Meanwhile, I just heard my colleague yell, "I want statehood for Bandra." Obviously the Telangana issue's coverage has taken a toll on him.
