The people of this great country have lost their way. So says the messiah who had started the crusade to make himself and his country mahaan. The country, according to him, is moving towards a blind alley – which is a sure sign of directionlessness. Besides, he is very worried that all the projects and enterprises he had initiated with the encouragement of the people are being shut down.
The newspapers of our country devote a lot of space to this person’s grievances. This because Indian journalists like to leave no stone unturned to help the people forget. But even if newspapermen forget the events of the past three years, the people will not. They remember, and remember quite well, the desperate strategies of the previous regime to make corruption a socially accepted concept. They also remember the selves of the tragedy of Punjab any more. A tragedy compounded by the most barbaric law on earth, laws which took away a citizen’s right to live. In a Punjab where a tall, muscular physique was considered something to be proud of became something which was synonymous with terrorists. The prosperous villages of Punjab became empty of people between the ages of 16 to 40 years. Youngsters, brash or intelligent, were either killed or jailed. Those who were spared either crossed the borders or emigrated to big cities like Bombay and Calcutta where they could lost themselves and their identity. And Punjab, deprived of its youth, groaned with the weight of its old, helpless populace. It was a groan which could be heard by every outsider who visited Punjab.
Should we try and forget the people who were responsible for corrupting our police force? In the create the terrorists and then kill them to collect their rewards.
We should forget another reality about Punjab, mainly because we do not know anything about it. The reality of ruling party members drawing money from secret government accounts on the pretext of starting spy networks to get information about terrorists, to try and break into their ranks and may be make moles of some of them. It is a fact that the greed of some of the politicians in Punjab had reached such a limit that they felt it their bounden duty to squash any peace initiative. Crores of rupees were lost by the state this way. Punjab should burn, was their motto then, and it is so now also. That is why they feel that the present peace initiative in Punjab is leading the country towards am abyss; what they want is that Punjab should turn septic, so that they can continue to such its pus. People who branded a brave, patriotic, proud community a bunch of traitors want things to continue the same way.
Can anyone provide answers to the questions as to how the state from where the most well-known love stories of Heer Ranjha or Sohni Mahiwal come and which once resounded with the sweet songs of Heer now resounds with abuses and curses? Who is responsible for turning the state of love and romance into a crematorium? Will the powers responsible for the carriage frighten us forever with their unholy actions?
Today Kashmir is buring and the descendants of the people who set fire to it 30 eyars ago are using it to fulfil their own selfish motives. No developmental or employment opportunities ever came the way of Kashmir. Dreams of freedom and prosperity were constantly shared with the people of Kashmir by our neighbouring countries. But we did.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
Are the charges of imcomplete, favouritism, slackness made by the Congress-I on the performance of the Janata Dal government valid? What role have they themselves played in taking the country to the edge of the precipice?
Santosh Bharatiya, editor, Chauthi Duniya, and Janata Dal MP, assesses the charges and analysis the performance of the Congress while it was in power.
dearth of honest men while the dishonest thrived. So much so that a stage had been reached where even bus conductors wouldn’t return excess fare saying that if the rich and powerful could take 60 crores without anyone batting an eyelid, why couldn’t they keep 50 paise? They remember the days when it had become customary in banks to say that a commission of seven-and-a half percent more? It was also being said that commissions should be made legal. And the things which the British did not covertly in the Raj days came to be done openly by people closely connected to the previous government- namely, that of draining the country of its wealth.
We do not have to remind our past five years a sepoy could knock on anyone’s door and declare him be a terrorist. After listening to which the poor man would be so terrified that to get his name off the list of supsects he would sell his jewellery, mortgage his land and give the money collected to the police. Another aspect of the whole drama was the rush to collect rewards after killing these so-called terrorists. In seven years most of the terrorists killed by the police were neither mentioned by name in police records nor were their names ever published in the “wanted” terrorists’ list. The money received on killing a terrorist is legal or “white” premise transferred Rs. 11 lakhs to their accounts as money earned for killing a terrorist. The police used to not take heed, instead we offered them dreams of destruction and instability. The people of the state were given the impression that the Government of India was against them, while the people of the rest of the country were told that every person in Kashmir was a Pakistani sympathiser. And all this while the government neither faced up to the Kashmiri anger with anger or with love. Instead, using hatred and distrust they turned what is known as the ‘heaven on earth’ into an Indian hell.
Today the people who are raising their voice in Kashmir are behaving as though the problem has come up over the last month. And these are the very same people who remained in power in Kashmir throughout, controlling the reins either themselves or through their stooges, overruling the laws of the state and insulting the Kashmiri people. Their actions created a set of people who found a perfect tool to create trouble in Kashmir – their way of showing defiance was to turn pro-Pakistani. Whenever the interests of this group were hurt, they raised pro-Pakistani slogans on behalf of the people of Kashmir. Till two months back these people were found useful by the then government in power and these people were not only protected but also encouraged.
Today both the trouble-makers and the people of the previous regime are working hand-in-glove to create disturbances in the state while the common Kashmiri is still caught in the web of poverty, hunger, sickness and death. Farooq Abdullah is constantly running away from problems while Rajiv Gandhi is gaining notoriety trying to create a history of lies.
It is natural for a human being to desire a life of peace and happiness. To achieve this he visits temples, mosques, churches, gurdwaras, dargahs and other innumerable places. When his problems mount he turns criminal. But most of the time he becomes an easy target for a swindler who shows him dreams of unheard of prosperity. The Kashmiris lead a life full of misery. A misery which the previous regime did nothing to alleviate. They also did not clear the misconceptions of these people about life on the other side of the border.
The majority of Muslims who emigrated to Pakistan from India live in Karachi. They are called Mojahirs. What status, employment opportunities, social standing do they enjoy there? None. The anit-Mojahir riots which erupt periodically in Karachi are because the original residents of Karachi have not been able to accept them. People who love other countries more than their own should go to Karachi and see the liv-member how will we be caught in their web of deceit one again? The people responsible for the destruction of the democratic institutions of our country, thanks to the support they have received from these very institutions and they are once again trying to beguile the Indian populace with their misleading talk. What these people are saying now is that the waiving of farmers’ loans will plunge the country in economic despair and think they say so because then they will have less money to take out of the country. These people are so much against the youth that they go around making fun of their right to work. Actually, they are afraid that if the right steps are taken to eradicate unemployment then the youth of the country may now allow them to operate so freely from the streets of India. For, all the luxury and fund these people have had in the past 40 years was at the cost of this should we remember the simple misdeeds of our rulers? But if we remember how will we be caught in their web of deceit once again? The people responsible for the destruction of the democratic institutions of our country today freely roam the country, thanks to the support they have received from these very institutions and they are once again trying to begulle the Indian populace with their misleading talk.
ing conditions of the Mojahirs. Then, may be they will understand that the fight for survival and enhancement of quality of life has to be fought everywhere. The Bihari Muslims face similar problems in Bangladesh. If there were not so, then would the steady and ever growing stream of Banglaeshis coming into India not reduce?
But the rulers who governed us until a few months back did not see it fit to enlighten the people about this reality. This they did not because they were part of the grand conspiracy with our neighbours- conspiracy of spreading hatred. The rulers of our neighbouring countries spread it in their country, our leaders spread it here.
Should we remember the single misdeeds of our rulers? But if we re-young man’s parents’ hard work, his sister’s virtue, his brother’s unemployment and his younger brother’s cost of milk. So they don’t want the youth to think about changing the system because if he thinks so, how will he become a part of those criminal regiments which they have got together to loot the people?
It is essential that we remain wary of the people who after having sold the country’s honour and peace for 40 years are moving about in our cities and villages. A new breed has joined the destructive elements and like hyenas are baying their lungs out.
Should we forget the people who in a bid to turn our great country into Mera Bharat mahaan led it into a swamp of deceit, poverty and unemployment? Or forgive them either?