Prem, When I first read this in 1998 on Rediff, what a wonderful site it was between 1995 and 2004, I first thought that Pawar was being a politician. I shrugged it off thinking that no party can be so thorough in planning in India, and we are not Nazi/SS. Mind you, this was before Godra.
But, one fine day in 2018, I remembered aboout this, and started to dig it out. I even reached out to you for help.
This is a stuff of nightmares!
How can folks who were so ameable all along, my elders, my friends, my batchmates, colleagues, teachers, relatives.. be like this?
A complete brainwash.
Hypnosis.
Whatever the outcome of this election, this mentality is going to stay. Every other party will use it to some extent. It is now considered fair play.
One of the things I like about the Congress manifesto is that it seeks to right precisely some of these ills. It is cautious optimism, though -- I can't forget that many of the laws now being misused by the BJP were created in the first place by the Congress.
But yes, the problem -- and I have said this before -- is not Modi, he is merely an extreme manifestation of a symptom, a fever that will pass. The real problem is the disease itself, and it is called 'RSS'.
One thing that has confounded me and maybe you might have an answer to is this- Why do constitutional authorities, many of them superannuated and having enough kitty in the bank to see through their lives, still bend over backwards to appease the Government of the day rendering hollow the institutions they head,
Have you ever known a well off person to say right, I have enough money, I don't need to earn more particularly by illicit means? That is the thing about greed.
The other is relevance. A government employee has a status in his or her society -- said status increasing the higher up the totem pole you are. You are somebody, you are in a position to do favours for people, all of that. And then one day you retire -- and you are reduced to a nobody. Which explains to some extent why you are willing to accept these offers -- and since you are beholden to the government for your continued relevance, you do what they want you to do.
Prem, When I first read this in 1998 on Rediff, what a wonderful site it was between 1995 and 2004, I first thought that Pawar was being a politician. I shrugged it off thinking that no party can be so thorough in planning in India, and we are not Nazi/SS. Mind you, this was before Godra.
But, one fine day in 2018, I remembered aboout this, and started to dig it out. I even reached out to you for help.
This is a stuff of nightmares!
How can folks who were so ameable all along, my elders, my friends, my batchmates, colleagues, teachers, relatives.. be like this?
A complete brainwash.
Hypnosis.
Whatever the outcome of this election, this mentality is going to stay. Every other party will use it to some extent. It is now considered fair play.
One of the things I like about the Congress manifesto is that it seeks to right precisely some of these ills. It is cautious optimism, though -- I can't forget that many of the laws now being misused by the BJP were created in the first place by the Congress.
But yes, the problem -- and I have said this before -- is not Modi, he is merely an extreme manifestation of a symptom, a fever that will pass. The real problem is the disease itself, and it is called 'RSS'.
Always wonderful to read your writing. A small nit: in 2005, it was the Manmohan Singh government in power, not Vajpayee.
One thing that has confounded me and maybe you might have an answer to is this- Why do constitutional authorities, many of them superannuated and having enough kitty in the bank to see through their lives, still bend over backwards to appease the Government of the day rendering hollow the institutions they head,
Have you ever known a well off person to say right, I have enough money, I don't need to earn more particularly by illicit means? That is the thing about greed.
The other is relevance. A government employee has a status in his or her society -- said status increasing the higher up the totem pole you are. You are somebody, you are in a position to do favours for people, all of that. And then one day you retire -- and you are reduced to a nobody. Which explains to some extent why you are willing to accept these offers -- and since you are beholden to the government for your continued relevance, you do what they want you to do.