Have been noticing for quite sometime now, an interesting trend taking place in our country.The power of MOB. We always knew public opinion in any democracy matters.. we also know all the fables about the importance and benefits of unity. But the situation unfolding before our eyes defies logic and can hardly be defined as anything but insanity.I don't believe i m a cynic but these things happening,i can hardly help being a skeptic.
Give me twenty men who are willing to do anything i ask them to and i can bring the nation to a standstill.That,in short, sums up everything happening around us. Anyone who has a support of not more than twenty people can be listed in the who's who of the country's current affairs.
Let me point out the recent happenings that will support my theory.
Let me point out the recent happenings that will support my theory.
One guy ,who is bored of life ,wakes up one fine day and thinks about something that he can do to increase his nuisance value,he gathers twenty men who are equally bored and have nothing better to do ,names his organization some crappy name and then start protesting against some movie ,in this case Jodhaa Akbar.Soon his crappy organization hits the headlines and more people join.The power of twenty transforms into hundreds for in this case everyone wants a piece of action no matter how ridiculous the action is.What does the government do? How can it defy public opinion? After all we are living in a democracy.The government does what it always does best.It takes pre emptive measures and in this case it implies banning the movie.So what if thousands want to watch it. The government can hear only the voice that speaks loudest and in this case its them,the protesters with their shrill cries.
Taslima Nasreen,who when was hounded by the fundamentalists in bangladesh sought sanctuary in India and was promptly welcomed in here.The author on the run found safe abode in Kolkata and was living there for almost a decade. Somebody woke up one day and decided that she was unwelcome. The wheels are set into motion. The process remains the same ,down to each meticulous detail. he gets twenty goons,hits headlines,more people join,the protest goes underway and the government falters and before we know it Taslima is hounded out of the second place she ever called home and after a brief stop in Jaipur she is under a virtually house arrest in some undisclosed location in Delhi. Even a minister goes on air criticizing her and her books, that despite the fact that the books in question had been written years back.
This is what Jug Suraiya writes on the entire episode
" Forced into exile from her native Bangladesh by religious fanatics who didn't like her feminist writings, Taslima sought sanctuary in Kolkata in whose Bangla milieu she felt creatively comfortable. However, after street riots instigated by local goons disguised as religious zealots caused the Marxist state government to decide that minority-appeasing discretion was the better part of secular valour, the writer was bundled out of the city and taken first to an undisclosed hideaway in Rajasthan and later to Delhi, where she was kept in virtual isolation.
Made to apologise for her 'anti-Islamic' views, she was warned by no less than the information and broadcasting minister - supposedly the custodian of the fundamental right to freedom of expression as spelt out in the Constitution - that she should not say or do anything that might hurt the religious sensibilities of any group. (Should the I&B ministry be renamed the ministry of intimidation and browbeating?) "
Last week, a group of 57 DU students was coming back to Delhi from Bhopal by train . They had the entire coach reserved but then people in our country never had too much respect for regularities. So five guys managed to get on board the coach and did what they and their likes believe is their fundamental right. See a gal,misbehave with her. Some guys in the tour party objected . These five guys got off the train,called twenty of their mates and before anyone could realize ,tried burning the entire coach down with all the people inside.One guy from the tour group is right now in hospital with the doctors trying real hard that they can save his eyes
So folks trust me when i say that you or me have lost our voices. Its the new power of twenty that is in demand for thats the only voice that is being heard.They now represent the public and when posterity will talk of public opinion it will actually be the opinion of the 20 they will be talking about.
To some of you the picture looks grim, some of you see it as an opportunity. There are only two ways you can react to it.The first, go down on your knees, fold your hands, bow your head for the mighty 20 has arrived.If you show your appreciation and gratitude towards it, it will welcome you into its fold and thence you will be invincible and will have the powers of a god.You can shape national policies , molest any woman you see,thrash anyone you want to. It short you can increase your nuisance value to the maximum and feel the world at your feet.
The second is forget everything and go back to sleep.All you have to do is tell yourself very slowly that you are in no way affected by the turn of events.Taslima Nasreen and her plights don't affect you. We can always watch Jodhaa Akbar on a pirated disc or better still download it.As for the the guy from the train who is battling for his eyesight we can all shrug off our shoulders and exclaim that he shouldn't have tried to become a hero after all.And having thought all this we can go back to doing whatever we were doing before reading all this. In my case i m gonna sleep.
Wait a second., did i just hear some of you whisper , something that sounded to me like you guys planning to take on the power of 20 head on. Are you seriously planning to fight it? I mean, are you insane? out of your mind? I only wish better sense prevails on you and in case it doesn't, always remember i will pray for you always and when the time comes ,will pen epitaphs and obituaries in your honor.May god bless your soul. R.I.P
Taslima Nasreen,who when was hounded by the fundamentalists in bangladesh sought sanctuary in India and was promptly welcomed in here.The author on the run found safe abode in Kolkata and was living there for almost a decade. Somebody woke up one day and decided that she was unwelcome. The wheels are set into motion. The process remains the same ,down to each meticulous detail. he gets twenty goons,hits headlines,more people join,the protest goes underway and the government falters and before we know it Taslima is hounded out of the second place she ever called home and after a brief stop in Jaipur she is under a virtually house arrest in some undisclosed location in Delhi. Even a minister goes on air criticizing her and her books, that despite the fact that the books in question had been written years back.
This is what Jug Suraiya writes on the entire episode
" Forced into exile from her native Bangladesh by religious fanatics who didn't like her feminist writings, Taslima sought sanctuary in Kolkata in whose Bangla milieu she felt creatively comfortable. However, after street riots instigated by local goons disguised as religious zealots caused the Marxist state government to decide that minority-appeasing discretion was the better part of secular valour, the writer was bundled out of the city and taken first to an undisclosed hideaway in Rajasthan and later to Delhi, where she was kept in virtual isolation.
Made to apologise for her 'anti-Islamic' views, she was warned by no less than the information and broadcasting minister - supposedly the custodian of the fundamental right to freedom of expression as spelt out in the Constitution - that she should not say or do anything that might hurt the religious sensibilities of any group. (Should the I&B ministry be renamed the ministry of intimidation and browbeating?) "
Last week, a group of 57 DU students was coming back to Delhi from Bhopal by train . They had the entire coach reserved but then people in our country never had too much respect for regularities. So five guys managed to get on board the coach and did what they and their likes believe is their fundamental right. See a gal,misbehave with her. Some guys in the tour party objected . These five guys got off the train,called twenty of their mates and before anyone could realize ,tried burning the entire coach down with all the people inside.One guy from the tour group is right now in hospital with the doctors trying real hard that they can save his eyes
So folks trust me when i say that you or me have lost our voices. Its the new power of twenty that is in demand for thats the only voice that is being heard.They now represent the public and when posterity will talk of public opinion it will actually be the opinion of the 20 they will be talking about.
To some of you the picture looks grim, some of you see it as an opportunity. There are only two ways you can react to it.The first, go down on your knees, fold your hands, bow your head for the mighty 20 has arrived.If you show your appreciation and gratitude towards it, it will welcome you into its fold and thence you will be invincible and will have the powers of a god.You can shape national policies , molest any woman you see,thrash anyone you want to. It short you can increase your nuisance value to the maximum and feel the world at your feet.
The second is forget everything and go back to sleep.All you have to do is tell yourself very slowly that you are in no way affected by the turn of events.Taslima Nasreen and her plights don't affect you. We can always watch Jodhaa Akbar on a pirated disc or better still download it.As for the the guy from the train who is battling for his eyesight we can all shrug off our shoulders and exclaim that he shouldn't have tried to become a hero after all.And having thought all this we can go back to doing whatever we were doing before reading all this. In my case i m gonna sleep.
Wait a second., did i just hear some of you whisper , something that sounded to me like you guys planning to take on the power of 20 head on. Are you seriously planning to fight it? I mean, are you insane? out of your mind? I only wish better sense prevails on you and in case it doesn't, always remember i will pray for you always and when the time comes ,will pen epitaphs and obituaries in your honor.May god bless your soul. R.I.P
