A soft state

If a public figure promotes secessionism at a public platform, what should the State do? Well, this is a non-question which the Indian government wants to answer in its own spineless, meek, lethargic ways. Had it been any other country (here I mean all the countries except India), Arundhati could have been thrown inside Tihar Jail or even sent to the gallows the day she made those juvenile, kiddish comments. But this is India -- the sarkar thinks on these lines -- what if Arundhati gets more media publicity than she had bargained for? what if Pakistan uses Arundhati to justify its own ends?

So instead of making an example out of Arundhati to avoid a repeat of such secessionist meets, we are sending out a message that anybody can misuse the Right to Speech in India. But this is something on which the very foundation of our country was laid in 1948, when a rag-tag army occupied a part of Kashmir and we called in the UN and agreed to its demand for a plebiscite. Hadn't both India and Pakistan agreed that rulers of the princely states would decide which country to join? But no, we not only agreed to the plebiscite demand but also gave special status to the state in the Constitution.

So here we are in 2010, still grappling with a issue which should have died in the last century itself.

Once you know that you are on the right side of the law, nothing should stop you from implementing it, especially when you have the force to implement it. But the most shameful part came when even Indira Gandhi (famously hailed as "Durga" after the 1971 war) failed to achieve that goal when she could have annexed the whole of Pakistan, leave alone Kashmir. She failed to follow the basic tenets of governance and was taken for a ride by the crafty Bhuttos. Pakistan has not only strengthened its position since then, but also "gifted" a part of PoK to China! Heard of any country doing that?

So here we stand today--parts of our country continue to be occupied by our neighbours, our attention-seeker citizens continue to support  terrorists and our government continues to do which it does best--nothing. Jai Hind!