Unity in Diversity…Chak de India!

India has always been identified as a land of diversity; well, it’s a different story altogether if there’s strife, bitterness, or joy in that diversity. But, the starkness of this diversity is hitting at us today like never before. It’s not even a week since a 76 jawans died in the forests of Dandakaryna, where the ancient inhabitants of this land have been ignored, exploited, and today, mass murdered under the garb of development! It’s interesting that these inhabitants weren’t even consulted before they were declared as Indians; only because the land they are lived in for over 5000 years was newly annexed by this neo-colonial, dying-to-become-some-f***-superpower. It’s of course old news that the government has been ignoring these regions for several years, but suddenly today, it has woken up to the fact that its adivasis or the ‘poor’ and ‘undeveloped’ (read uncivilized, which actually means unurbanised) must be brought into the mainstream! And, what is mainstream? The brahmical fascist class society? Where honor killings are the order of the days? Or, any political struggle extends only till sending pink chadis or filling up the pubs, which apparently is protest against patriarchy?

Now, for the other part of diversity: it’s the IPL season! Time to open up your purse strings, twitter the latest scores, lech at the white-skinned, half-clothed cheer leaders, and enjoy a great game of cricket! In fact, the government helps you in enjoying this great concoction of dope and pure joy; it doles out subsidies in just about everything. More than subsidies, all the political parties (which don’t see eye in many others) are together in this mass hysteria. Well, not only this, even in the former issue (in ‘developing’ the adivasis), they are together. Just look at this subsidy: about 10-12 crore waiving of the entertainment tax in Maharashtra alone! And, as Sainath says in his article in the Hindu today, such subsidies in a state whose debt will cross 200,000 crore this year!

I mean, does the government even think it a wee bit necessary to consult the public (whose money it seems to spend/rob in style) before committing to such barbaric acts? As if it’s not enough that the rich and super rich get entertained for free, they get even subsidies on food! In a country that’s battling hunger and which is also sitting ugly at the 65th (out of 88) position on the global hunger index, which is way below all our neighbours (Nepal: 57, Sri Lanka 40, and Pakistan: 61). Now, it’s not population because China clocked in at a whopping 7! We are with none other than Ethiopia, which is a poor country uniformly, unlike our country that has several multibillionaires vying to make it to Forbes magazine or even permanent residents there!

So, this is the land of diversity. And, every day, it amazes me to see or even hear colleagues/friends twitter or sms each other about IPL scores and in the same breath complain of the power cuts and the ambush of the ‘our’ jawans by some terrorists, who should be mercilessly squashed! Just to remind all of us certain bare facts: as for power cuts, we could definitely save up on lot of power if the IPL matches were played in daylight (well, that would mean all the beautiful people sweat a bit and that may not photograph well!), and the jawans who died were anyway the poorest of the poor in this country, so why should any of us even bother? The government could simply send many many more such poor fellows to ‘guard’ nation! And, as for the adivasis, the government isn’t exactly bothered about their development or education; it’s eyeing the resources that have been their home for ages! And, since they don’t have machine guns, they can be easily wiped out and their lands opened up to the plunder of the monsters that are running this great Indian tamasha called the Indian state in collaboration with the imperialist powers of the world! And, we, the common people can take in all of this, yes, all. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the northeast (where women will rampantly raped and common people will be murdered in broad daylight, about 40% of the Indian army to be stationed in Kashmir where again rapes are rampant and young boys are frequently gunned down or go missing, the state machinery will actually participate in <mass butchering minorities, think of eliminating the poorest of this country to the coffers of the rich and the super rich , and hoot and whistle and enjoy IPL matches! Well, if we could accommodate all of this and much more in just one country, we indeed have unity in diversity! Chak de, India!