Indian Democracy - Tolerant or Weak?

We feel so good and proud when we are called the world's largest democracy.Many recent developments have raised certain questions - is our democracy alive and kicking or just an excuse!

Our democracy is tolerant when we play host to Afzal Gurus and Kasabs for more than a decade and are still undecided on their future because of vote bank politics.
We are  'Democratic' and use only Diplomatic channels of Talks and Negotiations even after being repeatedly kicked and abused by all our neighbors ( size of country doesn't matter to us).Our neighbors provide safe haven to all offenders against our country and also ensure that supplies of arms and ammunition is never interrupted for anyone who is willing to take on our Republic.
Every time a news item reports such deals,it is followed by pictures of our PM or FM exchanging pleasantries with leaders of such countries...as we are (of course) a largehearted democracy.

Our never-ending legal processes and weak-kneed responses have categorized us as a nation where you can get away with anything.We always hide behind our so-called 'Democratic Legal process -where law takes its own course'.

But all is not lost,we also have a very strong and intolerant side to our Democracy.
We suddenly change colors if anyone dares to attack the MOST POWERFUL FAMILY.
The whole government machinery gets activated super-fast and harassment process starts immediately.

CBI,Income Tax and all relevant departments start working overtime to dig out cases against such 'Offenders'.

We also start banning Social Media sites and also take strong offense against Public Debates on trivial issues like 'Corruption'.
In our Democratic system any debate outside Parliament is considered as 'Insult' and 'Dangerous' to democratic institutions.

All this leads to an apt and simple graphic representation of the situation.
Just go back down the memory lane and recall the old poll symbol of Congress party...yes Cow with calf.

Now a days we are using all undemocratic measures to protect this 'old and dated' symbol of the ruling party!

Our democracy -thus is very flexible besides being the largest.

Atithi Devo Bhava - the Kasab Version

While Kasab celebrated his b’day yesterday, hundred of India families mourned over the loss of their own.

It was another BLACK day for our country.

The triple blasts not only shook India but reaffirmed the fact that weak nations get beaten up repeatedly- as there is no fear of retaliation.

For politicians- it was an extended day in the office where they dug out the repetitive sounding statements issued for previous such blast.

What will be their course of action now? I’m sure your guess is as good as mine. The predictable actions can easily be categorised as below:

Stage 1: They will mourn, sympathize, visit hospitals.

Stage 2: They will issue stern warnings to perpetrators of heinous crime from across the border which “we will not tolerate at all”.

Stage 3: Cancel all bilateral dialogues, no more cricket fixtures between two countries.

Final Stage: After a slight nudge from U.S.A, we will come back to the discussion table – after all we are a mature nation and want peace with neighbours.

Next in line are News Channels. For them it is great fodder - TRP’s are rising, business seems good – lots of BREAKING NEWS & Panel discussions (there was a dearth of masala after train accidents recently).

But the tightest slap to our mental fabric has been delivered by our honoured Atithi –Kasab ji. He has now celebrated almost 4 b’days in India.

His presence on Indian soil is a rude reminder to us that we are incapable of taking any action.

Just compare India to a relatively small country like Israel. Any terrorist incident against them is swiftly and effectively retaliated. Its neighbours/ enemies think million times before even planning any misadventure in Israel.

My appeal to our respected rulers is to ACT and act SWIFTLY because ACTION is the only deterrent to terrorism. Otherwise in future also our government will only be repeating its actions from Stage 1 to Final stage – as elicited above in this blog.

Jai Hind!