As a child, I looked forward to the holiday and would watch an unabashed display of Indian Military hardware parading along the Vijay Path (victory lane) in New Delhi. There were floats representing different states and some more cultural activities which I cannot remember. I was quite proud of seeing the tanks and the fighter jets (the antique soviet era Mig 21s which the smart engineers reengineered to fly higher, longer and under extreme conditions which it was not designed to fly) and the contradiction never occurred to me then that this was a nation which gifted the concept of Ahimsa (non violence) to the world.
Last night, two news clips completely shattered whatever sense of optimism I feel about India.
1. Mr Hassan Ali Khan, a Pune based businessman transferred 8,000,000,000 US $ away from his wifes account in UBS, Zurich. The Enforcement Directorate issued a notice to him last year. Till now nothing was done. He has also dealt financially with the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Just google his name and you can read a more detailed account. How can one person have 8 Billion dollars and live in a country with 600 million poor and sleep well? Is he just thick skinned or is he differently programmed than you and I?
2. Yashwant Sonawane, an honest government officer spotted a man taking out kerosene from a tanker truck (kerosene is hugely subsidised in India and leaking it out and selling it in the open market can earn a lot of money). He stopped to inquire and called the supply inspector. In the mean time, four persons came on motorbikes and just burned him. His driver and assistant ran away. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
To read about the 'glorious' tradition of democracy and how it survived somehow and all the rich cultural, intellectual and philosophical traditions sounds like hot air when on one side people steal and on the other they kill men upholding the law. It is a delusional sanctuary where the middle , class Indian loves to live to feel equal to the west, to make life livable in the face of such contradictions and for the few hundred holy men to earn their living.
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