DEMO-CRAZY: The freedom to elect our own Dictators
By The Lady in Red
When you promised me the grants,
You said all you want is
votes;
And in many ways a tax,
Through which to my country I will
devote.
And yet today after you eat half the money I gave,
Lies here
a road,
And even that, you don’t allow me to walk.
With MY money, stands here today a metro,
But it stands
still.
And you don’t permit me to use it,
And for me you will pass no bills.
You don’t let me breathe.
Yet in a few months to go,
You’ll be begging at my door stop.
I’m the one who let you be where you are today.
And I’m the one you did deceive
And with my emotions you
certainly played.
I AM THE INDIAN CITIZEN.
It is
presumed that when in the world, there was a state of absolute autonomy; the
three rights that were first granted to the people were life, liberty and
property. Property was ruled out by the 44th
constitutional amendment of 1978, but they have now officially taken
away the other two as well. When we stood together in the national movement, we fought
against the brutality of the British and their ardent oppression of the
citizens. They denied us the right to liberty, speech, assembly and to freely
move about our country. Sounds familiar? Oh yes! We’re seeing it around us just
about now! National movement of India was carried out over a 65years ago. Does
the present scenario in Delhi not remind us of Mubarak’s Egypt or Libya of
Gadhafi till2010?
The constitution of India is said to be the highest law of
the land. Article21 of the constitution grants every citizen in this nation a
right to life and security. This, given the level of crime in Delhi, is most
certainly not being delivered. Article 19 guarantees the freedom of speech, but
with the recent developments of implementation of ordinary laws like section
144 and 66A, citizens feel exploited and cheated. Article 20 permits us to
assemble peacefully without arms and the citizens of Delhi have done so through
their demonstrations until an unnecessary laathi charge was carried out upon
them. Article 22 also guarantees every citizen to move about freely in the
nation however this right was suspended the minute the metro lines were shut and
people were not allowed to leave the metro station till 9 in the night.
Citizens from central Delhi are not being able to move out of their houses and
several people depending upon the metro for their daily travel are facing a
major inconvenience.
On what basis have our fundamental rights been suspended? If
the representatives are incompetent to tackle the issue, why don’t they declare
President’s rule and then suspend our rights? That’s the only way they can! Else
nothing in this country can take away the citizens’ fundamental rights from
them.
All that we want is
answers. The government was willing to spend 31.4 crores annually on the
security of Kasab. Can they not spare a few crores for the protection of women
in public areas? The demands of the people were to install CCTV cameras for
vigilance, a public helpline, police patrol at specific hours of the day,
removal of black films from cars and a more severe punishment for crimes
against women. The true colours of our government were displayed in the past
few days and have dazzled us. The meaning of democracy has changed to "the
freedom to elect our own dictators". Hence the note upon which the
citizens would like to sign off is that "we will not obey your rules till
you violate our fundamental rights".
Nirbhaya is a fighter. And her fight against the baser
instincts of men is a mission we’ll help her accomplish. But the fight against
our own government was not something we were expecting at this natal stage of
the “soon to be” revolution. Be the change you wish to see.
