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I got the following as a forwarded mail. Usually i don't read such mails. But this one is different. Thanks to Unnikrishnan. R. Read it, and please express yourselves...)
Enough Is Enough !!All of us Indians feel the same way. That enough is enough. Those idiots in the government & bureaucracy should be held accountable. But anger is good to the extent of it being constructive. Let us pick the pieces and start all over again. We should start thinking differently since only a secure nation can become successful economically. We criticize our politicians all the time but how about us becoming politicians ourselves and become the change we want to see? Obama has shown that change truly is possible in politics. Our bureaucracy & our security infrastructure needs to be re-organized. Who better to do that than we ourselves? Well, those words are easily said. But how do we get started? How do we start to hold the govt accountable? The luxuries that these people are from what people like you and me pay the govt as taxes and all the import and export duties and whatnot. I suggest all of you start to question the govt. A powerful tool is already available - The Right To Information Act. You can file an application under the RTI act to know how the politicians spend our money. Visit this link to learn about filing RTI forms. For example those of you in the coastal states can file requests to know the present status of our maritime security, whether there are any emergency protocols in place to handle situations like a tsunami or a terror attack, how much is being allocated for modernizing the police force? These people are answerable to all of us. They are public servants. You can do this and more. Get involved in debates. Instead of chit-chating about the latest bollywood gossip in your college & workplace cafeteria, talk about real issues, try to find creative solutions. Instead of doing senseless final year projects like library info systems that most of us computer science students are prone to do, how about creating security related applications like surveillance equipment, bomb disposing robots and new ways to fight crime and terror?. And do not forget that basic power that most of you have : the Right to Vote. Get out and vote. Every vote counts.
And do not forget one important thing : no matter how much we criticize our politicians or our bureaucracy, we will and should present a united face to the rest of the world. The Pakistani media and establishment been remarkably successful in being influential in the world media in suggesting that India is being irrationally aggressive. See this pakistani news video footage for instance -
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Eij5o7XizIA. One can see that even the most moderate of Pakistani voices are heavily and irrationally anti-Indian. Each one of you should realise something : that Pakistan is fundamentally untrustable and unreliable. We realise and forget this lesson in vicious circles again and again. Remember 1998 when Vajpayee was talking about opening Indian borders, peace with pakistan and blah blah? What happened next? The Kargil incursion. Remember the whole idiotic Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai drama that you learned in your history books? What happened next? The 1962 Indo-China war. We have become used to our politicians making strategic blunders and then our brave soldiers and police officers like Maj Unnikrishnan and Hemant Karkare cleaning the mess up and making the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
What can you do about the Pakistani issue? I suggest that you start presenting the threat that India faces to the world media by writing to editors of leading magazines around the world, to influential groups like the American Jewish lobby & the Indian American community. The lack of accountability is one thing that every politician & terrorist in the present and our many conquerors in the past has taken advantage of. Because we are divided by them on the basis of religion, caste and langauge and we are too busy fighting amongst ourselves. It is time to act. It is time to ask some hard questions :
- Why is it that significant parts of Chattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are virtually in a different nation altogether under the control of the maoists??
- Why is that Bangladeshi migrants can come into our nation across our "open" borders in Assam almost unchallenged? And how come they settle down and get the same privileges and rights of Indian citizens?
- Why is that the Central & Maharashtra governments simply ignored the warnings by the Intelligence Bureau and the RAW about possible sea based attacks on Bombay??
- Why is that Afzal Guru, a terrorist who has been found guilty by the Supreme Court and sentenced to death for trying to destroy our parliament, the citadel of Indian democracy, still alive and well?? Why is the govt tying this issue to vote bank politics?
- How come that the Defense minister of the then NDA govt, Jaswant Singh "escorted" Maulana Masood Azhar and two other terrorists to Kandahar during the IC814 hijacking in 1999? Why was there not any attempt to rescue the hostages using our commandos? [Please don't justify it by saying that it was in Afghanistan, the Taliban was in control etc etc coz Israel had rescued hundred of their citizens from Uganda who were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists during the famous entebbe incident. ]
- Why wasn't there any retaliation against the attacks on the Indian embassy which according to international diplomatic rules is Indian territory? Why was there no retaliatory attack against Pakistan when the CIA itself said that the ISI was involved?
- How did Bombay limp back on its feet every time after the terror attacks that had been hitting the city for the last few years? Was it because of the "spirit" of Bombay or simply because of the fact that the people were helpless and had no other option but to go to work to feed their families??
This is the nation on which the bravest of the brave were born : Arjuna, Akbar, Prithviraj Chauhan, Chatrapati Shivaji and countless more. It is time for India to wake up. It is time to do our Dharmic duty.
PS : I am looking forward to hear your comments on this issue and more. This is a time for national debate and action. Your ideas will be invaluable.
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