-original message- Subject: Re: [SayEverything] Why corruption is even worse than communalism: From: suryanarayana ganta <[email protected]> Date: 23-04-2014 7:56 pm
Nice article, thanks for it. my voice had been heard. On 4/23/14, sanjay <[email protected]> wrote: > Taken From rediff.com > > > > > > While corruption destroys the moral fibre of a nation, its society and > people, secularism as espoused in this country is cynical secularism, a > sham > perpetrated > > during election time and communalism is a spectre, a bogey raised by these > great champions of Indian secularism to secure and perpetuate their vote > bank, > > says Maneck Davar. > > > > The statement of a minority community leader that corruption was preferable > to communalism is shocking, but not surprising. In the present electoral > debate > > while charges of divisiveness in the basis of religion, class and caste are > shrill, there is not much focus on the huge scams which have emasculated > our > > economy and diverted the nation's wealth to shady bank accounts in tax > havens. > > > > In a previous > > column, > > I had argued why the minorities need not fear a Narendra Modi dispensation > as communal trouble would derail his programme of economic and > infrastructure > > development, make him a whipping boy of domestic and international > sentiment > and deny him a place in history as a harbinger of change, which he aims > for. > > > > Modi is astute enough to have learnt the lessons of Godhra well, for all > his > re-election rhetoric in the subsequent elections he has won in Gujarat have > > been on the development plank. There has been no communal outburst in > Gujarat for the last 12 years, creditable in a state where communal strife > was endemic. > > > > It does not take great economic knowledge to realise how corruption beggars > a country's economy. At the apex of the pyramid it is the loot of the > national > > exchequer by rent-seekers who hugely profit by under valuing the nation's > resources, may it be under the ground like coal, oil and mineral ore or > above > > the ground like spectrum and sharing the spoils with their political > partners. > > > > At the base are all those who occupy petty positions in government > bureaucracy who prey on the helpless and ignorant, denying them even their > sustenance > > in government schemes. > > > > Corruption diverts the State's scarce capital resources to private pockets, > denying crucial and fragile social areas like health and education much > needed > > funding, leaving schools without teachers and teaching aids and hospitals > without doctors, medicines and diagnostic equipment. > > > > More important, it destroys the moral fibre of a nation, its society and > people, making them insensitive to the intense suffering caused to those > deprived > > of their basic right to a decent quality of life because of the base > instincts of those in power who illegally enrich themselves. > > > > Secularism as is espoused in this country is cynical secularism, a sham > perpetrated during election time and communalism is a spectre, a bogey > raised by > > these great champions of Indian secularism to secure and perpetuate their > vote bank. > > > > While at Independence, the promotion of a secular, multi-cultural nation > was > an imperative to assuage the fears of a community after Partition, over the > > years it has degenerated into an empty slogan, worse a promise unfulfilled. > > > > Even constituencies were redrawn to ensure that in its composition at least > 15 to 20 per cent comprised members of the minority community who would > vote > > en bloc for the Congress. > > > > True secularism is not ring-fencing minorities in ghettos, both real and in > mentality, and creating unjustified fears, but in seeking and working for > their > > emancipation, their economic and social progress and their assimilation as > equals in society. This has not happened in 67 years of Independence of > which > > the Congress has enjoyed six decades of power. > > > > What does a child dying of hunger malnutrition or lack of medical care know > or care about secularism? > > > > What is the religion of a child begging at traffic signals when s/he should > be in school? > > > > What do the huddled masses on pavements and slums in the city or in mud > huts > in the villages without water, sanitation or electricity worry about > communalism > > when they are reduced to mere husks of humanity? > > > > It is when you make a serious effort to eradicate corruption and redirect > the hundred of thousands of billions of rupees of illicit gains back in the > economy > > and the building of concrete and social infrastructure, when you get the > nation's wealth secreted in offshore banks back into the system, when you > allow > > entrepreneurship to flourish by eliminating greasy palms and when these > benefits percolate to the lowest level as they must and they will, then > your > slogan > > of secularism will be one of substance. > > > > But here is the paradox and the reason why it is in the interests of the > 'secularists' to keep a vast section of the populace poor. As an extreme > analogy > > you don't find the denizens of Lutyens' Delhi, Malabar Hill in Mumbai or > Banjara Hills in Hyderabad rioting and destroying each other's property. It > is > > largely the poor, the dispossessed who suffer. > > > > Almost all of sectoral violence -- religion or caste-based -- is due to > social tension engendered by poverty, lack of education and employment and > deprivation > > of basic amenities like water, sanitation and electricity. > > > > Finally, not only have these 'secularists' who have been in power so long > done anything to address the woes of the common man, but have perpetuated > his > > misery by corrupting the system and reveling in the country permanently > residing in the bottom ten per cent of global development and corruption > indices. > > > > For it is only an economically disenfranchised people, hobbled by > corruption, that can be frightened by the 'threat' of communalism. > > > > If any time you wish to be unsubscribed from our Mailing List, please send a > message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe keeping the message body blank. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://sayeverything.org/mailman/listinfo/sayeverything_sayeverything.org > > Website: http://www.sayeverything.org > If any time you wish to be unsubscribed from our Mailing List, please send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe keeping the message body blank. 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