Bull's Eye

His rude Haryanvi humour precluded rancour. There was only amused contempt. A government that loses the respect of its own employees is inviting revolution. But India isn't having its revolution. It has no revolutionaries. The Maoists and Naxalites are not revolutionaries. They are pathetic, self-deluding bands serving foreign interests which fund and arm them. By killing landlords and policemen in the countryside, they pose as ideologues and believe they serve the cause of revolution. They serve their foreign masters who don't want an Indian revolution and use them only to destabilise India.

The Dalit leaders are even more disappointing. After commendable success in consolidating the most exploited and repressed classes, they failed to raise their sights above political empowerment to initiate a genuine reform agenda. They are thereby reinforcing the present corrupt system with greater relish than the exploiters they seek to replace.

It might have pleased Dalits to see Mayawati outdo Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi, Pawar and others in organising a mega birthday bash. But did it please one-third of India living below the poverty line? Did it comfort hundreds of underfed, half-naked, shelterless people dying in the freezing cold? That this depraved ruling class can continue with its ways without destroying the system and dismembering the state defies logic.

That from this class of power-drunk rulers can come any genuine reform defies belief. And yet, if India is to survive, radical reform must come. India must have its cultural revolution. Or India will die. It must be a 21st century revolution that sweeps aside an entire political class. It must not break the law but observe it. It must not promote violence but end it. It must not remove the constitution but reform it. It must not end democracy but restore it. It must rediscover India.

Is my fancy in flight
Or do I see a light?
Do we approach another bend
Or is it dark journey's end?