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Showing posts with label constitution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label constitution. Show all posts

Comfortably numb.

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Posted on Friday, December 11, 2009 | By Gautam | In , , , , ,


There's methyl isocyanine filled in the air. People are gasping for air rarely knowing that it may be their last breath. Those who died, didn't have to suffer the trauma of living a life of disorder of the worst kind and frailty. Those who did survive, well, their lives epitomise living hell. Justice is still a far cry for them. Warren Anderson is living a life of luxury. Mothers are forced to give birth to children with serious heart disorders. Its been 25 years since the Bhopal gas tragedy. Governments have come and gone. Much water has flown under the bridge but for those suffering, its still poisonous and they are condemned to drink it. Union Carbide has since long wrapped its business and fled. Yes fled. And what have we done? Well for starters, we have continuously pacified those agitating outside the Jantar Mantar for quarter of a century now. Pacified.

Even the Nazis who operated gas chambers during the Holocaust were tried at the International Court of Justice. Those poor souls in Bhopal that fateful night did not belong to a particular race or religion. They were not political dissidents. What they were though were citizens of a seemingly democratic country. And they did pay for this. With their lives. Justice is still a far cry. Mankind was brutally molested on December 3, 1984. Humanity was raped beyond recognition.

They say- justice delayed is justice denied. What does one say when it has been delayed as well as denied for 25 years now?!! Why is Amnesty International silent? Why are the Americans who pride themselves in sniffing out weapons of mass destruction and then duly fucking a country to stone age silent now? Is it because their people are involved in a heinous act which they are unwilling to accept?

And now the best act of them all. The Indian government. The same government which vows when taking an oath of maintaining the sovereignty. The same government which vows on the constitution of withholding the welfare state flag. The same government, on the 25th anniversary of the innately tragic Bhopal gas tragedy, gifted the nation with a gift called the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. Sounds innocuous, doesn't it? Well it is, lest the fact that it pegs the compensation by MNC's building (or even supplying parts) in case of a nuclear holocaust at Rs. 2500 crores. Its a measly sum for companies like GE. Especially when we consider the fact that the market for reactors is around Rs 60000 crores. The compensation in dollar terms would be $ 450 millions. How cheap are the lives of Indians any ways. For the organisations though, its like minting money with limited liability. Because all this while they knew that one can get away even after killing 25000 people. They had full faith in the incompetency of us Indians to bring the guilty to justice. Whatever happened to the fundamental rights guaranteed to us all in the constitution?

And what does one do when the government goes ahead in fixing the liability of companies when it comes to lives of hundreds and thousands? Rejoice. For they can be rest assured now that our own government values us as nothing more than maggots swarming the face of earth.

Why does Greenpeace stay silent? Why do our so called NGO's stay silent? Why do our legislators who are too busy in carving out states for themselves stay silent?

States are inhabited by people. Else they become ghost towns.

How many more Bhopals do we need before we wake up?

When Bob Dylan said that the times are a changing, he was wrong. 'coz they are for the developed countries. For a developing country like ours, life is still cheap. Dirt cheap.

Democracy FTW.

But for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, here goes-
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
-Bob Dylan

PS: I have full faith in the indifferent attitude of my fellow countrymen. My son would be writing a similar post on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.

VIP- Very Irritating Person

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Posted on Sunday, July 19, 2009 | By Gautam | In ,

VIP. Very 'Important' Person. It's a new species of humans altogether who are supposedly superior to all the other humans on the face of this earth who are, well, un-important. Or how else does one explain the 'important' tag that is fixed to a privileged few. I was told as a kid that India is a democracy. A few days ago, I checked the status of our country and it confirmed that we still are a democracy. Democracy you say? Well then what's up with this VIP crap???

As the case is with most of us in the school, I too was poor in a subject called civics. But I'd studied enough of the dreaded subject to know that our constitution assumes every citizen of India to be having the same set of fundamental rights, bound by the same set of duties and governed by the same set of laws. Yes, I've written the 'constitution assumes' because had everyone been equal, we wouldn't have a relic of the feudal past where some citizens would be important and others, well they'll be citizens who would be law abiding, who would be paying the taxes on time but still wouldn't be important.

The whole concept of VIP is highly contradictory to a democratic setup, its even blasphemous if you consider the constitution, the state and your freedom to be holy. As soon as you accept someone to be important and dole out the state's services to him/ her on a silver platter, you are doing dis-service to all the other citizens of the country who are and maybe more patriotic than your VIP.

What does a VIP in India do other than blocking the traffic for hours altogether, enjoying a state's hospitality for free, a police escort and a motorcade full with his/ her cronies, spouse, children and whatever else can be cramped in.

As a kid we all have seen movies where the now clichéd zamindaar (the feudal lord) would be greeted by people who would fall on his feet. The same scene is repeated now, even after 60 years of freedom when the state bends backwards to accommodate these so called important people.

Feudalism is not dead still.....
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