Demo-Crazy

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. 

You don’t let me talk.

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.