January 2, 2011: The form of government practiced in India is not exactly democracy. It is more like Oligarchy, which Wikipedia defines as "a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, corporate, or military control". It is also called Plutocracy, which is defined as rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.
On December 14, the Supreme Court came down heavily on Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for shielding a Congress MLA's family from money-lending complaints by poor farmers when he was Maharashtra Chief Minister. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly condemned Vilasrao's actions, and fined Maharashtra government Rs 10 lakh. (Read Supreme Court's hard-hitting order here: http://tinyurl.com/SCVilasrao )
Please note, however, Vilasrao himself was not punished. You and I, the taxpayers of Maharashtra, got fined. Although the former CM qualifies for prosecution under Chapter III of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 (see http://tinyurl.com/PCAshort ), no FIR was filed against him. (The Supreme Court and the government left that dirty job for you and me; so let us roll up our sleeves.)
What were the chances of a humble farmer named Sarangdharsingh Shivdassingh Chavan, after failing to file an FIR against the moneylender due to Vilasrao's instructions to the police, successfully pursuing the matter till the Supreme Court? The chances were almost zero, I feel. Almost all such crimes go unnoticed and unpunished. For ministers like Vilasrao and the people who surround them, it is a way of life; they commit one such criminal act before even having their morning tea.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for WE THE PEOPLE to restore Rule of Law in this decade. By using every lawful and moral method available to us, we need to call a halt to "government by the corrupt, for the wealthy".
It will not be easy, because we have a government that is willing to wage war on its own people, using the police, paramilitary forces and the judiciary. Please be willing to suffer for the cause… but please, we must resist NOW.
Be warned: if we fail to resist today, oligarchy and plutocracy may become fully established and legitimized by the end of this decade, and all traces of democracy and people's power may vanish. If you want your children and grandchildren should live in Democratic India, stop thinking like the Great Indian Consumer, and start thinking like the Great Indian Citizen.
God Bless our nation. God Bless us all.
Krish
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