O P Dhankar [Courtesy The Hindu] |
Farmers are criminals and
cowards, according to the BJP. The party’s
agricultural minister in Haryana, Mr O P Dhankar, explained the logic. “Committing suicide is a crime, according to Indian law.
Any person who commits suicide escapes from his responsibilities and
leaves the burden on his wife and innocent children and such people are cowards.” Mr Dhankar was the former head of the BJP’s
Kisan Cell.
It is easy to dismiss Mr
Dhankar’s view as a personal opinion.
Rahul Gandhi, who seems to have found some enlightenment after his long contemplation abroad, has started questioning the BJP’s anti-farmer policies
eloquently if not effectively enough.
His lack of effectiveness stems from his lack of vision. It is not enough to question a system; one
has to suggest an alternative one. Mr
Gandhi is yet to rise to the stature of a leader with any practical vision in
spite of rubbing shoulders with the aam aadmi for quite some time.
Laptops for Haryana MLAs Courtesy The Indian Express |
Coming back to the BJP, look
at what the party did in Haryana recently.
While the state did nothing to alleviate the misery of the farmers, it
has declared a lot of benefits to the MLAs.
Every MLA is being given a free laptop.
Every MLA can claim a car loan amounting to Rs 20 lakh. The housing loan for every MLA is increased
to Rs 60 lakh. All the 90 MLAs of the
state have already received their free laptops.
All of them are quite sure to make ‘proper’ use of the car loans and
housing loans. And the poor farmers in
the state will be labelled “criminals” and “cowards” because they are unable to
make both ends meet.
Mr Dhankar did not
understand the gravity of his statement or the situation in his state. He stuck to what he said and asserted that
some “drama” like suicide won’t make him change his statement. Our tragedy as a nation today is the
abundance of leaders like Mr Dhankar who lack understanding and
sensitivity. Lack of intelligence is not
a crime. But trying to lead a whole
people without the ability to understand their problems and needs can be a
crime.
Who are the real
criminals? Our political leaders or the hapless
farmers?
While i agree to some of your arguments,Indian media blows things out of proportion.
ReplyDeleteMedia claims to be the fourth estate!
DeleteYes, these are true thoughts... On one side you call them cowards, on the other side you make your life full of leisure.. The amount of farmer deaths in the past decade can put us to shame in front of the entire world...
ReplyDeleteOur politicians are terribly insensitive. Such insensitivity is worse than corruption.
Delete