[Reader-list] Another cause, not pink but blood red...

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear all

I think the point raised by Pawan is certainly a valid one, in that certain
issues have always hogged the limelight, while others are not even mentioned
or discussed among the public. This has certainly been the case between
incidents like Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case, Nitish Katara murder case,
Jessica Lall murder case and also the Mangalore pub attacks on one hand,
which have become popular, and on the other hand, incidents like Khairlanji
massacre of Dalits, Jhajjar massacre of Dalits, and also the Kachroo ragging
case, which have not been as popular.

One aspect certainly on this issue, is the strong association between
popular TV and newsprint media on one hand, and the class connection of the
people working here. Most of the people working at such places belong to the
upper middle class, and connect better to issues and problems they
experience. The result is that they are not able to connect with issues like
SHG's (Self Help Groups), massacre of lower-caste people, electoral politics
(the actual way it works) among others.

However, the larger framework in which this can be mentioned is what we call
as 'democracy'. As I see it, the upper middle class of India don't want
democracy; instead, democracy only seems to be a problem for them. Being a
student of one of the premier technological institutes of India
(IIT-Madras), my experiences can vouch for the fact that most of the
students in my college belong to this upper middle class, and this class
does not really want democracy. Instead, what most of this class wants (and
at one time, even I wanted), is efficiency. Hence, the support for a party
like BJP (which supports privatization as it improves efficiency, or even
anti-terror laws as they are supposed to improve efficiency in giving
justice and punishment to terrorists).

The upper middle class can get all their works done through bribes and other
means. For example, look at the way most of us get our licences, ration
cards, and even passports.Most of this class members would have to or would
have already paid some bribe at some point of time to get their work done (I
dont' mean to say that people who pay bribes like to do so; it just means
that they don't have any choice left). When these don't work, they can also
use media pressure to get what they want. Look at issues of reservation,
Mangalore pub attacks, and even murder cases as examples.

However, when issues don't concern them, they hardly bother. So, massacre of
Dalits can be forgotten. The fact that reservation as a move to protect
unity of India has worked, can also be forgotten. Moreover, even Ambedkar
and his followers can be forgotten. Even the fact, that people who are
uneducated, poor, illiterate actually go out in each and every election and
vote, (while the upper middle class generally dont' vote in that large
numbers), is forgotten. Infact, it's these people who realize that they
don't have the money or the resources to pay bribes to get their work done,
and hence, go out and vote, in the hope that they would be able to get their
necessities of daily life, in an easier and simpler manner, so also the hope
that things would improve for them.

Hence, it's not just an apathy of one incident, and sympathy for something
else.

It's a class-based system, where something is sympathised with, and
something is totally forgotten. (And one reason as I see it, is the fact
that India doesn't have one unified common education system, where children
of rich were to study side-by-side with the children of poor. This would
have changed India totally for the better, for when communication starts
between members cutting across classes, you can understand others better,
social trust improves, and issues can be understood much better. )

It would be better that we all try to now bring about this communication in
our little ways we can, otherwise we are in trouble for now, and heading
towards an impending disaster.

Only then will sympathy be there for all classes. And nobody would have to
ask others to sympathize with Aman Kachroo or any such cases.

Regards

Rakesh