Mutiny on the Bounty

Flashback to the Marlon Brando film when a ship's crew Rebel against the realm, and one can understand the plight of the person on the stree...

Flashback to the Marlon Brando film when a ship8217;s crew Rebel against the realm, and one can understand the plight of the person on the street, who is aching to fight back. This feeling is going to take, in its wake, whole segments of our now-unpopular democracy. When a young girl fights off an offender single handedly only to end up legless, believe me, we must stop being immune, silent, passive observers. Something in me rises in anger, despair and horror at the futility of it all 8212; this week, at least four perfect strangers and more than a dozen friends have asked me to write about this horrific incident though all the weekend newspapers addressed the issue. I am trying to go into the deeper issue of a malaise that is making us all wallow in the inertia of urban decay to the point of not caring. What will it take for us to refocus on the reality of the turbid times we live in? Kal yug, as our scriptures say, is upon us but so is the curse of paying mere lip service to the basic tenets of Hinduism. We have,as a people, become innately selfish, this will be our ruin. The each to his own8217; philosophy is alien to our culture, where from time immemorial, the family and extended relationships thereof were fundamental pillars of society.

If the state is unable to protect its own people, who is? The innumerable deaths witnessed by Bombay in the past few months show that the Government machinery is grinding to a slow but perilous halt. It is now apparent that one needs to protect not just ourselves but those around us from the imminent danger of accidental death or the harm thereof for being a bystander. When economic woes wedded to a breakdown in law and order come home to roost, it teaches us but one lesson: It8217;s time for a mutiny.

I am tired of hearing horror stories of the omnipotence of certain law enforcing agencies, be it the CBI or the enforcement directorate. Please, please, explain to me why are culprits who hoodwinked the national exchequer to the tune of thousands of crores in scams, still out thereenjoying the gains of ill-gotten wealth yet a few entrepreneurial young fashion designers are raided to the point where they start disbelieving in their own creativity? We are in a recession, yet instead of abolishing taxes and pruning government spending, we harass a handful of young talented fashion designers who made a few bucks from their talent and creativity. Is this a sin? When are the politicians, bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, police, media, priests and other untouchables of our democracy going to be treated in a similar fashion? Why are these segments of our democracy above the purview of these oh so vigilant enforcers of the law. Why is there a different law for some of us? An over zealous agency that harasses, humiliates and beats a chosen few into subservience through draconian old hat legislation cannot have my vote. Why should an ordinance be promulgated for cash rich companies to buy back their own shares when more immediate legislation is needed to protect a citizen8217;s right to be consideredinnocent till pronounced guilty?

WHY not bring about a tax abolition ordinance to stimulate our ailing economy instead of half-baked buy back schemes. I8217;m no economist but it doesn8217;t take a Nobel prize to guess that as a tax haven, India will surely become a wonder of the world. Free our people to enterprise under a 10-year tax holiday and see how quickly we bounce out of this recession. But if you have two sets of laws for one citizenry, mark my words it has the makings of a mutiny. I was told only yesterday of a dear friend who has been pronounced guilty after a mere raid and harassed to the point of illness. Is it fair?

If these double standards don8217;t cease soon enough I will be willing to lead a mutiny myself. I lost Rajan to vile and unsubstantiated lies some made up right here in our own proud nation. Where he was accused of alleged cheating in Singapore, mother India and her agents conceived to pronounce by an order that he was accused of larceny, bribery and forgery 8212; crimes he had never evenallegedly committed. How did these non-bailable crimes get in the picture? Rajan was a victim of rivalry and prejudice and a whole corrupt system had been turned on its head to bring to book an innocent, decent man who had made a few powerful enemies. It gives me no pleasure, but today no less a personage than an ex-Prime Minister stands accused of these severe charges larceny, bribery and forgery 8212; of course totally unconnected with our case. Such are the ways of the Lord. My real concern on hindsight is that it is better to let one guilty man go free so that one innocent man may not be falsely accused, ever. The trauma of incomprehension due to a true innocence is far worse than the pain of paying a price. I will always help and fight for the underdog, till we can all say proudly that there is only one set of rules, and they apply to one and all. Till then ED go home.