E-Paper
Professionals or criminals? India has to decide
THERE IS a flurry of activity in academic institutions across the country, including political savvy state of Uttar Pradesh, ever since a bunch of former IITians floated a group, Paritrana, to tame politics. Though Paritrana, first of its kind in the country, came into existence over a month back, it has started making waves after the release of Aamir Khan?s Rang De Basanti.Inspired by Rang De Basanti, many students, who till now had no qualms in deserting their country for a cushy and creamy MNC job are getting ready to cast themselves in an entirely different mould to uproot corruption and corrupt politics. Indeed it?s patriotism, the right way.
THERE IS a flurry of activity in academic institutions across the country, including political savvy state of Uttar Pradesh, ever since a bunch of former IITians floated a group, Paritrana, to tame politics. Though Paritrana, first of its kind in the country, came into existence over a month back, it has started making waves after the release of Aamir Khan’s Rang De Basanti.
Inspired by Rang De Basanti, many students, who till now had no qualms in deserting their country for a cushy and creamy MNC job are getting ready to cast themselves in an entirely different mould to uproot corruption and corrupt politics. Indeed it’s patriotism, the right way.
As a group of enthusiasts from Kanpur’s HBTI, who are currently involved in giving final touches to their forthcoming programme, ‘India Inspired’ (again Rang De Basanti effect) said, “The mission is to fight corruption just as the country fought the colonial rule. It is immaterial where we fight -- from inside or outside the political spectrum”.
Yes, the youth power has started evolving and perhaps its first visible sign would be the ballot booths as they said: “We will exercise our right to franchise more consciously from now onwards”. So interestingly, while about a dozen-odd HBTI students have decided to join the new political group, the IIT-K is planning to invite the founder members of Paritrana to their campus for a tête-à-tête with students. Surely, the first flight that took majority of IIT-K students straight from the campus to MNCs may get diverted to Paritrana also. What if they have done aeronautics, what if they have studied chemicals or electrical, they are now willing to embark on a flight that will take them to untested fields.
Why politics is attracting them now? The answer is simple. The system has betrayed them, the ideological and intellectual bankruptcy has dismayed them and the unimaginable levels of corruption has disturbed them no end. So they have decided to take the bull by its horns while singing their new patriotic slogan, “We will do whatever we can for the country. It’s time the educated lot entered politics”.
Question is can they do it alone without support of both public and political parties? Though there have been endless countrywide debates on the growing hold of criminals on political parties, does our electoral system allow growth of professionals in politics? Or is the electoral system helping only the cunning, the corrupt and the criminal? Are power-hungry political parties willing to give them space? Yes off and on political parties do pick up literary figures or social workers, but more often as decorative pieces than for real politics. What still is more important, Is public willing to stand by them, face bullets?
Would professionals enter fields like Kunda where neither the political parties nor people are willing to take on Raghuraj Pratap Singh? Same stands for areas from where hundreds like Mukhtar Ansari, Atique Ahmad, Amarmani Tripathi contest elections. We know the painful answers. Professionals fail to fight money and muscle power and thus don’t get public support.
But it could all be history if Paritrana creates the same waves in the political arena as it has done in the academic set-up. And this is possible only if India decides to checkmate the entry of the corrupt, the criminals in the pious portals of democracy -- the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha. In fact it won’t be preposterous to describe this war akin to the one fought for the country’s freedom. The only difference is that then we were fighting outsiders, today we will be fighting our own brothers who have gone astray. Who else can do it better than the youth power?
