power to the people!!!

A little about the title...a song written by John Lennon which wanted exactly what the title says...power to the people...and that is what this post is about...

Today, I wanted to write about two things which have interested me in the past couple of days. The first is the protest against George “Dubious intentions” Bush’s imminent arrival, and the second is the Jessica Lall case. But, this morning, The Hindu’s op-ed page had an extremely well-written and concise article, written by activist writer Arundhati Roy, which said all I wanted to say about this, and more, in her own fiery style. Just click on the link, or if that doesn’t work, copy-paste the link in the address bar.

Arundhati Roy in The Hindu

The other thing I wanted to write about was the Jessica Lall case. Through this medium, I have earlier presented my views, to anyone who cared to read, on Rang De Basanti… and the furore created by common people of this country over the case is extremely reminiscent of Rang De Basanti’s message to the country. But before I get into all that, a note to the uninformed about the Jessica Lall case.

Some time in late 1998, in a fashionable pub in New Delhi, called Tamarind House, a young woman was shot dead. She was a waitress in the pub, and was shot by an intoxicated youth. But, as in all Indian stories, this young man was not brought to book. Luckily for him, he was the son of a don-turned-influential politician, coz, some seven years after the murder, all nine accused were acquitted of all charges. The father, apparently, influenced the judicial system at all levels, managed to turn (read threatened) hostile witnesses into favourable ones, the whole nine yards. But, this is where this story stops resembling the numerous other similar stories in the Great Indian Bedtime Stories, and takes on a turn of its own. Across the country, vehement protests can be seen, asking for a retrial. Young people, tired of listening to their parents and grandparents commenting “hamare desh mein aisa hi hota hai”, “we are like this only” decide to change things. Other voices echoing across my mind include that of the cynical realist Ryan (read five point someone, by Chetan Bhagat, for more details) who says, “you try to change the system, and the system changes you.” These young men and women are trying, in their own way, to disprove Ryan’s theory, and may good luck prevail with them.

True, the media deserves its fair share of credit in this entire affair, without which this would have been just another headline in the few newspapers who actually report news, not fill their pages with advertisements and page 3 (the list definitely excludes the Times of India, to quell any thoughts of confusion.)

This entire affair puts me in mind of Rang De Basanti…the idea propagated by the film is suddenly being put in force across the country…the film spoke about normal, middle-class youth taking the affairs of this country into their own hands…(see the film, and my post on the film, for more) and hoping for a better world. We’ve had enough of taking things like these lying down, be it George Bush, or Child abuse, or the Narmada dam project, and its time we do something about it. Rang De’s version of “doing something” is sounds more extremist, going to the extent of actually killing the Defence Minister…but who knows, maybe there are a bunch of extremely motivated youth in some pocket of this country…perhaps friends of Jessica…who are preparing to take that drastic step towards change in this country…Imagine, the next time I write something, it could be lauding the efforts of those youth, who went and shot dead the father of the murderer, and…