May 2013 bring us better things
1 Jan 2013 9:27 PM GMT
Every year appears to be more shapeless and eventful than the previous year. If 2011 was intense 2012 seems to be overwrought with the shout of public outcry. 2012 was historical in certain senses and shameful in many ways. This is the year when Congress, in the form of the government, finally belched out its long and secret intentions: of selling the country’s last public resources, be it coal, the pension corpus, captive land or your next door kirana shop. This is the year in which Sachin retired from part of the cricket industry and Ratan Tata from his gigantic corporation, a year in which the deceased Bal Thackeray was reborn as a national ‘icon’, a year in which Anna Hazare was relegated to political wilderness, a year in which the electronic media operated with more and more impunity to deliver vigilante justice over primetime television, a year in which a chief minister rode back to triumphant power. It’s also been a year of India’s relatively better show in the Olympics almost marred by officiating local fools and its continuing poor show in cricket, a year in which Bollywood became even more obsessed with numbers and crores, a year in which the economy shrunk and the Parliament squawked.
But 2012 will go down in history as the one in which the public came out on the streets, a year in which the threat of the social media grew and governments have proposed gagging. This is indeed a development to take note of. The Anna Hazares and Arvind Kejriwals of the world have bequeathed one habit to a new and confident generation: that politics and political parties are not in a position to affect change. Change, if any, must come from within and not above; that politicians are no deliverers and they never will; that justice have to be fought for and not merely discussed and debated.
As we go to 2013, in the midst of the sadness and shock of the Delhi gang-rape incident and thousand other such acts of brutality, among the pessimism of institutional politics and its assorted ills, among a shrinking economy and the lack of better opportunities, we take with us the confidence of the people, those nameless millions who descended, prodded by none, enslaved by none or seduced by none, but only by a sense of belonging to this time, place and society, on the street, protesting for their rights and against the brutalities handed down either by the law or those against, either by the state, or those against.
2012 could be a year which shocked us to the last bone. But it could also go down as the year of turnaround.
But 2012 will go down in history as the one in which the public came out on the streets, a year in which the threat of the social media grew and governments have proposed gagging. This is indeed a development to take note of. The Anna Hazares and Arvind Kejriwals of the world have bequeathed one habit to a new and confident generation: that politics and political parties are not in a position to affect change. Change, if any, must come from within and not above; that politicians are no deliverers and they never will; that justice have to be fought for and not merely discussed and debated.
As we go to 2013, in the midst of the sadness and shock of the Delhi gang-rape incident and thousand other such acts of brutality, among the pessimism of institutional politics and its assorted ills, among a shrinking economy and the lack of better opportunities, we take with us the confidence of the people, those nameless millions who descended, prodded by none, enslaved by none or seduced by none, but only by a sense of belonging to this time, place and society, on the street, protesting for their rights and against the brutalities handed down either by the law or those against, either by the state, or those against.
2012 could be a year which shocked us to the last bone. But it could also go down as the year of turnaround.
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