The buck stops right here..

If you have been watching a television news channel over the period of last 3 days (after Mumbai blasts), you would definitely have come across the politician bashing that has been taking place. It is astonishing how every news channel has found the universal scrape goat for these attacks. Every politician who has a sense of power associated with his/her position has been advised to resign by our news channels and derided live on air.

Until now, it was always the ruling party that had to take all the blame. Now, it is the political community as a whole that is taking the blame. It is funny how it is always some one who is not seen as a common man (not a part of the mass) who takes the blame. It is either an ignorant cop or a corrupt power hungry politician, never a person on the street. The point I am trying to make is that we always find some one to blame, never taking the blame. The accusing finger always points to some one else, never at myself.

If the politician has become disenchanted with the mass, it is only because of the fact that we have stopped caring about what he/she does for a long time. 'Everybody is corrupt in the system. If my legislator also follows the same path, doing scraps of development work for the constituency, I am happy. I do not care.' is how most of us think (and talk, I have heard this so many times from so many people). This in itself shows how flawed and corrupt we as a community have become.

If a cop is corrupt, it is us who have turned him/her into what that person has become. We PREFER to pay him 100 bucks rather than pay the government a fine of 300 bucks if we are caught violating a traffic rule. 

We have made them feel that they can do anything and get away with it. For our own petty short term benefits, we have jeopardised the future of our society in general and our country in particular. 

I am neither supporting the errant political leadership, laid back judiciary and incompetent protective agencies nor defending their irresponsible actions and words over the past years. All I am saying is, we too are a part of the problem. Similar to 'You are never in a traffic jam, you too are contributing to the traffic jam'. 

It is high time that the buck stops with all of us and not with a single person, legislator, minister, political party, intelligence agency or the police. May this tragedy awaken the conscience of all citizens of India and contribute towards a better society. May all of those who have lost their lives for no fault of theirs rest in peace.

Regards,

Anirudh