‘Mehngai ka Chaata’ was the headline that ran on the website of Aaj Tak, one of the popular newsmakers in India. They had also included a link showing the video grab of today’s craziest nation shaking sensational event of the day. As I started the video on my office computer which show in infinite loop the hottest national video of the day, I was surrounded by my colleagues, all of them wanting to catch a glimpse of the video. Sharad Pawar, who the entire India acknowledges as the master scamster / corruptest politician was slapped on the face by an angry commoner, who truly showed fire in the belly and above all, crazy guts. I wonder whether the slapped skin was the paralysed half or the other.
It was as if our country was waiting for an event or drama to get them out of boredom and this slap was precisely that. Actions always speak louder than words. is what I could see, because this was a sub-continent stirring event. The media industry had a field day doing what they do best and the world followed every update. Politicians condemned the event. Anna did it too, but he added a post script which said ‘why only one slap’. NCP workers took to the streets out of desperation to salvage the situation, forcing retailers to shut shop, doing a rasta roko by sitting on the roads, blocking public transport, disrupting the common man’s basic need for peace by resorting to violence, chanting slogans in support of the minister and making a claim for ‘bandh’. It demonstrated a very classic quote, ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’. Telecom companies made windfall gains as everyone seemed to be calling each other frantically for updates. Just about everyone seemed to be talking about the event.
In our crazy country, controversy seems to be everyone’s favourite pass time. For the next two days, the video will be repeated countless times across channels/website. Sharad Pawar might try to gain some sympathy for himself. Most of us would agree that he deserves more than a slap on his crooked face. All of us by now would have noticed how he lost balance when he was slapped.
However, what our commoner friend tried to highlight a very deep rooted problem created by ministers like Sharad Pawar seems to have gotten sidelined; rising prices. Its not just petrol, every essential commodity seems to go through the roof. We read about tons of grain rotting in ill infrastructured warehouses, compounded with lack of storage space at one hand and 10% plus inflation on the other. The RBI, on the other hand is trying to curb demand, instead of the government adjusting supplies of essentials to align it with the demand. Any consumer wouldn’t consume lesser eggs because the EMI on his home loan has increased. All the rates hike have done is discourage borrowings, swallowed banks’ NIM’s and hurt corporate profitability and expansion plans.
I think every countryman would relate to and sympathise with our angry commoner. Because there is one in each one of us. It’s just that we can’t channelize the anger the way this guy did. How I wish each one of us could slap at least one politician every day.
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