Our country, our concerns

Mumbai is seething with rage. Some of our democratically elected leaders have been making incredibly outrageous remarks and competing for the honour of the most incompetent fool around. There has been an overwhelming outpour of disgruntled citizens onto the streets to voice their disapproval of the political leadership. At this point, I will deviate from concentratng only on the issue of terrorism and stress why we, the educated middle class of India, need to do much more.

I belong to a well-to-do family and was brought up in the heart of Kolkata. I am one of the privileged few of the country who can live in comfort with a sense of financial security and enjoy the benefits of urban India. It is the middle class which plays the most vital part in policy-making. We constitute that section of the society to which the media talks. Today, the threat of terrorism looms large over the entire nation. But, there are also other waves of violence and injustice affecting various parts of the country on a massive scale; these are issues which we ignore because they don’t affect us directly.

We were not stirred by the massacre of tribals in Kandhamal. We didn’t make our discontent, if we had any, felt when protesting villagers died from police firing in Nandigram and Kalinganagar. We, the educated middle class, are not concerned about an adivasi in Orissa. We have never wanted to know why Manipur burns. We are proud to be Indians, and at the same time we shun the responsibility of making it better.

Why should we bother about problems that don’t affect us? Every citizen of India has the right to vote. But, as you have recently found out after the terror attacks, the leaders you have elected have betrayed your faith in them. You have voiced your protest and the media has echoed your outcry. Every Indian does not have this privilege. The tainted image associated with politics has repulsed our interest in it. Either you care for a better India, or you don’t. If you do, then you have to be aware about some of the challenges facing the nation, even if that won’t affect you directly. Most of these issues will not be highlighted prominently in the media unless people take an active interest in them. We should not be oblivious to some of the most serious problems which face the nation. We, the privileged section of the society, have the access to information and if we make our opinion heard, we can make a difference.

There was a unique anti-reservation protest organized by IIT Delhi students in 2006. They took to the streets and pretended to do the job of mending shoes and sweeping roads. I am opposed to caste-based reservation in higher education but this incident amazed me. The protestors wanted to convey that reservation would force them to do such ‘menial’ works! This strips bare the mindset of the social elite and the disrespect shown towards a large number of Indians on the basis of their profession. We nurture these prejudices from infancy. I also have to fight and neutralise the biases that social conditions have injected into me. We can’t change the system as long as we don’t change ourselves in a multitude of ways. For a better India, we have to do much more.