More than a decade ago, a much popular veteran Bollywood superstar had tweeted with much pleasure that the “whole country” will go to sleep “peacefully” at night from now (following the attainment of that statistical jugglery named “Century of Centuries” by a certain cricketing "God")!
That means the poorest of the poor, dominating the landscape of India, were possessing only one aspiration in life --- "When that elusive 100th ton would come"! Now that it has come, we can afford to "enjoy" a "sound sleep" or "sweet dreams" every night!
What a naked display of supreme inhuman indifference towards the plight of billions of Indians (including children) who have to go to bed (innumerable upon pavements, under open sky) with deadly pangs of hunger in their stomachs night after night !
Or might be in the eyes of class-conscious Indians, the marginalised poor (forming the overwhelming majority in the nation) simply don't exist or just do not matter at all ! After all, the country is the "zamindari" of the privileged class only! No wonder why "subsidies" to the poor are so frowned upon; but tax breaks, concessions, free medical/travel facilities for the industrialists, corporate honchos and high salaried class are always welcomed with open arms in the name of "incentives" !
In this pathetic inhuman perspective, it is extremely natural that now it's "celebration" time for us as "India overtakes Japan to become the 4th largest economy of the world"!
What a great mockery of the woes of the billions of poor folks of the country through the most heartless claim of attaining the 4th position along with shrill beating of the trumpet of "world's fastest growing economy"! What a crude fashion of projecting a distorted picture of the nation through mere statistical jugglery so as to sweep all ills of rampant poverty hunger malnourishment child labour and joblessness under the "nationalist carpet"!
No wonder why millions of Indians are getting compelled to flock to the civil war scarred nations of West Asia and North/Central Africa by risking their precious lives so as to escape the wretchedness back home with the latest instance being exodus of lakhs of Indians from towards volatile Israel to take up the job of mere construction labourers! Far from remaining ashamed of such a blatant failure, the shameless authorities dare to project such exodus as "skill development" under the ruling regime!
Very recently several Indians have been deported from USA in most insulting fashion possible with feet of our citizens chained who had paid through their noses to the human smugglers so as to try their luck in the West and get rid of acute poverty in home country!
Inspite of such a humiliation of very own citizens in front of the whole world, the "nationalists" feel no shame in highlighting mere statistics and prosperity of the privileged minority, thereby ignoring the woes and tears of non-privileged billions in this unequal class-obsessed country!
Nothing can be more tragic disgraceful and feudal than this!
When millions are at their wits' end how to survive the day or procure health care with uncountable children getting brutally exploited in labour market (not to speak of bonded labourers); how heartlessly can an image of an exclusive well-fed much-nourished India being blatantly projected either to sweep the scars of the society under "patriotic" carpet or to simply convey that non-privileged Indians do not matter at all in "national consciousness"!
When will this society turn a bit egalitarian and learn to walk on the path of collective progress with an all-embracing attitude!