Among other things, the protests and expression of opinions against the Citizenship Amendment Act, planned National Population Register and National Register of Citizens have blatantly exposed strong biases, the proclivity for selective outrage, intolerant attitude of the ‘liberals’ and the tendency to propagate outright lies by many of those claiming to be concerned about protecting the constitution and the ‘secular’ fabric of the nation.
It is not only the right but also the duty of a citizen to protest against what is undemocratic and wrong but to do so mainly to push forward a political agenda by exploiting latent insecurities through misinformation is undemocratic and also unethical to say the least. Every citizen of a democratic nation has the right to like or dislike a politician or even an elected public representative but the protests have seen devious presentation of personal likes and dislikes as facts in many cases.
When considering the means of protests, one will recall people making a big show of reading the preamble of the constitution while ignoring or being unaware of the fact that “sovereign, democratic republic” was changed to “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic” in the preamble at a time when democracy itself was challenged by imposition of emergency in the nation.
Here in Dehradun too, some protests were held in the beginning before a demonstration on the lines of Shaheen Bagh was started near the Parade Ground. Of course, one has the democratic right to protest.
But, one was disappointed to see that a banner demanding the Bharat Ratna for a cricketer was also displayed at the protest site on one of the days even as one of the lady protesters was seen wearing the national flag as a cape- probably unaware that wearing the national flag as a piece of apparel amounts to disrespecting it. There are many who have considerable free time and resources to participate in protests regularly and look for every possible opportunity to use the social media to criticise and question the government. Criticising the questioning the government is not bad at all, but it is different when such actions are politically motivated for concealed purposes.
Many are also claiming that the citizens, especially the youth of the nation are now awake and will not tolerate injustice anymore. One would be very happy if this was actually the case. Can one comprehend how much better things would be if the citizens were actually aware? For example, the scourge of corruption, lack of sanitation, environmental damage, pollution, crime and various other problems afflicting our society would be considerably lessened if only the citizens became actually aware.
This is where the puppet-masters and useful idiots come in the picture. The term ‘useful idiots’ is attributed at times to Lenin though it is said to have been coined by economist and historian Ludwig von Mises. Lenin is said to have innovated by creating a corps of ‘useful idiots’- foot soldiers who would push his ‘revolution’ in various nations, subverting the democratic process, stirring up strikes and carry out propaganda according to Moscow’s orders. So while the puppet-masters project a picture of impending doom facing the nation and their followers carry forward this idea by protesting against non-existent threats, the activities that are actually damaging the nation and society are continuing unabated.
Take the example of Uttarakhand, the Himalayan State where the Ganga and Yamuna originate. The state is important not only from the spiritual and cultural points of view but also vital from the environmental and strategic points of view. The effects of serious damage to the environment in Uttarakhand will be felt in a considerable portion of India and even beyond.
Both the Central and the State governments are taking some steps but these are quite inadequate to tackle the challenges faced by the environment here. For example, one does not know of any town or city in the state where waste management is as it should be. The provisional state capital Dehradun generates about 300 metric tonnes of solid waste per day and despite there being a waste management plant, it doesn’t take a scientist to understand that proper waste management is still lacking in the city. Another degenerative trend continuing here is unplanned urbanisation. While a portion of the city is being developed into a ‘smart city’, unplanned constructions are being facilitated in the remaining areas, especially the suburban areas where there are still some farms, orchards and open spaces left.
The irony is that there are a number of intelligent and capable bureaucrats, scientists and other professionals living and working in Dehradun but the city is degenerating due to unplanned constructions and short-sighted ‘developments’. At this rate, by the time, a few parks and gardens are developed in some areas under the smart city project, the remaining open and green spaces in the city would be occupied by ugly brick and cement constructions.
Why aren’t the ‘aware’ citizens concerned about the nation questioning such degenerative aspects? Because, the focus has been shifted to hollow protests against imagined threats to keep the minds occupied while actual dangers are nurtured by skewed governance.