"Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high..."
I watched you on the news, making those protracted, dashing and awe-inspiring speeches, sweeping the entire nation off its feet. You spoke with such conviction that, for a second I believed that nobody else but you could be our ambassador for the India of my dreams. I felt proud. I felt proud that the country is led by individuals like yourself. Leaders who would so willingly give up on food and water, walk for miles over to campaign, not for votes, but for the better cause.
Dear Mr Corrupt Politician, I thank you for the privileges you bestowed upon me. I wake up every morning, a free mind, with an identity of my own. An identity which is testimony to the fact that I live in a free country, and that I chose you as my leader. It is perfectly justified that you demand to eat up half of my salary every month, a mere Rs 10,000 on which my entire family is dependent. It is but a small price for all the selfless services you render. Your 100*100 mansion needs to be maintained, understandable. The dozen attendants, whose job is to clean the water in your swimming pools need to be paid. After all, clean water in your pools is just as essential as the water supply to the poor. To my 20*30 mansion, the government supplies water once in two days. I store it and use it as little as I can. But I pay a bill that I cannot afford on my meager pay, while you enjoy the water to your swimming pools for free. You without doubt, deserve it more than I do.
It is completely justified that you need to travel by a BMW to meet you colleagues for a party over drinks for a victory you obtained fair and square, and in a stretch limo to a house meeting in the parliament . It is definitely a matter of prestige you see.. How demeaning wouldn't it be if you went instead, in a Mercedes Benz? After all, you presented one to you fifteen year old son who made it through his tenth boards due to the grace of his highly qualified teachers who were so overcome with respect towards your great self that your son's grades were but a minor favor towards you.
"Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken down into fragments
By narrow domestic walls "
Mr Corrupt Politician, not the tens of kilograms of jewelry you present your wife with, not the crores of rupees that stock up abroad in unnamed bank accounts, that rightfully belong to the citizens, not the mines you so legally dig up, none of these things offends me. I in turn, am so filled with pride that you are a man of principles, a man of righteousness. So full of courage that when your mansion is raided, you very conveniently hide in your farmhouse, the land for which was, of course, obtained by unsolicited means.
It isn't right at all that you are called corrupt. You sir, are in fact my personal satan on earth. Should there be a reason in the near future that may see me hanging from the only ceiling fan at my little home, it is you. I will never stop fighting for what is rightfully mine. It burns my entrails watching your wife dressed in a pure gold embroidered saree, the worth of which may be nothing less than my annual pay. I could educate my son with that, you know.
"Where words come out from the depth of truth
where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit..."
With what conscience do you don the Gandhi attire so proudly? With what guts do you blame the education system when your extent of literacy are the thumb impressions in place of your signature? I am now beginning to question the very status of India as a free nation. Are we truly free in the true sense of it! You preach democracy like you are its messiah, its Jesus of goodwill. You tell me its my birth right, you tell me I am entitled to make my voice heard, while do not care to listen to it yourself. You narrow-minded wench! Do you not have any qualms over what you are doing? The crores you spend getting your posters printed and hung over bill boards and on getting votes, just so that you can make a few hundred crores more. God complex is something that exists with surgeons. But its is valid to a certain degree. What makes you feel it? The hollow power you think you wield, Mr Corrupt Politician?
I dream of an India where my children will be educated to take the country forward, and not hinder its progress.Where corruption is removed from the very roots. Where there are no ulterior motives behind good deeds. I dream of a fearless India, with no illusions about itself. I dream of an India truly by the people, of the people and for the people. I dream of that India that the likes of Rabindranath Tagore dreamed of.
"Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake...."
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