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E-Pao! EI -Flight Of The Independent

Flight Of The Independent
Thathang Lunghang *



Frauds, Morons, Conmen, we have lent you more than our ears. We have given you votes, time, taxes, and other tangible devotions towards your idioms of equal liberty, justice, and equal rights.

We have done it faithfully for more than half a century.

But you have not shown us much of anything, other than the length you can go to defend the interests of the few against the marginalized. And if ever our hearts are disposed to enquire what we have benefited from freedom, let our answer be this:

We, with the same voice that spoke ourselves into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind our inextinguishable rights to freedom, are the champions and vindicators only of our own tryst with destination unknown.

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be our eyes, hearts, benedictions and prayers, but also our deepest disappointments.

Over the last 58 years, we the 'independent' have never had any semblance of real democracy. We have had some form of democracy, but have also had more than our due share of hypocrisy.

Having the right to vote and elect our own representatives has not given us access to self-determination, or access to the necessities of life. Independence from previous domination, and the right to celebrate that independence once a year has not meant that freedom has been achieved.

If all or any of the above seems too incredulous, take a look at the front page of this paper. See how many are dead, wounded, suffering, hurt, angry, agitated, broken, and ask the question: Are you free from all this?

Probable answer: Is today Sunday?

Does the sun shine only in the valley?

Does it rain only in the hills?

Can the CM go to Senapati?

Can the ANSAM come to Imphal?

Is glass indestructible?

Do trucks have wings?

Can you pass the petrol please?

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

The ancient Greek word for citizen was idiota, the origin of our 'idiot'. Members of this class may be successful or unsuccessful, rich or poor, working primarily with their hands or their brains, but they are all part of an idiotic political ethic.

One that promises to protect each from the other in exchange for votes and money. The social and political reality of their normal working day is nothing to be proud of, or content with. What most spin-doctors consider 'normal' easily becomes as wacky as the Nation's utopian designs, if only it would be given some sober thought.

We the people are particularly disinclined to suffer the hardships of prolonged and concentrated study. We have no interest in theories or comprehensive views of things. The concentration is on the small tasks at hand, while leaving the big decisions to those who may or may not deserve our confidence.

We will thus always be at the mercy of forces and conditions that no one really comprehends, and thus be in no position to take effective charge of our own tryst with destiny.

We will be persuaded by politicians to trust them with our lives and fortunes, and have only the vaguest of ideas where they will take us, with no insurance whatsoever against avoidable hardships or outright disaster.

Imagine something like this occurring on an airplane. The pilot is bigger and stronger than anyone else on board, but he is hard of hearing, can't see well, and he doesn't know how to fly a plane.

The passengers and crew all fight over who should occupy the hot seat, and every one of them thinks he ought to be the captain - even though they have never learnt the craft, cannot name any instructor who has taught them, nor indicate any time when they underwent training. They insist that the craft of captaincy cannot be taught, and are ready to throw anything at anyone who thinks otherwise.

They are all over the cabin, doing everything except fly the plane. They fight over the pilot's cap, all the while using up the craft's fuel and supplies. The plane flies along in a way that can only be described as animation in motion. Anybody else is ejected and airdropped over the remote wasteland of the Northeast.

They haven't got a clue that a real captain must know everything about planes if he is to be in genuine command. And they don't think that there is an art that empowers the captain to decide where to go; regardless of whether the others feel like going there or not. And they still do not believe that one can master that art.

The plane still crashes anyway. Everyone cries outrage. A commission is duly appointed. A retired judge and bureaucrat are dug out of retirement, and the weight of their names prefixed to the commission. They occupy small offices and submit large bills.

The judge re-retires after a year and half of knocking on deadwood. The bureaucrat agrees completely. He heads off to the Himalayas for some much-needed peace and quiet. The commission cites engine failure as the cause of the crash. Blame is pointed at a combination of bad luck and manufacturing.

Pilots, planes, crashes, and commissions aside, even if one admits that expert skills are necessary to govern a complex nation like India, and that most ordinary people do not have a sufficient grasp of all the relevant details that go into the running of a government, people nevertheless need not relinquish their right to scrutinize the officials that run the government, or to replace them, if the results of their performance seem unsatisfactory.

The pilot may not know how to fly, but he or she still has the right to determine where the passengers will go. Expert navigators may be necessary to figure out the best means of getting to some place, but the craft should still be able to reach its destination safely.

Voters in a democracy may not know all or any of the technicalities of running a government, but they can surely judge the results.

What is essential for democratic government is not that its citizens be able to understand and do everything themselves, but that they be able to determine the major outcomes and their overall destiny as a nation of equals.

A nation of free men.


* Thathang Lunghang , a resident of Kangpokpi - Manipur, writes regularly to e-pao.net
He also says....A 2 page limit is not enough to cover a subject that is 58 years long. Will continue approximately around the same time next year..
This article was webcasted on 13th August 2005


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