Dear Mr Prime Minister,

When you were elected the Prime Minister for the first time in 2004, an email did the rounds which contained your resume, highlighting your stellar accomplishments. We were awestruck and considered ourselves privileged to be led by a leader as learned and distinguished as you are. Little did we know then that 10 Janpath would drive 9 RCR, and that you would be surrounded by worshipers of a name and a dynasty.  Your own approach of keeping to your work and not communicating with the masses did not work either, as we all awaited eagerly for you to tell us what you had in store for our country’s glorious future.

What future unfolded in the subsequent years, has just about devastated us. A recession and a slow recovery later, we find ourselves bleeding dry from scams like CWG and 2G. In a time when the superpowers of the world are on their knees, we could have picked up the mantle and surged ahead. But instead, we find ourselves tangled in our own web of self serving politics, short-sightedness and an appalling absence of a collective vision for this country, and ideological bankruptcy when it comes to execution. Is it any surprise sir, that it is a commoner, who believes in the principles of your founder more than the people who wear his name, has now taken the fight to you, and is arm twisting you into doing what’s right, and what should have been done a long time ago?

Your response to this person’s movement has evoked every possible emotion in us, but they have all been undesirable ones. We felt enraged, amused, saddened, surprised, disappointed, exasperated, shocked, dejected. But never did we feel assured, optimistic, relieved, hopeful, content, or proud by your response. From making statements saying that Anna was a paid agent of right wing hardliner groups like RSS, or claiming that there are external forces instigating him, you stooped to the low levels of engaging in mudslinging through Mr Manish Tiwari, alleging that Anna Hazare himself was corrupt. But never did you once give us any hope that you were willing to work with the society’s representative to bring out ironclad legistation that will ensure corruption will be dealt with unprecedented severity.

You are saddened when you think that the legislature’s authority is under attack. You feel that such movements are nothing but blackmail, forcing the government to bend to a handful individual’s wishes, and not letting it do it’s work. Let me ask you sir, isn’t it a fact that if the legislative machinery had done it’s work, and introduced / amended laws periodically, this situation would not have occurred in the first place? It was the legislature’s failure in forming strict and foolproof laws that gave these criminals the courage to break them for the first time. It was the law enforcement community’s failure to stop them that gave these criminals the guts to keep on breaking them, again and again. And all this while, the country had to tolerate your petty political bickering  in  the houses of the Parliament. The opposition is equally to be blamed, as they know nothing else than to be an opportunist. I have no doubt that even if the roles are reversed, the attitudes won’t. By calling this movement ‘blackmail’ and ‘unconstitutional’, you are questioning the very method by which our freedom fighters gifted us the freedom in which we live. A greater irony never existed.

It took your office an year to warm up to the fact that there had been a gross miscarriage of policy and law in the 2G spectrum affair, and yet at the slightest hint of Anna Hazare breaking section 144, he was arrested and sent to Tihar jail. And yet again, the same rule did not apply when Rahul Gandhi toured UP and similar conditions prevailed? If this isn’t hypocrisy, pray tell what is. Nevertheless, this has been the general trend of events so far. The heir apparent has been too busy diving into the huts of the poor and helpless, grabbing every photo-opportunity, while nibbling away at whatever little those souls had left to begin with. When the Orissa tribals won a battle against a global company, thanks to the decision of the Environment Minister, he famously proclaimed that there was a soldier in Delhi, fighting for their cause, and his name was Rahul Gandhi. This same soldier however, has not made a single statement on inflation or corruption, which threatens every common man in this country. Even now, when Anna Hazare was released from Tihar Jail, NDTV claimed that it was Rahul Gandhi’s intervention that made it possible. Is this man really bigger than the government machinery? It’s a rhetoric question, but we’d love it if you could answer it.

You must have gathered from all this rambling above of how frustrated I am. If you were to wear a disguise and roam the streets of India, you would feel this frustration in every human being you meet. Under the circumstances, it might also be the most pracical thing you did, instead of surrounding yourselves with sycophants who are not accountable to you, but to the president of a party. Of course, I am just an ordinary citizen, and there are things at stake that I know nothing about. But if that is the case sir, please stand up for your government, take the reins in your own hand, and start the painful but rewarding process of righting the wrongs. Being the elected representative of the people of the Indian Republic, you owe us that much atleast.

And if, sadly, you again look up to 10 Janpath for advice, take mine instead. Quit.

An Indian citizen.

–DELTA1