To,
The Honourable Prime Minister of India,
South Block, Raisina Hill,
New Delhi.
India-110011.
What is it that I shall bring to your
notice? What is that one thing to which I can point out and say, yes, India is
free, India is safe; India means peace, India means justice; India means
business, India means growth; India is well-fed, India is highly-rated; and
above all India, my dear mother is great! I may have gone a bit over-board
given the opportunity presented to me but I come back to my point. So, what is
it? What is that one thing? I keep the questions safely to myself, for I cannot
simply hurl them at you sir, for I know the answer is not simple and
straight-forward, for I fear they will bounce off your stony face and hit me
flush on the forehead.
They say, our Government is a thug! I
simply close my eyes and murmur; it is just our bad luck. They ask, why don’t
you vote? I explode, for what shall I vote? For whom shall I vote? You chant
young India, prosperous India, independent India, incredible India. I simply
pray, God help India. My dear sir, I do not know what do you see in India, what
do you feel for India, what do you think about India; but for once if you get
even the slightest of chance to slip out of your security blanket, you will
come across a river called young India; it’s blood piping hot, bubbling with
anger, oozing with confidence, gushing forth in full force with a mind of its
own. You will see them, marching forward, surging ahead aspiring to change the
course of India at every step with their sharp ideas and a mere snap of their
fingers. My dear sir, young India today knows no boundaries, young India today
lives on a different planet, young India today is raring to gallop at a
breathtaking speed but your abrasive, barbed system makes them recede. Your
promises are like the wind blows. They come and go leaving behind a trail of
perpetual sorrow. Your goal is to land on Mars, ours is to buy a small piece of
land on this beautiful earth. You hold rallies, you talk big, you talk long; always
shouting the same old song of a better India with a certain future; constantly
harping on catapulting India forward but your actions fail to catch-up with
your words. My dear sir, your intentions are right, your words fail to excite
and your actions, leave a lot to be desired.
I visit any office of yours seeking
prompt service and all your men do is play yoyo with me? Am I an object of
ridicule or a big-fat joke only meant to cast my precious vote? For how much
more long will this age-old problem live in our country? Does it have an
expiry? Or is it that bitter pill which I have to swallow every-time I walk-in?
Or is it that bickering bill which will never have a seal? I notice the
landmark of democracy, I sometimes pause and peep inside the institution of
democracy but all I get to see season after season, session after session is
people of cattle class howling like stray cats and dogs. My dear sir, I am
sorry to say but the institution that you call parliament resembles a mental
asylum. My remarks are certain to draw your ire but I don’t care, for its
high-time I throw myself into the line of fire.
Who am I? Where do I stand? I am not
a politician, no saint; no economist, no scientist, not even a social activist.
Not a person of any pedigree but a young Indian with a Bachelor’s degree;
hanging on; stranded in the midst of a fierce political storm; whose only
prayer at the start of the day is that the day ends in peace and harmony. My
dear sir, in simple words I am just another common man being pickled in the
daily run, lost in the daily hum-drum.
I hear you are eager on Aadhaar but I
would request you not to stop there, as for once I do not want to believe that
it is a mere political stunt but a positive step to empower the poor. I wish
you do not prove me wrong. I wish my age gets added to your’s and you live for
many more years. I wish you all the very best in your future endeavours.
Enough said, enough puffed, enough
coughed I will let you have the last laugh.
Your’s
sincerely,
Ranjan Dhar
Published in http://theviewspaper.net/ranjan-dhar-writes-a-letter-to-the-prime-minister/
Published in http://theviewspaper.net/ranjan-dhar-writes-a-letter-to-the-prime-minister/
