Little folks, little states
Time was when any King worth his name would seek to expand his kingdom through conquest to become an emperor and gain what they thought would be everlasting fame. It is another matter that most of them ended up as just ciphers in the march of time.
In modern democratic India, we have the curious spectacle of everyone demanding lesser things. Take the case of caste based reservation itself. Of and on, there is a clamour for being included in most backward classes list. For a people who consider "loss of face" as the worst thing that could befall a person, it is indeed strange to see that so many sections are prepared to lower themselves to any extent to grab a piece of pie on offer.
Similarly, the demand for smaller states by insignificant politicians. They have discovered that fellows who cannot win even a municipal election could become the Chief Minister through this route. Otherwise how could Chandrashekhar Rao, whose TRS party was soundly thrashed in the elections manage to pull this off. The Congress central leadership, on its part, has once again been led up the garden path just like Rajiv Gandhi was made to unlock the locks of Babri Masjid to atone for Shah Bano fiasco.
In the younger days of the republic all efforts were towards integration. One feels proud of the fact about 500 odd native rulers were made to sign on the dotted line. Even the division of states on linguistic lines united people as seen in Kerala where Malabar, a part of Madras Presidency merged with the princely states of Cochin and Travencore. Now everyone is a Keralite regardless of their place of origin. Of course, this does not make them any less an Indian.
Stupid politicians, more often than not, ill-educated, carry on merrily with all their biased, myopic vision to create problems that may take generations to resolve all for some perceived political gains. More often than not, they end up in the dustbin of history.
In modern democratic India, we have the curious spectacle of everyone demanding lesser things. Take the case of caste based reservation itself. Of and on, there is a clamour for being included in most backward classes list. For a people who consider "loss of face" as the worst thing that could befall a person, it is indeed strange to see that so many sections are prepared to lower themselves to any extent to grab a piece of pie on offer.
Similarly, the demand for smaller states by insignificant politicians. They have discovered that fellows who cannot win even a municipal election could become the Chief Minister through this route. Otherwise how could Chandrashekhar Rao, whose TRS party was soundly thrashed in the elections manage to pull this off. The Congress central leadership, on its part, has once again been led up the garden path just like Rajiv Gandhi was made to unlock the locks of Babri Masjid to atone for Shah Bano fiasco.
In the younger days of the republic all efforts were towards integration. One feels proud of the fact about 500 odd native rulers were made to sign on the dotted line. Even the division of states on linguistic lines united people as seen in Kerala where Malabar, a part of Madras Presidency merged with the princely states of Cochin and Travencore. Now everyone is a Keralite regardless of their place of origin. Of course, this does not make them any less an Indian.
Stupid politicians, more often than not, ill-educated, carry on merrily with all their biased, myopic vision to create problems that may take generations to resolve all for some perceived political gains. More often than not, they end up in the dustbin of history.
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