• Prakash Pohare

You must remember what was the atmosphere in the country for about ten years from 1986-87 to 1996-97! From there, you will also directly remember the atmosphere of 2013. There was political unrest in many states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland, West Bengal. Agitations and violent activities were on the rise. The nation was flooded with slogans like 'Mandir Wahi Banayenge', 'Jai Shri Ram', 'Garv Se Kaho Hum Hindu Hai' and many others and in 2013, there was huge wave of people wearing 'Main Anna Hoon' caps in the entire country. We have seen such an atmosphere in the name of Ram, Yatra, Rath Yatra, Shila Poojan, collection of iron/bricks, Aarti, Maha Aarti to Ayodhya in the name of Ram Lalla. By heating up that atmosphere, a gulf of violent religious hatred was created in the country. The society was divided into 'us' and 'them'. There is no need to tell what ill effects all these incidents had on the culture, economy and social system of the country. So many such incidents are there!

The meaning is clear... people wake up on emotional issues... The atmosphere of today is a testimony to the fact! People do not come out on the streets against inflation,... people do not come out on the streets against unemployment... people do not come out on the streets over paper leaks which are ruining the future of students... bridges built by spending crores have been cracking up, roads are cracking, the roof of Ram Mandir is leaking, the roof of the airport is falling apart, but people are not coming out on the streets... whereas lakhs of Mumbaikars came out on the streets to welcome the cricket players who became rich after winning the 'T-20 World Cup'...! By the way, cricket is an emotional issue. Of course, people wake up only on emotional issues.

The broadcasting rights of a country's sporting event are sold at the highest bid in the world. Cricket is a sport played in only ten-fifteen countries. Barring two-three exceptions, there is no place for this sport in many developed countries like Japan, Germany, to a large extent America, China, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Dubai, Russia and Korea. Football is the most popular sport in the world and teams from most countries participate in this sport at the international level. The English Premier Football League is a very popular football competition, the American NBA basketball competition is also very popular, but the broadcasting rights of these competitions are also not sold at such a high price. What a big discrepancy it will be if a sporting event in India, which has an economy of barely $3,00,000, surpasses a popular sport in America, which has an economy of about $1.8 trillion, in terms of broadcasting rights! The broadcasting rights of this tournament were sold at such a high price because there was a huge number of viewers watching the tournament. This is not cricket, but treason,.... Students must read my book written on this subject.

The people of India are crazy about cricket. Keeping their craze in mind, efforts have been made to capitalize on the sentiments of these people through this tournament and they are certainly successful in it. In fact, Indian athletes are seen performing very well at the international level in other sports as well. Indian badminton players won the prestigious Thomas Cup for the first time two years ago. Indian players performed this by winning over the challenge of strong competitors like China, Indonesia, but these players were only praised for this. Just as the T-20 World Cup winning players were given a grand welcome in Mumbai, felicitated in the Vidhan Bhavan of Maharashtra, in the same way no generosity was shown towards Indian badminton players, wrestlers, kabaddi champions, Olympians or similar athletes. This is pure discrimination! Neeraj Chopra, who won India's first gold medal in athletics in the Olympics, will probably be remembered only during the next Olympics.

Electronic media has been successful in cashing in on this sentiment of the public. Media and rulers know very well how to divert the attention of the public from the burning issues of the country and the policies of the government. That is why the 'T-20 World Cup' has been created. That is why the people of Mumbai came out on the streets in such large numbers. Why don't these people come out on the streets for their legitimate rights?

In fact, after being elected for the third time after ten years and adding 'Sabka Vishwas' to the previous line of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', it was thought that this government will now give up the phrase 'in the last seventy years' and will take a new direction by saying 'this happened in the last ten years'... But before the elections, the government gave 'Modi's guarantee' till 2047 and the public went with it. On the other hand, the government is pushing the target of five trillion economy every day, even though the economy is being kept in three quarters. Demonetization, GST, bank loan scams, the big industrial groups involved in these are being protected and they are showing that someone is being made a scapegoat. On the other hand, this government has taken a new step to cover this deficit by looting the country's reserves. A sequence of looting the Ganga water (used metaphorically) of the Reserve Bank of India and selling or renting out government enterprises was started. Using people's money to hide the flaws and lies of private enterprises is becoming the rule rather than the exception. But, people are not taking to the streets for this.

Now Maharashtra Assembly elections are approaching. Keeping this in mind, a scheme for women was announced before the budget approval. They were given 15days-time. There was a rush in all the Gram Panchayats, Talathis, Tehsil offices. The government knew that this work will not be done in fifteen days. The government is promoting this scheme as an alternative to the rush. Now the government has extended the time limit by two months to August31. After this, the scrutiny of applications will begin. The code of conduct of the assembly elections will be followed while the voting is going on. Now the important thing... Women will be given Rs. 1500 per month. The population of Maharashtra is about 12 crores. 6 crore women out of which 3 crore are ineligible, but if 3 crore women are to be paid Rs. 1500/- per month, then another 54 thousand crores per year, has this amount been provided in the budget? If yes, then from where will the government get so much money every month? How much income, how much expenditure? This scheme has been named 'Majhi Ladki Behan'. Crores of women of the state became emotional and started discussing that this is the government they want. This means that once again this is the plan of the Shinde government to organize these women voters on emotional issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who raised the slogan of corruption-free India, succeeded in gaining power for the third consecutive time. On the same day and a few days later, two shameful incidents occurred in two important sectors like education and health. The Modi government, in fact the Prime Minister, is expected to take responsibility for these incidents. But unfortunately, this does not seem to be happening. On the one hand, dreaming of making India a 'Vishwa Guru' and as usual, deliberately ignoring the heinous incidents of corruption in important sectors like education and health is indecent.

The NET was held on June 18 for the eligibility test required for the post of Assistant Lecturer in universities and colleges. That evening, the NTA issued a circular stating that the exam was conducted successfully. But the Union Education Ministry immediately cancelled the exam due to leakage of the question paper and took prompt action against the paper leakers. Should we turn a blind eye to a huge scam in an exam like NEET? And juts oversee the disgrace that happened in the NET exam and pretend that we maintain complete sanctity? How many people, except a handful of vigilant parents, noticed this?

I firmly believe that a country where the role models of young students are not scientists, researchers, educationists but commercial actors, drama-loving politicians, sold-out players, people steeped in communal frenzy, they and the country will never be able to make economic progress. The country will always remain backward socially, intellectually, culturally and strategically. The unity and integrity of such a country will always be in danger. So much crowd gathered to welcome the players who won the 'T-20 World Cup' that there was no place even for an ant. What if the same people unite for their legitimate demands...?

So many people gather around just a game. In this country, farmers commit suicide because they are unable to repay loans of five to twenty five thousand and the number of such suicides goes into lakhs, and there is no ripple in the lake! In this country, graduates, engineers etc. apply for jobs as peons and are ready to pay bribes to get that job! In this country, thousands of government schools are closing down due to lack of adequate infrastructure. The government of this country decides to recruit soldiers as 'Agniveers' for four years. That too on contract basis...! Who cares about this? Today, the government has established crony privatization in almost all sectors of the country including mobile services, TV services, electricity services, fuel, gas, media, power, pharmaceutical manufacturing, insurance sector, retail production, defense sector, railway services, aviation. Services, food supply and freight services have been done already and its impact is falling on the people of the country. Sale of profit-making government companies, additional financial burden on RBI, opening up space for foreign investment, decreasing government jobs, continuous decline in savings, increasing NPA of banks, financially weak banks, falling market demand, rising taxes, falling per capita income, falling GDP and others... The people of this country need to immediately recognize that the current economy of the country is becoming directionless. The economy is being deliberately reframed to retain power! Because ultimately the question is about the future of our home-schooled youth. But we come out on the streets in lakhs to welcome cricket players who became rich by playing in the 'World Cup'.... Is this not intellectual bankruptcy?

(The author is the Editor of Marathi daily ‘Deshonnati’, Hindi daily ‘Rashtra Prakash’, weekly ‘Krishkonnati’)

The author can be contacted at 9822593921