Barkha Dutt gets it spot on in the title of her piece & its last paragraph - And Even Rihanna -
The rest as they say, is all stodge, no meat.
Can Barkha tell us
If the pop star understands the Farm Bills passed in the Parliament of a foreign country by its democratically elected government ?
Can she name even one of the three Bills or any of the contentious issues ?
Is she aware of the number of Parliamentary Committees that have been constituted over several decades & have recommended these reforms ?
That the political parties now egging on the protests promised these very reforms in their Manifestos ?
That several of these entities had supported these pathbreaking Bills only till a few months ago ?
Or that one lakh crore (₹10,00,00,00,00,000) worth of transactions by farmers who have eagerly embraced the new opportunity have already happened on e-NAM - an electronic Agricultural market ?
Most probably not & that’s exactly the problem.
-Even Rihanna-
The blitzkrieg of misinformation is not only a disservice to farmers across the Nation but also a criminal intent towards curtailing a better livelihood & future for them.
As we have learnt too well, poverty is a powerful vote bank.
To think that a section of the elite fighting to retain privileges believe their cause will be enhanced by a foreign pop star, a porn star & a puppet adolescent only exposes a pathetic deracination with new realities.
To think the organisers believe resorting to chaos, violence & anarchy is the only way to make a grab for power & lucre…
But as we know, there is no such thing as a perfect crime.
Inadvertent finger prints, sometimes even toolkits left behind in haste, lead us to the guilty.
As we have seen before, nothing unites this country like a good fight for its honour & civilisational existence. So have no doubt we will stand up & call each one of you out.
Then -Even Rihanna- will not be able to help you hide....
When after 34 years Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to ‘the rest of his natural life’ in prison for his role in the ‘84 Sikh Pogrom he protested that it was all too sudden
'Have 6 Grandchildren, The Sentence Came All of a Sudden'
When the Lutyen squatters were asked to vacate their palatial bungalows which they had enjoyed for decades for services rendered to the Ancien Regime they felt annoyed & insulted because it was all too sudden.
When a bridge came up where little children, like their parents before them, crossed a river to attend school at great risk to life & limb, some people felt it was all too sudden for the boatmen to plan alternative employment.
I, of Indian stock, inured to unknown people dying or getting killed somewhere in this large country held the remote ready to switch off the television.
The fantastical world inhabited by the Abdullahs, Muftis & their friends.
~Unacceptable amendments to the land ownership laws of J&K. Even the tokenism of domicile has been done away with~
*whereas we can buy land, houses, farmhouses, malls, shops any & everywhere across India... & overseas. All paid by stealing from the Indian taxpayer*
~Asi gachi Pakistan, Bata ros ta batanev san~
(We want Pakistan, with Kashmiri Hindu women & without their men-folk).
~Zalimo O, Kafiro, Kashmir hamara chhod do~
(Ye cruel Kafirs (infidels) vacate our Kashmir)
In France, mid 70s preceding & after PM Desai & FM Vajpayee’s visits there were several docufilms & TV discussions on India which made me dread school the following morning.
Both teachers & classmates would accost me wide-eyed with a variety of incredulous questions on