Before writing anything further let me clear myself - I am neither against any particular person, India National Congress nor working for any other political party in India. In-fact I hate politics and anybody and everybody associated with it. Though I avoid talking about politics and politicians as much as possible, sometimes, I do feel like expressing my stand about what is happening in India.
Recently in a leading national daily I read about Rahul's take on BJP and its India shining slogan. Here is a gist of what was said by him in a rally in UP.
"In 2004 (during the general elections) the opposition had launched 'India shining' campaign...They can give this slogan as their leaders do not visit your houses, don't eat food with you, drink dirty water of your wells...they can say India is shining. It is shining in their houses and air-conditioned cars but not in villages. India will shine only when no poor person is left in the country. Go to the poor, under privileged and others. Reach out to them. Hold their hands and get to know their problems. Then fight for them. Only if poor people get good quality of life, then the country can progress"
Source:
2. IBN Live
Rahul had been to a lot of villages in the North and a few villages down South in the past and he still continues to do the same. He has talked to a lot of people from financially poor background. There's been a lot of photographs running around in the internet in which Rahul is shown helping poor people or talking to them! Good. He seems to be doing something for the poor citizens of this country when it seems that the rest of India's politicians are only gobbling up money and/or running into and out of jail for various reported crimes! Here are few photographs to support my above words.
I was not the photographer of the above photographs and also I can assure you that I haven't edited any of them either. These photographs are all available if one does a google image search.
Yes, I accept Rahul Gandhi has eaten food provided by a poor farmer. Yes he has carried some stones on his shoulders along with a woman helping her in doing something (probably construction of a building or a road or something else). Yes he has interacted with children, men and women from various sects of the society. But he hasn't done any of these for long and hard. Not even for a complete day. In that case how can he ask the rest of the politicians (or people of India) to go and reach the poor people and uplift them. Rahul has not improved the situation of a single person by visiting him in his village or by helping him in the farm. Has Rahul ever donated his blood to a person who has met with an accident? Has he ever given his shoes/shirts/pants/watches to anybody in need of it? Has Rahul ever taken any poor children along with him in his costly car for a drive around the city? Has he taken the responsibility of educating the poor people against the ill effects of drinking and smoking? Has he taken the responsibility of making children attend school and become literate? If he hasn't practiced any of these then why does he preach? India doesn't want somebody who only preaches, we have enough of them. We want people who practice good things and show the result of their good actions.
I am not denying the fact Rahul had mentioned in the UP rally recently. But stating facts do not get rid of the problems a poor man is facing on a daily basis. In fact, though not to boast, I can give a lot of examples from my own life wherein I have gone out and helped quite a few people on a regular basis. No single person has enough strength to change the world. Lord Buddha, Lord Krishna, Sai Baba, Mahatma Gandhiji, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and many more great people could not convert all the bad people of their time to good or reverse the fate of an unfortunate soul. So how can I, you or anybody else claim to get rid of the problems of the country and its countrymen by just talking to a man or eating with him or sharing his problems for a day or two?
Of-course India shining slogan doesn't take into account the state of mind of each and every person in this country. But, according to me, it gives this hope of finding something positive for each and every person who gets touched by the slogan and the advertisements carrying the information. Life isn't always a bed of roses. Not for Indians, not for Americans, not for English, not for anybody else in the entire world. But then a ray of light called hope is what helps a lot during the bad/worst days of life. If I, an ordinary citizen of India, can see positiveness in the India Shining slogan why can't Rahul Gandhi see the same? Why does he, instead of building the nation by bringing people together, is sending wrong messages across the country by making illogical and blunt statements about another political party, system or any other person. Being an asshole is easy but being postive and looking at brighter things in life is difficult!
A famous saying goes something like this - Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. According to me, neither Rahul Gandhi nor anybody else with good intentions should go around spreading negative messages about others or even think or ask others about giving up their fortune to the upliftment of anybody else. Instead they should focus on teaching people how to survive the worst of times and come out in flying colours.
Disclaimer: Here are a few advertisements I could get by doing a search in Youtube for "India Shining". These videos may not be the videos created by BJP political party. I do not own these videos and hence please pardon me if in case you are unable to view them due to various reasons like unavailability in your country or removal of the video by the original owner.
