Ajit Pawar’s “urinate in dam” comment shows insensitivity of the powers that be

Referring to the hunger strike by a drought-affected farmer at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, Pawar had said “He has been on fast for the last 55 days. (But)If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate into it? If there is no water to drink, even urinating is not possible.”

This is what Mr. Ajit Pawar said in relation to something as tragic and yet as common and equally dismal a state of affairs of Indian farmers. Crores of rupees in the form of revenue foregone are lost because of no taxation on corporates.

And yet, there is no money for improvement of infrastructure, inputs and irrigation for more sustainable and profitable farming – a sector which accounts for an overwhelming chunk of this agro based economy.

It is a well known fact that in India a farmer commits suicide every half an hour. And the kind of insensitivity manifested by Mr. Ajit Pawar here is hardly anything new. Earlier also, similar hurtful and shameless remarks have been made by our “esteemed” leaders [question is: where do they lead us to?!]. Farmers who took their lives were said to have had “family feuds” and other such blatant attempts were made to shift the blame and evade responsibility by those in power. 

P. Sainath’s articles on farmer suicides in India will be a good place to start digging up the mountains of information on the deplorable state of agriculture and the people associated with it.

Sanjay Dutt vs Afzal Guru

Everybody is talking about Sanjay Dutt being jailed with so much pain and sadness. People, especially celebs, journalists and other famous faces just can’t seem to be able to control their tears for their dear Sanju baba, because he faces jail. His crime, in the eyes of law: he had been an accomplice in the horrific Mumbai blasts of 1993.

That is very sweet of them. They understand with compassion and sensitivity that Sanjay may not have done such a thing deliberately. Perhaps he had no other option. After all, he is their very own “Munna bhai”. He is so good at heart. How could he be so callous, so as to cause the deaths or at least be part of such a heinous conspiracy to take the lives of so many innocents? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

It is really heat warming to see people feeling for a fellow citizen. But wait. Don’t get your hopes up yet, that we are seeing better times, of having the privilege to share space on an earth where people truly care for each other or understand one another’s problems.

Where were these people, with their crocodile tears when it was Afzal Guru? In his case, it was an attack on the parliament. Why didn’t the people listen to his version? Why didn’t the people ask for pardoning his life? Why were they instead thirsty for his blood?

Oh wait! Afzal wasn’t some Bollywood big shot like Sanjay Dutt. And of course, he was not an ordinary man, he was a MUSLIM! Uhh, surely then he MUST have been a terrorist, a very, very mean and bad guy who only wants to kill innocent people.

Right?

Just so that there is no confusion, neither is it being claimed that Afzal was innocent, nor that the plea for pardoning Sanjay should be opposed vigorously. But as aware and intelligent citizens, we must acknowledge the obvious double standards.