At Ramlila this year, Ravan refused to die.
The battle lines had been drawn. In the dead of the night they were hastily crossed.
It was an unthinkably shameful ambush: battalions of police swooping down on unarmed protesters, outnumbering them.
Elderly men were punched. Women and children were fiercely knocked to the ground. Baba Ramdev whisked away with brutal force. A bustling Maidan cleaned out in a Tiananmen-style raid in the cover of darkness. Only tanks didn’t roll in. Bullets didn’t fly. The intentions were no less evil. Ironic it almost coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the 6-4 crackdown.
The police state had struck back with vengeance. Was this needed?
Can a motley crowd, waving its arms and doing breathing exercises in the park, really be a threat to the world's biggest democracy?
Was there an Emergency? UPA, however, did feel besieged.
‘The government that can reach out, can also rein in.’
Yes Mr Sibal, now we know it can and that those who defy the regime will be dealt with sternly.
But let it be known that only a thug can reach out to a thug to strike a devil’s deal and then punch him to the ground if ‘talks fail’.
Civil people agree to disagree. Sending guerillas by the night is not the democratic way.
If Baba is guilty of misleading his followers, then the government is culpable for meeting him the halfway.
It must answer for putting up a grand pretence of engaging him, while loading up its cannon-size gun.
Instinct dictates: let's leave God out of it. For once let’s bring him in.
The Congress has said everything except that Ramdev must change his name to be a secular icon in the fight against corruption.
He’s a thug, a yoga merchant, a businessman remote-controlled by the RSS. It is just a way to pull saffron wool over the nation’s eyes. Ramdev’s robe is not the issue, it’s at best a distraction.
The issue is a colossal theft of national wealth and it's no longer part of the aam admi’s tolerance catalogue.
Read the writing on the wall: In 2014, if there is a choice between the likes of Baba Ramdev and Rahul Baba then it is going to be a little more complicated than mera wala saffron or green.
Esprit de l'escalier:
Kehne ki seema hoti hai,
sehne ki seema hoti hai.
Kuch mere bhi hai bas mein,
mera kuch soch samajh apmaan karo
