THE NOT-SO-OLD terror attack on Mumbai is the threshold limit of tolerance and forbearance of a nation. And clichéd as it sounds, ‘history repeats itself’, perhaps rings truer and louder than any other adage in our times. The moment to begin re-discovery and re-unification begins again. A new struggle starts. That struggle of yesteryears against British oppression is today a struggle against our own selfish men. To be precise the politicians who sleep well, eat well and are protected by Z-class security are our enemy. It’s time we rise against them in reality rather than simply sit in our drawing rooms and crib about them. It’s time we wipe our tears, become proactive rather than depend on them.

 

It’s time we agreed that we were wrong in choosing a wrong set of people as kings, queens, jacks and aces of our nation. It’s time to pause and introspect. It’s time to realise our own power.

 

But some questions persist. Are we ready to participate in the struggle to eliminate the useless politicians and find some real leaders? Are we ready to sacrifice our dreams, careers and well-being? Can we, as a group of billion lambs, be united to fight a bunch of few hundred wolves and dogs? Can we defy rules en-masse? Can we make noise and yet be peaceful in our protest? Can we make a difference in our security? If there is an appropriate time to answer these questions, it is now.

And as I said earlier, ‘history repeats itself’, it is here where I tell my fellow Indians the same thing in context of today’s time - "This is one rare moment which has come to step out from old to new, to end an age, and when the suppressed soul of our nation has found an utterance. It is this moment where we can take pledge of dedication to serve our nation, her people and the whole humanity." Brothers and sisters of India, I ask you, are you going to lose this rare moment and this opportunity to genuinely make a difference?

 

Raise my friends! Let’s make a beginning. We may not have guns, but we can fight. We may not have ammunition, but we have action. Let’s act. Let us do some pro-active things. As youth, we can do a lot. Let’s write to the president, the prime minister and all those in positions of authority millions of letters every month. Let’s ask them to respond clearly without words the actions they have taken to safeguard our nation and our people by submitting monthly reports. Let’s have mass gatherings at the residences of chief ministers of respective states and ask them what they have done that month/week.

 

Let’s ask them how many ’foreign trips’ they have taken and how many promised benefits have been delivered. Snub them if they deserve to be snubbed. Kudos to those who threw politicians outside their homes, to those who refused to accepted their honey-dipped words that hid malicious intents.

A word to media houses:

 

Media houses can make the single-most biggest difference. Invite the public to write to you their causes and proposals of constructive protests. I would like to request the media houses to carry out a week-long ban on politicians. I’d like a united ban on telecast/print of any news related to any politician or any of the hooliganism that their parties involve in. Impose an embargo on them. Make them realise that without media houses their messages cannot reach the people. Punish them for their wrongs.

 

When Shobha De declared, ’Enough is Enough’, help us give momentum to that campaign. Please expose politicians, media houses. Please rise above petty profit and the TRP trap.

 

It’s time to give a new azaadi to Bharat. The idea is not to fight terror. It’s not the job of us common people. It’s our job to take care of ourselves. It’s time to make noise whenever anyone cheats you – and that means anyone. Be it the havaldar, the corrupt bureaucrat or the PM. And for god’s sake, let us, the common people unite. Let’s forget our differences of Hindu-Muslim-Christian, North Indian and South Indian, Maharashtrian and Bihari, Brahmin and Dalit, etc. The more divided and brittle we remain, the more we would be under the hammer of politicians. They will try still more to crack us and break us.

 

There’s a lot more to think about and even more to do. Let me stop here, as this is the initial outburst but definitely a genuine outburst like most Indians. With ardent hope in my heart, I wish that the war cry would not go waste. I reiterate - raise, brothers and sisters. Let the new struggle begin!