Patriotism in the real sense

It appears as the country is passing through a difficult phase and the countrymen are not sure in which direction it is going. Everyday fight of words between two major political parties does not set a good example for other smaller or regional parties. Yesterday`s (03^rd Oct. 2011) incident in the assembly of Jammu and Kashmir is another addition to what our representatives do in the temples of  democracy. The whole country witnessed the assembly and nobody could stop all that. Last few days were equally bad when our honorable prime minister was in the UN conference and two senior colleagues of his cabinet had a tussle regarding some note sent by one of them in regard to some scam which is very much in focus nowadays. It appears that all what is shown and discussed on TV channels is a mere eye-wash.At the same time it is also not beneficial for the country. We celebrated the birthday of the father of nation Mahatma Gandhi and it was good to see that the prime minister and other leaders visited the Samadhi of Bapuji and remembered him. Some TV channels telecast documentaries based on his life,but that was more as the ritual than an actual rememberance in this time of crisis. We need him today more to guide and help us so that this country could be saved from the problems being faced by it. Sh. Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Gandhiji rightly mentioned in one of his articles published in one of the newspapers that to remember Gandhiji only for one day does not make any sense. His teachings are so relevant even today as these were during the time when he was in this world. Why the political parties and the government should not follow the ideals and the path shown by him? Why to have ritual of saying a few good things about him on one particular day and rest of the days use his name for political mileage? I would have also become insensitive towards the issues faced by the country if we were not surrounded by the children who are the future of this country. The problem is that they are also very much exposed to the happenings in the country and are not learning anything good. Healthy criticism and the debate are altogether different than the polluted game of politics, which is very much evident nowadays. Naming the policy after the name of great people does not make any impact unless we follow the philosophy and ideology adopted by these people.  We are happy that Bapu is remembered by the people at least on this day but, look at the fate of another great leader of the country whose birthday also happens to be on the same day as that of Bapu and he is the strong worded but very polite Late Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastriji. Very little is spoken or heard about him though the contribution made by this petite man was tremendous. It was during his time we got the slogan which is so apt even today when he said to his countrymen,"Jai Jawan, Jai Kissan". His son wrote somewhere about his pain and feelings towards his fellow countrymen when there were problems in the state of Kerela. The rice crop was damaged due to some calamity and the people did not have food to survive because rice was their main dish. Shastriji was very disturbed that the people in that state were not able to have proper meals. He told his own family members that rice would not be cooked in the house till the time his people in the state of Kerela got proper food. It was during this time he decided that it is not enough to save the boundary of the country but the country should be self sufficient to feed the its people. He was not very comfortable with the dependency of the country on other countries as far as the food was concerned. Then he gave the slogan which became very popular and the countrymen followed it in the right spirit. I wrote about these two leaders and almost same is the fate of other leaders also who sacrificed their life for the freedom of this country and did everything possible after the independence also. There have many more who contributed in the development of the independent India but the worry is that not much is talked about these leaders. We are entangled in our own web which is as harmful as termite for the future of the country. The countrymen may not be right in the apprehension that all the schemes which are announced by the government irrespective of the political party rule, are mainly for the votes and that is why the people have started calling them as vote bank policy irrespective of the name given by the government. The recent confusion regarding the definition for the people below poverty line in the country proves the same. The planning commission thinks that anybody who earns more than Rs.twenty six in the rural area and Rs. thirty two in the urban area is not poor. This has been reported in the year 2011 when the inflation has been at its peak and the people earning much more that this are finding it difficult to manage the family of four members. After a lot of hue and cry, the said figure has been withdrawn and it has been postponed to the year 2012 when the country would know who is poor and who is rich as per the government policy. People are right when they ask questions about how the government was able to frame the so called  friendly policies for the impoverished when they do not know who is poverty stricken. There are so many areas which need to be looked into seriously and the policy of vote bank should be stopped and the real welfare policies should be thought and implemented. The government should try to motivate and force the people to become hard working and not make the people physically and mentally dependent on the government support only. The feedback and the positive criticism should be taken in a positive manner. The country has tremendous potential if our political leadership is not involved in proving themselves less corrupt than the others, they would do a lot of good to the future of the country. The children and the youth will not forgive us if corrective measure is not taken immediately. The politics of the caste and the religion should be stopped and the politics of the country should be brought in. The children and the youth are impatient today and any more selfish drive might push the country to a more difficult situation. We must talk more of the progress made by the country but at the same time think about the negatives also and take the measures to correct them. The country should be kept over and above everything else and that will be the real tribute to our great leaders who sacrificed themselves selflessly for this great country which is  full of energy and rich cultural heritage.Belligerent nationalism is only in trend but what the country requires is patriotism in the real sense.