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The rights that we upheld can be termed Theoretical Rights. They weren’t directly related to the common citizens’ daily life...what we demanded was democracy; what we’ve got party-cracy. But the questions that some folks had asked me back then continue to remain intact. Mahatma Gandhi himself led this haste. The day after the riots at Vidurashwatha, he sent a telegram to Diwan Mirza thus: “Give the Responsible Government immediately. People have registered their qualification for it.” What’s the import of this? That mob enthusiasm is a proof of qualification, right? Why has what appeared as an attractive political system become so abhorrent in practical experience? To state the truth, we cheated ourselves...back then, we didn’t have an estimate of how wretched human nature will become when confronted with the treasure called power. Our activist zeal concealed basic, natural human weaknesses from us. (en) |
