Maya-Birthday-Bash: How many deaths will it claim?

The reported death of a PWD executive engineer following beating and torture by a ruling BSP's MLA because the former couldn't collect 50 lakh rupees to be donated as birthday gift by the MLA to the party supremo Ms Mayawati, raises doubts on our claim that we are a robust democracy. An elected representative of the ruling party is accused of pulling out the engineer at late night hours, his accomplices push off the wife of the victim, give him electric shock and beat mercilessly, and , finally hand him, almost dead, over to police saying: 'put him behind bars.He is a goon'. The engineer is declared brought dead by the doctors and the police register case after strong demands for action against the MLA start pouring in from across the country.

We don't tire forecasting that we will be number one or two country in the world in the next few decades; Pakistan can't beat us because we are a well-functioning democracy and they a military dictatorship; we are very tolerant towards others, et al.

Are we going to be a strong nation by pushing our honest citizens and officials into submission and empowering those who are the killers of democracy?

The killing of an official because he is not succumbing to political pressures of demanding bribe and passing on part or whole of it to political bosses is not the killing of an individual. It is direct attack on the vitals of our democracy. It is more threatening than the Mumbai terror attacks. As the Mumbai attacks or the 26/11 are easy to identify, catalyze us all into acting against the evil of terrorism, helps us melt our petty differences for a national cause, and, gives us an opportunity to repair the gaping holes in our counter-terror machinery.

On the contrary, the engineer's killing has sent very strong signals to honest officials: honest you may be but you refuse to pay the BIRTHDAY TAX only at the cost of your life. If this can happen to an Executive Engineer, it can happen to you as well.

Now it is for the nation, for all of us, for every citizen of all castes, religions and colours, to decide: are we going to have a birthday party in a democracy that consumes not only money but also the lives of those who can't pay the money? Baba Saheb Ambedkar's soul must be turning in his grave as he would have refused to pen a constitution that would end up begetting a political party and rule that was anything but democratic and human.

When will we start refusing to do things that kill our basic rights: the most important of these being the right to life?