Friday

04


October , 2024
Festivities on a sombre note
00:32 am

Buroshiva Dasgupta


When calamities hit us, they seem to come in great numbers. The Tirupati ‘laddu’ disaster seem to shock us inconsolably  - at a time when Manipur has flared up again, Kolkata is mourning the murder  of a young doctor and nature has unleashed its fury  in  Kerala, Delhi, Mumbai and in the Himalayan states. It’s now time for the Gods to come down to earth in these festive months; but surely, her human disciples are not in their comfort zone to greet her whole heartedly.

We however need her blessings all the more in these troubled times; but are we in our heart of hearts pure enough to offer our prayers? Otherwise, who could have imagined that the laddus offered as prasadam to the Tirupati Gods would be adulterated with palm oil and animal fats? Must Indian business sink to such levels where we do not hesitate to even cheat our Gods? Even those who do not believe in salvation or in after- life would perhaps pause and think: what are we trying to achieve by this act of perfidy? It is said that this adulteration came through the ‘ghee’ used for making the laddus. The ghee supplier, in its desire to earn more, lost in the process a multi-crore business. And politics was not left far behind.  In the north-south tussle, the supply of Amul products was suffering for quite some time now. Promptly, the anti-Amul lobby laid the blame on the Gujarat Cooperative; and Amul had to go to court. The Tamilnadu Chief Minister issued the circular that “Nandini’ ghee of the south must be mandatorily used in all temples of the state, though there was no such move from the state of Andhra where Tirupati lies. Its newly elected chief minister, backed by BJP, however was fiercely attacked by the opposition Congress for this major faux pas.

But this element of corruption that has surfaced in Tirupati from the prasadam we offer to the Gods is the real demon of India which needs to be killed by the mother goddess Durga. The ‘asura’ has reached superhuman proportions; and only divine grace can save us. It is becoming clearer everyday that the hapless lady doctor in Kolkata was killed inhumanly because she had come to know – and perhaps threatened to reveal – the corrupt nexus in the RGKar hospital.

A Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal, who resigned recently in protest against the inability of the government to take action against the perpetrators of the crime (and perhaps trying to shield them), said it is now high time to clean the

country of this disease: and this needs to start from West Bengal. We have seen enough – in education, rationing and now in healthcare. Since before becoming a politician, he was a civil servant and held secretarial positions in important ministries in Delhi, he said that corruption was not unique about West Bengal. The Tirupati incident revealed that corruption has no soul: we can dare to cheat Gods. A colleague can be mercilessly killed if she dares to counter the racket. Perhaps, he said, we cannot eliminate it totally; but we can, if we are determined, bring it under control. The mass support for the agitating doctors ‘seeking justice’ is a new phenomena which provides hope.

In our festival month, let us pray that we can recover from this disease of corruption. That is the real ‘asura’ which only mother goddess can help eliminate. Let us in a sombre note – without much pomp and heraldry – celebrate the festivals in deference to the departed soul. It’s time for prayers, not merry making.

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