- Why do powerful elephants tethered by just a a slender chain remain calm, peaceful and productive?
- What allows a relatively puny man to control the giant?
- Why does the elephant not break free which it can very easily do?
To domesticate and control the fiercest of animals, man breaks the spirit of the animal. The mahout ties the baby elephant up and no amount of resistance or opposition helps.
The calf is also beaten selectively and kept hungry for extended periods.
At last the calf develops a fearful and submissive attitude towards its master. Any deemed act of opposition will be met with pain and torture.
The small chain becomes a powerful psychological restraint. The same technique used by despotic /exploitative rulers and corrupt administrators to break the spirit of the people that they rule or seek to control.
Emasculating the population, autocratic and thus arrogant rulers do pretty much what they want, even so under the guise of a democracy. Sadly this has been the case in India since past five decades.
The problem with corruption and exploitation is that it feeds on itself continuously and always spirals downward and things keep getting worse until something snaps.
Similarly when an elephant has been pushed too hard and is made to work perversely and harder just to enrich its master, its enormous patience gets exhausted. It then rebels against its own mahout and attacks and kills him and also destroys all those structures and people directly associated with the mahout.
The noose of injustice, bad governance and exploitation by our own leaders and government has been tightening steadily but has now accelerated greatly in the recent past. The liberalised Indian economy provides great opportunity for the development of our economy but also the perfect way for corrupt people to launder their money and bring it back into India through various front entities.
How else can one explain Mauritius with a current GDP of US$ 8 Billion investing US$ 205 Billion in a decade in India alone? So rampant and insatiable has been the greed of many of our officials and elected representative that it is open and shameless and even considered a badge of honour to be seen to be corrupt.
Like the elephant the people of India have broken their chains. They have rediscovered a true spirit thought to be long broken and dead.
On the proposed Lokpal bill, our cunning political leaders and the arrogant government still see Appu the tame elephant which can be ignored and at worst be threatened into submission.
The trumpeting is getting louder by the day as the elephant is walking free and unchallenged in the middle of the city, as yet unsure what to do.
The Jan Lokpal bill need to be discussed and a broad consensus has to be evolved for an adequate and effective anti corruption solution but ignoring the writing on the wall and showing utter disdain and contempt for the people's popular expression is fraught with grave dangers. What Anna Hazare has done is, reignited a spirit into the Indian people.
The elephant has realised just a bit of its immense power. It must be handled with fairness and respect that it justifiably demands. The mahout which is the government must realise its folly and make amends and try to win back its elephant. In spite of all the provocation the elephant is merely running free and only showing its displeasure. If the politicians and the government do not respect the elephant and enrage it further, they are in real danger of getting grievously hurt if not mortally, much like the arrogant and foolish mahouts.
The government has a few draconian laws and also enormous firepower in its police force and its para military. They believe they can bring down the angry elephant. With their finger on the trigger all they are looking is for an excuse to put down the elephant. It is not inconceivable for the politicians to engineer riots, but that may just enrage a giant herd of elephants.
History shows that evil and corrupt rulers look their strongest just before they collapse.
