Neo Feudalism

You think Feudalism was in vogue only in Europe during the dark ages and in the early medieval period? well, you are mistaken. Feudalism is back with a vengeance in today's India, the modern India, an India which competes with China and other tiger economies and aspire to become a world leader. This feudlism does not have explicit feudal lords and serfs, but have a class of patricians and plebians like that of ancient Rome. The patricians are the privileged classes, while plebians are not so privileged. Now who are these patricians? In modern Indian context they are the politicians in power, the ministers, the bureaucrats or the adminstrative services guys, the big businessmen and corporate honchos, the big media men and of course, the celebrities - film actors, cricket gods etc. These feudal lords, though they belong to diverse sections of the society and may have different backgrounds and circumstances, share a common thread, their disdain for the prosaic, mundane common men and their boasting of their social and economic status.

Let me share a few examples. Almost all major politicians receive Z category security (at the expense of tax payers, who get none). Which means they are entitled to a large fleet of black cars, hooters, pilot cars, convoys and then they can show off to each other, whose convoy is bigger and better. Not only this, their convoys make lives of common men miserable. When they are on road, all other traffic has to stop for an indefinite period. Two instances I would like to share here - The AndhraPradesh chief minister is one such show off. In the midst of torrential rain when his convoy was passing, his loyal police force stopped all other traffic. That means ambulences were stopped on the way, people on 2 wheelers were stopped amidst torrential rain and had no where to go, and all the rest stranded, till the "God" passes. The same chief minister had once gone to a marriage house. All the traffic on the road near the marraige house was stalled, till "His Highness" paid his social visit. Just imagine the situation of people out there on the roads.

These are not isolated events and they routine happen. These feudal lords have scant respect for the public because they know that public is nothing but a herd of sheep bealting to their tune and that Indians can withstand all pains and sufferings indifferently as their "karma". If you protest you spend god knows how many days and nights behind police lockups. The brutality of Indian police towards common men is legendary and nobody in their right sense would even think of stepping on their toes.

I wonder how long we would remain indifferent to these thugs looting and exploiting us in the name of their own security cover. Isn't it high time to bring them down from their pedestal?