“Happy that the officials of a heartless Government are not around…”

“How can I not be emotional, I am not the Indian Government…” “Happy that the officials of a heartless Government were not around…” These are harsh but true feelings of family members of the six Indian sailors who returned to India yesterday after being freed by Somali pirates after 10 months in captivity. The sailors and their families are disappointed and unhappy with our government as it did not play any role in their release or in bringing them back to India. They said that the government of our great country was as merciless as the owners of their ship.

They profusely thanked Mr. Ansar Burney of Pakistan, a human rights activist who arranged the ransom money of US $2.1 million for their release and that of another 16 fellow crew members held along with them on their Egyptian cargo vessel – M.V. Suez; which the pirates seized on 2nd August 2010. The family members of the sailors requested Mr. Burney, through international media, to visit India so that they can personally thank and honor him. They felt happy that no representative of the government was there to receive them! Had they come; the representatives would enact a funny drama to express their all out support for their countrymen in distress and make tall speeches in praise of their supreme leader and her progeny!

Such harsh feelings about our government and the party in power are very common around me. Tour among the local people of Telangana; in their ten districts, and you will find that 99 out of every 100 persons would say that this government makes false promises to come to power, it cannot solve problems, it postpones decisions with lame excuses, it is heartless, it is timid in acting against the misdeeds of the rich and powerful but it can be very cruel and brutal against those who point out government indecision, inefficiency, corruption, misrule and lawlessness. This is not the situation today but for decades in Telangana.

It is said that: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and that “With great power comes great insanity and inefficiency”. Unfortunately this seems to be always true in our case… I wonder for how long!