I Pledge to the Nation, You?

This Post is a new entry to the Mera Bharat Mahan contest in Blogadda.com , sponsored by Pringoo.com

Two weeks to the 64^th Independence Day, take a quick look at where you are. Not personally, look where India as a nation has reached. Remember those leaders whose struggles won India our independence like Gandhiji. Would they have been happy seeing this India through your eyes? An India of Naxalism, an India of Political mishaps, an India were the problems like Poverty and Illiteracy haven’t been answered fully yet, an India you live in now.
Another Independence Day is looming on us; the 15^th of this month will be the 64^th of its kind, marking the independence of the nation from all foreign states, troops, lords and rules. Back then a colonial state or rather a colony which had internal kingdoms fighting out the British for their individual glories, a handful of selfless national leaders rose above others and as struggles continued and as lives were taken, on the 15^th of August 1947, the foreigners stepped out from our land. The struggles for survival and independence unified people more than anything and India as a nation was born and sadly broken away from it was the Muslim state- Pakistan. 
Surely enough, the story has changed over the past 63 years and now, with increasing number of governmental talks and military deals between India and the world powers like USA, many get a sense of feeling (or a wrong sense?) that we as a nation is being wanted and more attention is coming from the international fraternity than ever back in the history, we start questioning ourselves, are we a Superpower now?
I wish there was a gauge like in those computer games, that printed out in the screen, “Mission ‘India a Super Power’ – 49% completed”. Because people are more interested to know if India has crossed the line or not, in becoming a super power, many without even knowing what the two words jointly meant.
To the question, are we a super power now, all I have to say is I wouldn’t want another nation to become a super power if becoming super power is about reaching the juncture India are in, right now!
Naxalism taking lives in the north east, cross-border terrorism and insurgency in Kashmir, an ever degrading national airline- Air India which finds the headline space of every newspaper and news channel for a wrong reason or the other, and so far and so forth. Let alone the Naxalism and Terrorism and Insurgency and an Air India which can be improvised with improved management and better budgets, there is another thing which is much more dangerous than all these, Politics.
Politics, day in and day out, is becoming the cheapest game in the nation, one in which the citizens have lost their faiths in. The politicians now are not ashamed to play the worst of the tricks for bulking their pockets but then a question arises in my mind. Would the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, A R Rahman & Shahrukh Khan have all been this famous and loved by the whole nation but for their wealth and the amazing cars that they drove? Of course!! They are stars and they have this stardom as a result of their hard works and efforts over a prolonged period of time and our politicians should take a leaf out of their lives and start doing something sensible, honest for the betterment of life in this nation, and not for improving the furniture in their own homes. Then, only then shall the nation start believing in their politicians, only then shall a politician be respected. One billion people shall cherish the names of those sincere politicians who bring about a change to this nation.
There is a Malayalam folk song about the days of Mahabali in power; it goes on like this,
Maaveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam…. (When Mahabali used to be the king of this land….)
Maanushar ellaarum onnu pole…. (People all are equal, no rich man, no lower caste….)
Aamodathode vasikkum kaalam…. (When people lived happily….)
and it went on…
Would it be too much of an ambition for me to see such a dream? A day, when India as a whole is united to the tiniest of aspects, when people live happily beyond all doubts. Will we ever have such a national leader, a President or a Prime Minister who unites us all, like the legendary Mahabali?
We the people of India have to make the change, speak the change, induct the change and feel the change, by and through our actions. Filmmakers should make meaningful and thoughtful films, because we the people watch them. Writers have to write the change because we the people read them. Singers should sing the change and poets should rhyme the change. Radios, Tv’s & newspapers have all to spread the change, not as just another option, but as their Choice. Leaders have to come up and take up the responsibilities and work for the future, not to bulk up their pockets, but to make the nation a better one, for the wealth of the nation and then the state shall salute him, the people will respect him and his stories shall be told for generations by mothers and grandparents to the kids, for them to watch and grow.
I ask every one of you to pledge to this national cause, to initiate the change, not just to make India a super power, but more importantly to ensure that a father can send his daughter to a faraway university without fear, to ensure that the morning newspaper no longer have stories written in blood, to ensure that everyone, despite their color and creed and religion and caste and sex gets a chance to study what they like, do what they like and live the life they dreamt of…
Jai Hind!!