Far away from the cream and strawberries world of celebrity patrakars and their political patrons in Lutyens Delhi, there is a forgotten vastness of the nation where people still struggle for their basic needs.
The people in this tribal patch of Eastern India were divided. No, not because of “Hindutva” or “intolerance”. But because the Sabari river flowed between Dornapal town in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh and Podia town in Odisha. Seven decades of the idea of India had failed to build a bridge between these two communities. As a result, despite being so close to each other, the people would have to travel as much as 120 km to make it to the other side.
Finally, Achchhe Din have arrived. The bridge has been built and a journey of 120 km has come down to a mere 3 km, as seen in this report from Navbharat Times:
For friends who might not be able to read Hindi, let me translate some of the most relevant lines:
“The news of the opening of the bridge had spread like wildfire through dozens of villages and towns a day before. By evening thousands of people from Chhattisgarh and Odisha had gathered to see history being made. There was a smile on every face and a desire to see something new and special. Nearly a thousand people from the Chhattisgarh side crossed the bridge in two wheelers to meet people on the Odisha side and express their happiness.”
This is exactly the kind of grassroots development that should bring tears of joy into the eyes of any genuine well wisher of the Indian people. Not to mention that this is exactly the kind of grassroots reporting that is losing out to celebrity patrakars who tweet out the rumblings in their own echo chambers in the form of “ground reports”.
Swarajya Magazine also picked up the story here from the same report in the Navbharat Times. They published it along with a prophecy:
which came true almost immediately in the most morbid manner possible.
Of course, the enemies of India couldn’t bear to see the people of Odisha and Chhattisgarh take even one step forward. The whiff of progress sent a shiver down the spines of leftists. If India develops, they lose their narrative. They’ll go out of business.
The Left acted swiftly and vengefully:
That’s right! Leftists went to the same Sukma district of Chhattisgarh that had just been connected to Odisha with this new bridge. They just had to do it. By means of a spectacularly gruesome operation, they just had to show the people that every step towards progress will be met with swift and ruthless punishment.
India just lost another 12 fine young men as a punishment for progress.
What is worse is that the stranglehold of the Left on national discourse is such that these massacres are either forgotten instantly or don’t even get noticed in the first place. See if you can name even one of our brave men and women in uniform who have died fighting the intolerance of the militant Left. See if you can find even one mainstream website or primetime TV debate today on this massacre in Chhattisgarh. This story is not fashionable enough to go viral on the internet and electronic media.
Every time I see a leftist speaking with a straight face on tolerance and democracy at a televised event, I wonder if this person will burst into laughter the moment he/she goes behind the scenes.
My humble advice: take the “Bharat ki barbaadi” chants seriously. They are telling us exactly what they want. They are showing us what they are capable of doing by doing exactly what they said they would do. The only thing they are not showing is how much they are laughing at all of us.
