Whither God’s Own Country heading to…?

Most of us had not at all anticipated such a bleak scenario in our State of Kerala. Unfortunately such a scenario is right before our eyes, like a nightmare.
We took immense pride, hubris, I would say in believing that our State is peaceful and safe in the turbulent times that our nation is now confronted with.
A land endowed with natural beauty with its verdant hills, sparkling streams and lakes, vast paddy fields reminding us of a carpet of greenery, we call our State “God’s Own Country”, I don’t know the gentlemen who proudly coined the term. The greenery of the land about which we are all proud of is gradually fading out, I do admit owing to our frantic pursuit of urbanization and modernization, our present development Mantra.
Recently I came across a news ‘item’, yes it is from Singapore on the auspicious occasion of celebrating “Pravasi Bharathiya Divas”, which was inaugurated by none other than our Minister of Overseas Affairs. The Minister Mentor of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew reminded the enterprising businessmen and industrialists- his lines I quote here “a developed India means an urban India”. A nation with about seventy percent of the population living in rural areas- majority of them farmers toiling under the blazing sun cultivating rice, wheat and other cereals, for the daily bread of the Indian citizen, was advised by Mr.Lee to turn urban inorder to become a developed India. At a moment when the agricultural scientists of the calibre of Dr.M.S. Swaminathan through their writings and speeches pointing out to all of us day in and day out, the importance of self-sufficiency in food and the importance of encouraging agriculture! Sorry, I am deviating from the main point.
While boasting about the positive sides of our State, we are very well aware of our several limitations. Kerala is a consumer State. We have to transport our rice,vegetables,fruits and even flowers from the neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the States which are not blessed with such beautiful landscape and favourable climate. Our infrastructural facilities are not at all commendable- its pot-holed roads, lack of irrigation facilities and power shortage are pointers in that direction.
Inspite of all these draw backs we were very proud of our communal harmony and a terror-free atmosphere. While the Northern States of Orissa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, even our capital New Delhi reel under massive onslaught of intermittent terrorist attacks and communal clashes (mayhem, massacres and explosions) our State remained relatively calm and quiet. Some aberrations were there we do admit and feel ashamed.
Recent revelations that our State was a recruitment ground for terrorists were shocking and alarming to us. Never in the wildest of our dreams we had anticipated such a grim scenario. The outward calm and serene atmosphere was only a façade. The undercurrents were so ferocious that we find all these disclosures chilling and incredible. It is reported that over three hundred terrorist recruitments have already taken place by hard-core terrorist-outfits like Lashkar-E-Toiba from our State. The news of the killing of four Keralites by our jawans across the border have already come out in the open. Those terror-recruits were joining forces with the terrorists of the neighbouring nation to upset the already violated secular fabric of our nation. The news of disowning their son’s dead bodies by their parents are in a sense heartening. Imagine their inner conflicts and tearful eyes…..
Whom to blame for all these terrible crimes?
Our political leaders have already plunged into the arena and have started throwing mud against each other. The usual blame game. The same old story. BJP Leader P.K.Krishna Das says: If CPM is the foster-mother of these terror recruits, the Indian National Congress is the foster-father. Both are to be equally blamed for these shameful and dastardly acts.
According to CPI(M) State Secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, the arch-villain behind this is none other than NDF (National Democratic Front), a militant organization. Leader of the opposition Oommen Chandy has no hesitation in pointing finger at the ruling CPM. He accuses the CPI(M) for forming alliances with the communal groups with the sole-purpose of defeating the opposition at the hustings.
These kinds of political mud-slinging are going on and will go on, an on-going process, naturally. No politician is going to own-up the responsibility and atone for the sordid developments that we are witnessing today. Power is a great cementing force and hence power-play is here to stay.
Common man may soliloquise: “This is our plight. We have to learn to live with it.”
That is the soliloquy of the average Indian citizen.
Before the anti-social elements turn our State into a communal and terror inferno would better counsel prevail upon our leaders? Could we expect or hope for a constructive approach?