People (in) power

"The government took measures to counter the protesting doctors by serving them with suspension letters and asking them to vacate the hostels to make way for newly recruited doctors. Some states invoked the 'Essential Services Maintenance Act' (ESMA) and gave notices to the doctors to return to work, failing which legal action would be taken against them. The government also put on alert 6,000 men from Rapid Action Force to take care of any untoward incident. " - Wikipedia

You probably wondered what untowardly incident this was. This was the consequence of the anti-reservation protests. Yes! It happened in India, the largest democracy. 27% percent of reservation in educational institutions of high standing seemed to arouse Indians in all of a Rang de Basanti style. We were all so reminded of the protests in the movie!

I was a little taken back watching the movie. The end was, or atleast i thought, a little exaggerated for reasons known only to the director. A few months into the year I was totally shocked when some students lost their lives in the anti-reservation protests. 2 realistions: One, I knew then that yes i was part of an Era when people still fought for their reasons. Secondly, that the government being a democracy is just namesake!

It goes without saying that, people power no longer holds good in the democracy of people in power.