Why It cannot happen in India...

The protests in Egypt and subsequent resignation by Hosni Mubarak have really made me look into my own country. With due reference to Dipankar Gupta's article in ToI The tenacity of hope where he basically uncovered the reasons behind the unrest in Egypt and comparing those with Indian republic, he clearly singles out 'Indian democracy'; howsoever ineffective and non-performing it might be, people of India recognizes power in their hand to choose the government.

The public outcry in Egypt was due to rampant unemployment in the country along with corruption and autocratic governance of Hosni Mubarak. The only factor differing India is democracy but situation in India doesn't look as revolutionary as it should be. This shows that world's largest democracy and second largest populous country's lack of sensitivity towards corruption and unemployment. Though this insensitivity infuriates almost everyone, It doesn't bring out people on road protesting against the government.

So what exactly has prompted people of India to come on road and protest against the government?

Looking into the post-independence India, we can see that there are only three instances when India has come on road. The first one was against Emergency in 1975. When we look into the details the important cause behind the anger was the rejection of basic democratic rights. In 1975, we were pretty young nation enjoying fruits of freedom. By then we had just 5 general elections; though Congress had been 'The One' party across breadth and width of India, people started understanding power of democracy through new governments in Tamilnadu and Kerala, who had different ideologies. Its little far-fetched but one must not forget role of British-Raj here. Though we used to call it 'Raj', British Parliamentary was also one of the main reasons behind instilling appreciation for democracy in Indian DNA.

The second time Indians fought collectively against the government was during Mandal commission protests in 1990. It was fight against the reservation. My understanding is 80's was a kind of tough time for majority of Indian populace. Youth in late 70's and early 80's had grown up seeing a secured life with government job after graduation but suddenly youth realized that there are no government jobs on offer for them and as India was still reeling under 'license raj' there were not many industries to accommodate them. There was very high rate of unemployment across the graduate youth and during such torrid time a big jolt came in the form of reservations. For majority of the youth it was denial of opportunity as reservations were basically securing job for less-deserving candidates and providing much required security in life.

Many might argue on third instance but the third time Indians got angry and came agitating against government was during Ayodhya dispute. There was anger in Hindus as well as Muslims  against the government after Babri demolition. We, Indians are religious people and thats how we have grown up in our society. We always look for spiritual - devotional gateway through-out our life. When Ayodhya happened, it basically shook this sentimental side of individual and unfortunately we fought against each other because their basic right of practicing religion was denied. 

These three incidences show that we Indians revolt against rejection of rights. Post economic reforms, employment opportunities have surely increased. There have been significant growth in employment in non-agriculture units changing the nature of Indian society. There is hope in every individual's mind that he can surely find a job in cities and can survive on that. Through numerous government initiatives also lot of job opportunities have been created reducing dependence on agriculture.

Though the demons of unemployment have been won by India (considerably), corruption is still present in society. I might sound pessimistic but I don't think that Indians will come on roads against corruption in India. Just try to remember last two years and you will see that almost every  month some scam had been unearthed showing loot by politicians but even after so much theft by politicians, I don't remember seeing any agitation by common man. There have been agitations by political parties but those could not catch the imagination of general public. On this particular issue what I feel is, as employment in private sector has increased, our exposure to corruption has reduced. We, the youth of this country come across corruption only when we are caught by traffic police in our day-to-day life whereas it was very different for our parent's generation. They were exposed to corruption in their every day life much more than a mere traffic police incidence. Even in offices, if they have to withdraw their GPF, they have to pay bribe to their colleagues, such was the pathetic state of people. Though we see that in 2G scam or in CWG scam, enormous amount of public money has been stolen, it has not directly affected an individual and thus his anger remains limited to a short burst on social media only. Thats why I think a revolt against corruption could have happened in last generation, but with our generation, Its just impossible.