Taking inspiration from Bob Dylan’s popular song ‘Blowing in the Wind’, I am tempted to ask, “How many deaths will it take for the Goan people to know that too many young people have died from drug and alcohol abuse and road accidents?” Even after reports reveal that 10 to 11% of the deaths at the Goa Medical College are from liver disorders fuelled by the abuse of alcohol, the government, in an attempt to play down the drug abuse angle, shamelessly admits in public that excess consumption of alcohol was the cause for death of a lady at an EDM festival.
We ought to understand that the consequences of alcohol and narcotic abuse are not different, as they are both self-destructive and socially disruptive. Similarly, the consequences of willful disregard for traffic laws and road signs get trivialized as ‘road accidents’ instead of being categorized as homicide or suicide. It is common knowledge that the logical natural consequences of rash and negligent driving are fatalities. But in a devil’s economy, the power and money addicts legislate, disoriented citizens cheer the rat race and as a result the angels perish.
The duty of a State is to promote safe behaviours and ensure a healthy social order. Instead of improving the quality of life for citizens, now-a-days the State seems to be obsessed with establishing the superiority of Indian religion and marketing ancient Indian culture. In fact, the discourses surrounding the rewriting of science and history based on mythology and the procreation targets set by Sadhvis and Sakshis are now becoming embarrassing for secular Indians. What is even more hilarious are the claims of having a treatment for LGBTs. The fanatics seem to forget that if know-how about aeroplane engines existed in ancient India even before their discovery by the Wright Brothers, then promises of ‘Acche Din’ and ‘Parivartan’ also existed since the creation of mankind. The devil is known to have promised a ‘Parivartan’ of becoming God-like and ensured eternal ‘Acche Din’ to Adam and Eve if they only ate the forbidden fruit from the garden of Eden.
