Past one week, I was logging in to facebook to see the new slogans people were coming up with, the number of people at the protest ground, the latest update on the ordinance.
But today I was searching through the said website to see where things went wrong. It was all so peaceful and full of pride for 10 days. How could it go all wrong simultaneously in all places?
It seemed too planned to go chaotic all of the sudden, don’t you think?
I don’t think it was the fault of students or police. Nope. We all were able to figure that one out pretty easily. Best part was, no one really even needed an explanation. Everyone trusted both the groups so much. Everyone of us still trust both the groups that all of us were looking for that one glitch and guess all of us found it.
I wasn’t there. I wanted to be among that crowd. Atleast for a day. I wanted to just sit among them and have a debate. Learn more. But I don’t think I would have done it even if I were in Chennai. But I was proud. I was swelling with pride to point out to people here and say “That is my city. I come from that land.”
Today… More than people getting hurt, I was scared that this pride would be hurt. I didn’t want the peaceful protest to be turned into something ugly. A friend of mine predicted this exactly. Maybe he has been seeing how our politicians work for a long time or all those tamil films taught him something.
They all said the protest was successful because it had no leader. It went up in smoke because there was no leader. Most of them refused to listen to the activists who have been up for this cause for a long time.
And the rest. Well the rest followed three different celebrities. One said that he is backing down because he is seeing people sidelining the cause and bringing in various wrong things. One cried and asked the students not to go near the riot scenes and he will somehow come to get them soon. One scolded and yelled why the hell they were getting down the violent path.
See what happens when there is no leader?