Indian Politics: Where changing the Label Makes Poison Healthy

There is a drink A that I do not like. I believe it is dirty and makes people sick. I make sure everyone knows I hate drink A. 

I love drink B. I do everything possible to make people drink drink B. I want the percentage of people drinking drink B to rise till drink A is out of the market entirely.

And yes, with time, people realize that drink A is dirty and so switch over to drink B. I am happy. I am winning.

Here is where things get funny. You see, drink B also makes people sick. But I refuse to condone it because I love drink B even though I am aware it is also dirty. 
I am winning.

When people question me about nefarious ingredients in drink B, I snap asking them why they did not ask the same questions about drink A (even though they did and eventually rejected Drink A for the same reasons earlier.)
I am winning.

I don't care if there is evidence drink B is bad for the health of people.
I am winning.

I don't care for helping clean it up so that people can finally become healthy.
I am winning.

When bottles of drink A simply change their labels to that of drink B, I rejoice as my percentage rises. The fact that it is still the same sickness-inducing drink A means nothing to me.
If it means I am winning, then I will gladly accept dirty drink A in the mix.

The people who get sick and die because of drink A and B are, in the end, irrelevant to me. All that matters to me is that I am winning.

As illness affects all around me, I do not care. 

I am winning.

As people continue to die, I turn a blind eye.

I am winning.
Hush. Just drink what I pour and question me no more.
Can't you see I am winning?

Authors note:

My seniors and peers tell me that I should be careful while talking about drinks in today's atmosphere. That I will lose friends, get beaten up, killed or worse - ostracized on social media.
That by questioning a drink, I am showing disobedience.

To them, I say - tough titties.
I am tired of people telling me that because we all drank from Drink A 'for a long time', we have no right to question the ingredients of drinks B, C and D. Everybody has a right to point out the flaws of any drink, irrespective of the label. 

Look beyond the labels and fight against corruption and intentional hate-inducing ingredients in the mix. Look beyond Kalmadi-Cola, Pinarayi PaperBoat, Maaza Modi and Jeera-Jaitley. Look beyond Rasna Gandhi, Bisleri Banerjee, Thumbs Up Tharoor and Limca Lalu.

When you need to see the label to decide whether you should defend or mock the deaths of your countrymen due to it, then understand that you don't care for the people who drink. You care only for the drink. Billions have died across the world over centuries making the same mistake and allowing their love for a drink to overrule their love for their own countrymen.
If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.

This was my take for the prompt by #WriteTribe and #FridayReflections based on the quote "You can choose courage or you can choose comfort but you cannot have both."

#FridayReflections

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge.

#writebravely #writetribeproblogger

Other articles written during this challenge are:

- The Neo-Nazi who found redemption thanks to an unlikely friendship

- Which books would you like your child to read as they grow up

- When Florence + the Machine sang for a terminal patient at her hospice

- Student saves a Life while waiting for Job Interview

- 10 Things Your Anaesthesiologist Asks You At Your First Meeting

- Indian Politics: Where Changing the Label Makes Poison Healthy

- Tuberculosis: The Terrorist who kills 2 lakh Indians every year

- Bollywood flops that had awesome music albums