Would the real crusaders – Pls stand up !

Rang-de-basanti – surely seems to be the new-fad among the young generation. The whole concept of taking matters in our hands and making one-self heard in front of the entire nation/world seems to be happening very often these days.

These people don’t care about the consequences, their only objective is to stand-up and make their presence felt.

Check this out –

May 7, 2006 – TISS ex-student Simprit Singh held up the Narmada Bachao Andolan’s (NBA) banner in front of PM Manmohan Singh at the TISS convocation.

Says the TISS ex-student, “It was a spontaneous response. The prime minister was talking about development being holistic. I found the statement contradictory to what was actually happening in the country. That’s why I held up the banner.”

Since passing out from the institution, Singh became a member of National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), an umbrella organisation for NGOs, and has been concentrating on slum projects in Mumbai.

Singh hopes his young counterparts lend their support and energy to important causes around them. He says, “My humble request to the youth is to look beyond themselves and devote their energy to people who need it.”

May 9, 2006 – Industrialist Ratan Tata faced angry sloganeering by pro-reservation activists. As soon as he got up to receive Maharashtra Bhushan award at Ravindra Natya Mandir in Dadar, a handful of protestors got up and shouted slogans “go back Tata”.

The protestors were opposing Tata’s anti-reservation views.

Tata had earlier expressed reservation against any legislation for reservation saying this was not an appropriate way to go about on the issue.

And this is not just limited within the national boundary?

May 12, 2006 – An Argentine Greenpeace environmental activist caused several minutes of amusement Friday in Vienna when scantly dressed with a mini bikini she paraded before the EU-Latin America leaders, lined up for the official photo, to protest the construction of pulp mills in Uruguay.

In spite of the tight security surrounding the summit in Austria, Evangelina Cardoso, Carnival queen of her home town Gualeguaychu (Argentina), managed to obtain a press credential which allowed her to strip before the 60 world leaders showing a billboard referring to the Uruguayan/Argentine controversy: “No pulp-mills pollution”.

Before her arrest Ms. Cardoso said the Greenpeace protest was directed to request the Uruguayan government to stop the construction of the pulp mills and “stop telling lies to the people,” because the pulp mills “contaminate and we don’t want them”.

Previously I had only heard/read of incidents where youngsters would run across football field/cricket ground escaping security guards during big matches – just out of fun or be in the headlines.

But now seeing them take stance for worth-while and serious issue is surely heart-warming. However, it would make an improvement if only they stuck to their belief/cause in the long run and above all for the right reasons.