Compliance by coercion

It’s census time. I received an intercom call from the security chap below my building and sure enough a census worker arrived at my door. I was thinking of politely refusing to answer her question.

I wanted to resist the application of aggression which the Govt. has adopted. I always face a catch-22 situation on how to re-act in accordance with the Govt. mandate and how best to oppose their aggressive nature.

One may just decline to comply and face the financial and legal penalties in a way Gandhiji and Martin Luther King did. I hold them in very high regard and I am in awe when I see them as believers of such peaceful non-cooperation.

My act of non-cooperation may lead me to prison. It would be unjust, but then the true place of a just man is a prison. But then it would be a peaceful revolution.

A second choice would be to flee the country and seek refuge in a country where such obligations are less arduous. Escape has long been a popular approach of seeking to avoid the brutality of war. There is a lot of sacrifice that needs to be done though, when one leaves one’s country, including the loss of home, separation from family, relatives and friends.

A final preference would be to comply; accepting the fact that compliance may assist the Govt. in its various aggressive activities.

Believing in liberty, freedom and such other wonderful words are nothing but being naive. One has to compromise and comply with the Govt. mandates and interacting with Govt. agencies, wherever harsh punishments are meted out. There is no point in becoming a martyr. You will need to pay your tax or else…..

Not much has changed since Draco the first Greek legislator of Athens replaced all prevailing systems and enforced his own harsh laws. There is no such thing as peaceful tax protest. All Govt. actions eventually resorts to the employment or intimidation of aggression. Whenever the Govt. intervenes, it leads to violent action or a threat of such action. The Govt. has full of armed men consisting of Local Police, CRPF, BSF, Soldiers, Prison Guards and non armed guys like the hangmen. The indispensable characteristic of a Govt. body is to exert force of its diktat by beating, killing and imprisoning.

Conducting a census means using up considerable tax revenue. I am sure crores of Rupees are being spent to pay lakhs of workers, who have been diverted from their productive work conducting this 2010, snooping on our lives and on Indians such as me who wishes nothing but to be left in peace