Of the people,.................. - Oh! forget about it

Abraham Lincoln's famous speech at Gettysberg, on November 19, 1863, though brief is a gem that will be remembered for a long long time. It has become part of folklore since,

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Our leaders should be reminded that they are running a Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Unfortunately, of late the whole purpose of democracy seem to be of the politicians, by the politicians and for the politicians. If it were not, this would not have happened,

The family of a kidney patient on Tuesday alleged that he died as their vehicle failed to reach the emergency section of PGIMER hospital here due to tight security measures for the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The family of deceased claimed that security personnel, including those from Chandigarh Police, deployed at the medical institute, did not allow their vehicle to reach the emergency and kept diverting them from one place to another for about two hours. "When we came near the PGI, he (Verma) was alive, but his condition deteriorated as we were made to run about for two hours on the plea that the movement of other vehicles had been stopped in view of the movement of the Prime Minister's convoy. The patient was 40-years-old.

The Government has quickly ensured media downplayed this incident and more space has been given to the PM apologizing to the family and giving Rs 2 lakh to the family. He has also given an advice to his security people to be less obstrusive to common man - fat chance of that happening!!!. And any way, does it require a tragedy leading to the death for our PM to 'know' how inhuman the people in the security detail behave to common man and inconvenience him??

P.S: I am living in Kuwait for more than 8 years now. And never have I been inconvenienced by VIP Security. At the most, the road is blocked only for 2-3 minutes to allow the Amir or the Crown Prince to pass. They are very efficient. Police Cars are parked on the road side at strategic locations and are intimated 2 minutes prior to the arrival of the Royalty. They quickly block the roads using their car and then release the traffic within seconds of the motorcade passing. Even the motorcade is not more than 4-5 cars long. And many a time I have seen the Prime Minister just passing by on the fast lane with a car in front and back with sirens blaring. All you have to do is just move over to the middle lane and let them pass, while driving on. And it is not as if the security threat for Amir and Crown Prince is any less than those of Indian leaders.