By Ananya S Guha
Years ago in the 1980s, Tar Ali Beg, the veteran Nationalist writing in The Telegraph, described the Indian situation as the stability of chaos. At that time Punjab was reeling under militancy, Mizoram in a similar, if not worse situation, and Manipur a bedlam of chaos and violence. The situation in Punjab was hogging the attention of the print media, as one killing after another took place. The Assam movement had also come into attention, a popular movement, largely non violent, and had got public support.
What Beg meant was that we are getting used to the proxy of violence, and in that things had become ‘stable’. We were accepting the cult of violence, deaths mattered little and her paradoxical use of language summed up the acerbic realities, of Indian ethos, society and polity. But the chaos was all around, and we were accepting it? Why? Perhaps it was a truism, it had to happen, the prognosis of some cynical, dry witted British was coming true. But deep in our hearts, perhaps we knew that such things would happen.
Thirty years later the summation will be: it still continues. Violence is present in the body politic, but also it has entered the consciousness like never before. But is the ‘chaos’ only in the social fabric. No, it is in education, it is in corrupt principles, in scams, in politicians doing whatever they like, whether it is in watching porn in the legislature, or in legislators abetting suicides, inspiring murder, flagrantly violating rights by promiscuity even in hallowed precincts like the Governor’s abode. The violence is in sensibilities and attitudes shown, in homes, in schools, in public and private life, in cine artists behaving like prudes, in arrogant sportsmen who are becoming more and more rapacious in intent. Sex abetted violence now seems to be a way of life.
This ‘violence’ is a cult; any organization can call for bandhs, violating basic freedom and human rights. Then we have conscience keepers who by hollering against things like corruption, which is undoubtedly endemic, instigate passions in wrong ways. A Gandhian starts intervening in every matter including polls. This may not be ostensible aggression, but it has all its potential and reeks of bad culture, backed by puerile supporters. The cult, the ideology of bad politics is ably supported, by those who preach a creed, which is against it.
Fasting has become an inherent threat of bellicosity. Yet Irom Sharmila who is doing this for the last eleven years, for the suffering of her people, is viewed with a sidelined nonchalance, excepting by media conscious activists. The unearthing of 5,000 graves in Kashmir, is a saga of untold violence. The stories of street children, exploited domestic workers, coal workers in mines, students who suffer in silence because of failure in examinations, are condemned to suicide gallows, all these of under the cover of ‘development’. It is not the stability of chaos now. The wheel has turned one full cycle. It is the multi voiced chaos of crass instability and a pathological insecurity, but violence and its hydra headed forms, is inviolate.
Tara Ali Beg’s words quoted above were some kind of prophylactic. However, today chaos is unstable and that is most ominous. Everywhere, the situation is depressing. Leaving alone poverty and militancy there is no governance worth the name. Cricket which was the game of pride and sophistication has now degenerated into a morass of depravity and insatiable lust for money. The more you get the more you want. The connection between politics, film actors and cricket has made the cycle not only vicious but a paradigm of venality. Education too is in a mess with rights not being defined and hurried changes have been made in the higher education system. A national structure for education has yet to be built up, although there is a bill pending in this regard and ad-hoc changes are being made with UGC given the mandate for things like distance education, which only the policy makers of Open and Distance Education know best. The public private dialogue in education is not properly defined and although some private universities are worthy stakeholders’ education is also infested with that worthy called money. The fact is that, no Indian university or institution ranks among the top 200 in the world which is a miserable commentary on the much vaunted higher educational ethos in the country. But mind you in all the top universities of the world there are Indians who teach there. Brain drain is a tragic phenomenon simply because there is no wherewithal to attract the very best.
Hence, the inevitable is happening and even chaos suffers from the paucity of stability. In fact, how do our superstars that are cricketers, impresarios such as actors respond to the situation around them is point in question. It is perhaps needed for an Australian cricketer to come to India and build a shelter home for children afflicted with leprosy. This is not only a tragedy, but a shame.