Thursday, December 12, 2024
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Cheers: A Time for Social Inquisition

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By Ananya S Guha

That politics can become so lowly is one of the saddest things in our country today. It is also a global phenomenon with a maverick American President also leading the way. But what is happening in the country today, is a caricature of the past. True there were political crises ever since the country attained Independence, attaining a climax in the internal emergency declared in the seventies, but a respect for the ruling party and the opposition were mutually present to some extent. But with a central government that enjoys absolute majority, there is trepidation in whatever it says, or does. Why? This should be disconcerting even to its avid supporters. There are imaginary things evinced everywhere, but the real things are seemingly ignored. A formula of divide and rule has been viciously evoked. Divide the majority on the basis of caste and religion. That the majority perceives threat from the largest minority is a travesty. The killing of a  worker in Rajasthan, in the most brutal ,manner has not even drawn lip sympathy from the powers that rule the country. The name of Aurangzeb is invoked to titillate hatred. The legion of dynasty is connected with the Mughal rule. There were other dynastic rulers in  the history of India  so why is dynastic rule compared only to the Mughals or the Muslims? What about Mauryan rule? 

Touting a brand formula of hatred to rake up passions and animosity is the order of the day. The formula is like this: we the people, they the major irritants, a legacy of blasphemous rule. Obliterate this from our historical memory. Confound past and present, advocate a ruthless thought process of decimating  the past, and bring chaos into the present. 

Then of course the inevitable happens. Those apparently moderate also are infected with virulence. The caste factor reopens like a huge wound. The paradox of theory and practice, of what is mouthed, such as democracy, secularism and equality are mangled in present actions. All the efforts at unifying a diverse nation have become null. The tolerance of the nation as a whole is shaken, notwithstanding the improvement of things in say regions like the North East of the country. Instead of capitalizing on this, issues like beef eating have been unnecessarily raised. We have not learnt from the past about the pitfalls of alienated feelings. We do not understand alienation of religious minorities;  we say they were always pampered. Should not the majority not assure the security of the monority?  Apparently no, they must live according to our wishes is the succinct but terribly generic reply. 

Our wishes inherit from the past, an incorruptible one, a sense of godliness. Opprobrium is only in the perpetration of the invaders in the past. Justice has now to be meted out. Correcting the wrongs is today a fascinating myth. What happened five hundred years back, or even more has to be logically (illogically) corrected. History is a phantasmagoria of all that is wrong.

This moral edification, and self righteousness rules the firebrand and utterly wrong politics of the times. The internalization of real-politik, is indeed totally unreal. The design of history, its currents of synthesis, even if not Hegelian becomes a grand myth. At the same time myths of religion are brought in to water down history.

In the process, terrible things are happening in health care and nutrition. Children are dying of starvation. The poor are ruthlessly and crassly ignored. Education has taken a back seat, notwithstanding pious utterances to save the girl child. 

And then of course is the other. The other major political group openly advocating a dynastic regime was voted out because people wanted a change. Political analysts call this anti incumbency. But the change was worked out because of corruption, total apathy for the poor, a sense of dynastic rule ( the monopoly of both power and ‘ love’) and ingratiating people who were currying favour only. Nepotism and its strongest ally had become inexhaustible. So the demand for change was inevitable. It had to come, and come it did! 

No sooner had it come, then the formula or recipe became evident. When will the catharsis come? When will the implosion dawn? The cross roads of change have once again been tangled in bearing witness to sad realities. It is not only elections which reflect change, but in protestations, that can happen silently, inwardly. The people of India cannot be fooled too long, or live in a miasma of hate, insufferably. 

Voices of protest maybe muted by killings or charging people with sedition, but those who watch in muted silence know best. Those whose children die of starvation also have supporters. Those who object to the behemoth of hatred have voices that can be heard. And those who are pilfering the history and body politic of this great nation, which freed itself from the ramparts and nightmare of thievery, should know this glaring truth, which is staring us in the face and saddening so many Indians today. Cheers. A word frequently used in our FB literature today or in our emails, but a word, which may also demand social inquisition. 

 

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