By Robert Clements
Setting Negativity Aside..!
The Prime Minister spoke a few days ago, standing tall and confident at the start of the winter session of Parliament, and he asked the opposition to set their negativity aside. It sounded wonderful. It sounded noble. For a fleeting moment, I almost clapped. Almost. Because before anyone can set negativity aside, one must first understand what positivity really is.
Positivity is harmony. It is peace. It is prosperity. It is love, compassion and kindness. It is laughter shared over a cup of tea, neighbours chatting at the gate, and friends agreeing to disagree but still meeting for a meal. It is warmth. It is goodwill. It is a gentle smile across a crowded street. It is the willingness to listen without preparing a counterattack. It is everything we once had, and everything we have somehow lost in the last ten years.
So, when the Prime Minister spoke of negativity, my mind travelled back. I remembered a time when my closest friends could sit across a table and argue till midnight about politics and religion, and afterward we still hugged and laughed and went home smiling. We teased each other. We joked about our differences. We celebrated our disagreements because we believed disagreement meant thinking. We valued the debate. We valued the freedom to speak. We valued each other.
Today, the same friends avoid each other. They glare. They block each other on phones and on WhatsApp. They whisper behind their backs, and they forward videos that are neither true nor kind. And I stand in the middle of that empty table where we once sat and wonder how this great nation of unity allowed itself to be divided so easily.
What happened to us? When did we let this poison creep in? When did we forget who we were? I recall neighbours who once shared meals and festival sweets. I recall Diwali diyas being exchanged with Christmas cake and Eid biryani. I recall balconies decorated with lights from every faith, laughter echoing through the compound, and families walking together to buy firecrackers or set up Christmas trees. Today, those same neighbours do not speak. They cross the street to avoid each other. They shut their doors without even a nod. Children who once played together are now warned quietly at home not to mingle with those from the other side.
Who taught us to hate so efficiently? Who whispered into our ears that our neighbour is the enemy? Who told us that patriotism is proven not by loving our country but by hating someone else’s belief or identity? It did not happen by accident. It happened through careful sowing. Seeds of division were planted and watered every day. The soil was prepared through television shouting matches, where one side screamed and the other side was muted. Fertiliser was poured through endless propaganda that repeated a lie until it started sounding like truth. And like obedient gardeners, we protected those seeds, believing they would produce unity, but instead they grew into thick thorny bushes that scratched us all. And now the country is asked to set negativity aside.
What a lovely call. What a noble request. But I wonder, with all sincerity, who should really receive that advice.
Should it be the opposition? Or should it be spoken to the side of the House that holds the largest numbers and the loudest microphones?
Maybe before giving such a sermon, the good Prime Minister might consider installing a giant mirror facing himself and the treasury benches.
A tall shiny one. One that shows every face clearly. One that reflects not the polished smiles seen on posters and billboards, but the real expressions behind them. Let every member look into it before pointing a finger across the aisle. Let them ask themselves one question. Did I bring unity or division? Did I add peace or spread anger? Did I bridge or did I break? Did I heal or did I wound? Did I lead with love or with fear?
And while that mirror stands proudly in the well of the House, perhaps another could be placed in every newsroom and television studio. A mirror that asks every anchor gently, did you inform or inflame? Did you encourage thinking or did you manufacture rage? Did you bring out the truth or did you twist it? Did you use your voice to build a nation or to shout it into pieces?
And maybe yet another mirror could quietly appear in every home. Because the truth is, this division did not grow by itself. It grew through us.
This month, the world prepares for Christmas. A season of peace. A season of healing. A season where even enemies called for truce on battlefields. A season where a carpenter’s son preached love as the only real revolution. And as the first star appears in a winter sky, we are reminded that peace begins not with demands from others but with transformation within oneself.
So yes, let us set negativity aside. But let us begin with the negativity that sits within us. The negativity that is fed to us daily. The negativity that we have allowed to become our identity. Because positivity is not a speech. Positivity is an action. It is an effort. It is daily work. It is choosing forgiveness instead of fury. It is restarting friendships. It is crossing that street to shake the hand you once ignored. It is putting down the phone and pouring a cup of tea. It is knocking once more on the door that has been closed for too long.
If those mirrors in Parliament and elsewhere could speak, they might whisper gently. This Christmas season as a month of peace dawns, set your own negativity aside first. Then ask the country to follow…!
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