Rewind, Past Forward Freedom Movement
2019 elections are less than six months from today. Some love to watch the
Dance of Democracy while others skeptically look at it as verbal gymnastics
with much hype and hoopla providing fodder to the print and the electronic
media. The state elections that are currently on are billed as the semi finals
that will suggest a plausible prediction about the outcome of the 2019 general
elections They may, they may not as the intervening six months can bring about course corrections by all parties if needed
and corresponding change in voters’ preference.
For the past few weeks TV channels had been vying with each other to
get the sound bytes of top campaign leaders-both of the ruling and the
opposition parties of the five states that were in the poll mode. For a large
number of voters, there is a strange feeling of ennui and boredom mixed with
fear and nervousness at the prospect of an extension to the present regime or
its replacement by a heterogeneous political conglomerate with a single agenda
to deny the current ruling establishment a second term in office. It is difficult
to assess which party has better credentials as all the parties are tainted-some
perceived to be more and some others perceived to be less in comparison.
There is no denying the fact that current political discourses in the
two largest democracies in the world- India and US have reached abysmal depths
of verbal savagery. Civilized campaigning is passe’. The present day
election addresses are full of vitriolic violence attempting to hit the
opponents below the belt. Unfortunately
the Prime Minister’s appeal to the raw emotions of the voters has set the tone
for all parties to employ toxic vocabulary. Rahul Gandhi’s ’s jibe at the PM as “chowkidar
is chor” is not only offensive but
has crossed all limits of decency and
restraint. The only justification is Mr.
Modi started it in 2014 before he became PM and during the last four years as
PM has continued it with greater viciousness as with no care or concern for the
dignity of the office he holds.
The election speeches have no agenda except – if one calls it an
agenda- to finish the opponent. Neither
of the two national parties- the Congress and the ruling BJP- in their public speeches
gives importance to development or presents a blueprint of what it intends to
do if voted to power. That is confined to manifestos which no one reads-
certainly none in the rural or the tribal area, none of the poor and the illiterate
which constitutes the vast majority of the population. For most of them (and this includes the urban literate as well)perception
alone matters. The voters’ choice is based on how and who can convincingly give
a strong perception.
Today’s election campaign is
nothing but a theatre of Abuse played on
a political stage- surfeit with covert innuendoes, barbs rendered as witticism to produce
raucous laughter, sarcasms replete with coarse mockery and scorn and
accusations with no care for fidelity, truth and ethics. For those who are not
able to witness live the theatre of Abuse, the TV channels carry a dramatized
version of the same given by party spokespersons though their voices get drowned by their high pitched, cacophonous
noise and that of the stentorian partisan
anchors . It does not matter who says what as long as negative perception is
kept centre stage. The more abusive the participants are, the louder their scream
and shout, the greater is the TRPs for the channels. No one bothers about the
finesse of debate, refinement of language, civilized discourse and the veracity
of the statements made. The focus is only on creating a perception that is
damaging to the opponent “ Your Bofors is my Rafael; my Rafael is your Augusta
Westland.”- the slanging match continues.
Shrewd political leaders are aware how our human genetics - better
known as our traits inheritance suffer from two basic negatives: (1) Humans
love vile calumny and defamation of others with the exception of one’s own charmed
circle and (2) human inability to let go of the past and turn towards the
future. The first is an act of self indulgence –to delight in the follies and
faults of another and feel righteous, virtuous and superior( even when one knows it is not true).
The second is more lethal for it is
built upon grievances, real or imagined and thereby gives justification to
nurse hatred and animosity. We all behave like the wolf in the Aesop’s Fables, The Lamb and the Wolf. We love to think
ill of others; we love to hate. William
Hazlitt in his essay, The Pleasures of Hating, describes the
effects of hatred: “It makes patriotism
an excuse for carrying
fire, pestilence, and famine into other lands; it leaves
to virtue nothing but the spirit
of censoriousness.”.
Taking the lead from the PM, all his bhakts
revel in denigrating the past leaders to prove that their present leader is
nonpareil. The PM himself mocks at Jawahar Lal Nehru for sporting a rose on his
sherwani with his sarcastic comment: “Nehru wore a rose on his suit, but was ignorant of farmers’ woes; he
had knowledge of gardens, but not farmers and farming.” This is about our first
Prime Minister who ushered in green revolution, white revolution and industrial
modernization and was the architect of IITs, IIMs and Research Centres in science and Social Science.
Ever since it came to power in 2014, there has been an orchestration by
the ruling establishment to build up Patel against Nehru forgetting the
historical truth that the two tall leaders were both Congressmen and both had the decency
to work together even when they differed on any issue. The great orator that
our present PM is, by his paradoxical silence-
has given free license to his party men and women to polarise the country on
religious faiths, torpedoing the seven decade old constitutionally enshrined
secularism and thereby negating the Nehruvian
adherence to “a pluralist vision
of India, civility in public debate and vibrant intellectual traditions.”. Nehru was a well read man whose Discovery of India is proof of his
immense knowledge and pride in our ancient Hindu civilization. He was truly a
citizen of the world and in his Glimpses
of World History, he presents his world view of the civilizational ideas, culture
and political ideologies that have
shaped mankind . Nehru exemplified the synthesis of the East and the West
without privileging one over the other. The phrase ‘ Cultural nationalism’ is
off the trajectory of the concept of one nation that Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and
other freedom leaders had moulded. All the three leaders had been educated in
England and Gandhi had in addition, experienced
the apartheid that segregated people on the basis of colour and race. Our
nationalism as conceived by our great freedom fighters was a rich integration of the humanistic ideas
inherent in our philosophy and those conceived by the Western thinkers.
Unfortunately today in the fanatic zeal for Cultural nationalism which is the
opposite of syncretic humanism, we have
been subjected to an anti intellectual, violent, chauvinistic atavism. The BJP in its unthinking attempt to see
Nehruvian socialism as a binary opposition to Patel’s Liberal democratic
ideology has destroyed the syncretic bond between the two.
The Congress has fallen into the trap laid by the rise of Moditva( a
notch higher than Hindutva) and is rushing to lay bare its allegiance to
Hinduism. Its soft Hinduism that lays claim to a new idea of Hinduism-( one
wonders why the Congress does not name it
“Gandhitva” or “Sonitva”), the
Congress is playing the same religious card as the ruling party does. Our
political leaders have waded into religious polarity instead of protecting the
nation’s seven decade old secular credentials. They have made religion a public
enterprise instead of limiting it to individual’s personal belief and practice.
The Congress has become a copycat of whatever BJP had been doing and continues
to be doing. The discussion about Rahul’s gotra
and janeru is childish if not crass and stupid.
India has become a land of statues. The Statue of Unity built at a whopping
3000 crores as a testimony to national Unity and to Sardar Patel, the architect of national
integration, has given rise to a sudden spurt in statue erection in different
states. We are moving backwards to the statue
cult seemingly concerned about form and not substance. I have a picture of Lord Ram in my
house along Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman.
Ram is my favourite deity and I recite Sankshep Ramayan and Hanuman Chalisa
everyday –at home or even when I am driving through the Delhi traffic. Do I
have to see a statue of Ram in Ayodhya to inspire me to say my prayers? Aren’t
there any number of temples that are in a state of disarray – not only in
Ayodhya, but all over India? Temple
worship is collective worship while individuals have their personal
relationship with their Creator. We need no mediator or a statue to remind us
about Ram. The fall-out of the the Statue of Unity is all other states are
competing to build bigger and taller statues in their capital cities. Karnataka
which has already a lovely statue of Cauvery amman(mother) wants to erect another125mtr tall statue to register for the National statue competition. This proposal
comes at a time when activist groups have blamed the government of turning a
blind eye on illegal sand mining around river Cauvery that is irreparably
damaging the ecological balance. Do we need a new Shivaji statue at a height of
212 mtrs off Bombay coast to induce a rush of adrenalin within us to fight for
the nation? S hould Andhra Pradesh embark on a new Assembly
building that will be taller than the Statue of Unity by 68 meters? Ram Statue
promised by UP Chief Minister is set to be 221 meters tall. When we forget the
teachings, we erect a statue of the teacher! One wonders at the naivety of our
leaders to stand by statues to win elections.
If fanatic Hindutva has polarized the nation, AAP in Delhi is
polarizing the state on class division-between Aam Admi and the middle and
upper middle class, between the rich and the poor. The present crisis faced by
the private schools is a good example of polarization as a winnable ideology. It
is one thing to hound all private schools; another thing to raise the standard of
government schools. The latter should not be at the expense of the former. When
the student population is exploding do we destroy schools in existence or build
new schools? Knowing that perception is 100% election success, AAP is playing a
dangerous game of de-schooling private institutions to please the general
public as though this is done for their up-liftment. How does it benefit the aamadmi
if a good private school is de-recognized? Again this is pandering to the lowest
common denominator of human feelings- to gloat over the fall of another. Has
AAP reflected on destroying the dreams of thousands of young students seeking
good school education to build up their future?
Another kind of polarization that is taking place is on the lines of
caste. When reservations have been a constitutional provision for the
up-liftment of the poorest of poor for the last seven decades, to play the caste
card once again by a few Dalit leaders is once again stoking fire that had
remained dormant for the last two and a half decades(since the OBC agitation of
1990). Then there is the agitation by
people of different states seeking privilege for the sons of the soil over the
outsiders who have settled in the state. Caste, class, religion, language have all
been whipped up to get votes. The elections are no longer on development goals
and policies, but the issues are scaled down to raise bogeys of polarities
among the different sections of people.
Can India be one nation after all this polarization? The law and order
situation is deteriorating as people have taken law into their hands in the
name of Cow vigilantism and Love Jihad. Have we not allowed unruly elements to
frighten us to submission through violent and dastardly acts? There is no
respect even for the Supreme Court judgement as seen in the Sabarimala
agitation. One is frightened of the negative connotation given to ‘constitutional morality’ by the Attorney General. The murder most foul of
a police inspector in UP by mob lynching shows the deep rot that has set in our
national polity.
I wonder if the 2019 elections will solve or aggravate the restlessness,
anger and violence in the country. If BJP,
that has been a mute spectator to all the violence
that had taken place in the last four years-giving a free run to cow
vigillantes and mob lynchers, returns to
power, can it rein in the unruly elements in society which has propped it up in
the name of Hindutva? Can it bring about
a reconciliation between the Leftist and Rightist ideologies when the canker
has run deep in all our educational institutions? If by an unlikely chance the
opposition conglomerate comes to power can it function given the polarization at different
levels? Or for that matter, since the communal and caste fire have been lit,
will it have the power to douze it. Who
has the moral power and strength to confront, combat and win over a deeply
polarised and wounded nation?
Do we have in our midst saner voices, civilized and learned who can
provide a government that meets the aspirations of its varied groups now
seemingly at daggers with each other on caste, class and communal lines? Can
there be any party which will stand up and root out polarization and evenly
distribute the national resources that include education, jobs, healthcare and
the forgotten slogan of BSP(Bijli, sadal Pani) to satisfy the aspiration of each
and every one of its citizens ? This sounds utopian in its intention and
aspiration, but history is replete with periods of golden age when people under
stress have sought and valued leaders who committed themselves to equity,
equality, ethics and justice and worked towards establishing a welfare state. The world had always gone
through divisive conflicts and had emerged under the collective wisdom of
leaders every time the world was on the brink of an abyss
Let us also hope for the
promised “achche din” whosoever offers it and hopefully it should not be a long
and indefinite wait. Just as our freedom fighters forgetting all the
differences collectively fought for the higher and nobler cause of a united,
independent India, our honest and wise people should come together to provide
an alternative discourse of inclusive nationalism to the current clamour of caste based,
religion based and class based polarization. Let us rewind to the days of
freedom struggle and past forward the examples of our illustrious leaders for
whom Nation and its people alone mattered over all self centred gains. I hope
our young men and women rise up now and raise a new party that fuses modern
aspiration with our ancient civilized values that anchored the freedom
movement. The youth with all its idealism alone can bring in fresh air to counter the pollution.
Let it not miss this most opportune
moment to steer the nation that is currently on the brink of an abyss of polarization.
