A strange image crossed my mind the other day when, in a living room of Delhi, people were talking about the feel-good factor in metropolitan India. It was the frightening image of the emergency. It was the same strata of people who were spouting the feel-good factor at that time too! Only the products were different. Then it was that the trains were running on time, that there was ?social discipline? and a feel-safe factor in middle class India. Today, it is that cell phones are cheaper!
Sanjay Gandhi had generated much hype about strict governance and the march forward for India. Middle India became a victim of his call. Twenty-five years later, the jargon is the same. But what of those outside of the metropolitan areas? What about the reality on the ground? Remember, it was shortlived in the seventies because the marginalised people of our nation, who are the majority, did not accept the hype or the slogans. They were dealing with real India and dignified survival was not easy. Corruption was rampant then as it is today. Dictatorial positions dominated as they do today. The marginalised were isolated as they are today. The definition of the feel-good factor was blurred for most as it is today.
Nationalism then, hindutva now, dominates today in the same manner as it did then in 1975. The BJP today sounds much like the Congress did then. We should beware of this. Hype and the packaging of this feel-good factor and a Shining India is scary because it smacks of insecurity of governance. And all dictatorial movements have used this kind of mechanism to get the middle classes to follow them, as a start.
Europe saw this in the last century ? India is trailing behind and is witnessing a similar move in the new millennium. Surely we should take a close look at the historical realities of the not-so-distant past. We should question what is being fed to us, the propaganda, and not accept all that is thrown at us through the media as the only truth. But alas, we too seem to be playing ?follow the leader? mindlessly.
The other sad reality in Indian politics today is when we have to hear old men, ?stalwart? leaders descend to the level of filthy attacks on their opponents. Personal diatribes are only a reminder that we are undignified in battle. Our cultural ethos seems to have disappeared. Touching of feet in ?respect? juxtaposed with abusive verbal attacks on other political leaders, smacks of deep insecurities and guilt. That is how the general public view this. They find it abrasive and unnecessary. This is not politics. It is reducing politics to gutter sniping. At some stage, it all comes full circle, if not today, tomorrow.
The rampant and vehement Sonia-baiting we are witnessing today makes one question their confidence in themselves. When you are secure, you are compassionate and in some cases, condescending. Here, they are giving the impression of desperation, of running scared. It is another way of looking at what is happening. The issues for all political parties in the fray are the same. Exactly the same. Good governance, building infrastructure etc. Those are the priorities of government, any government. Bringing the sops just before polls is blatant. Adding government jobs is regressive but it will bring government employees, many of whom are redundant and a burden on the tax payer, into positions of defending and supporting the ruling party or the one that distributes the sops. It is those men and women who man the polling booths!
So, how is this lot any different from the last lot? To woo elements of the electorate in this manner will not, by any means, take India forward. We shall be entangled in more red tape and corruption. Who is going to break the paradigm? Which combination is going to take the hard decisions that are bound to affect and anger the various constituents? Are all these disparate groups going to hold progress and change to ransom? Is our leadership so weak that it bends and falls prey to these archaic demands time and again? It is here that the doublespeak begins and carries on.