Sold our souls… have we?

Source: Nomadicpolitics.blogspot.com

Imagine writing a strong and emotion charged op-ed on who Americans should vote for as their next president? Such an earth shattering piece that it leads to heated arguments and discussions on the eve of elections. What do you think would happen? Probably United States would conduct a secret espionage assignment and get the Author dumped into the Arabian Sea? No, wait. That’s an exaggeration. Maybe it would just be a phone call to the Indian Prime Minister who is sitting on the edge of his seat wondering if he needs to vacate 7, Race Course Road or not. Whatever it is, there would be a reaction.

But imagine an American writing such a piece about India. A journalist, writing a powerful piece about how Indians are crossing the moral line when it came to voting for the government meant to rule it for the next four years or more. A thought provoking piece indeed and with a lot of substance to it -What do you think would happen?- It would lead to hundreds of polarized views no doubt; give a platform for frustrated Indians to vent out their anger against the forlorn state of Indian politics and the momentous (un)doings of its headless politicians. But more importantly it would make the article go viral on social media and make this lesser known Author, a celebrity overnight.

And that is where the issue lies, the fundamental truth behind the very basis on which Thane Richard gave birth to his controversial article on how Indians can leave behind morals and ethics and make a vote based on “your privileged view of India’s future”- the Indian society and its impulsive yet bigotry attitude that has put it in the shameful state that it is in today.

As emotional and spontaneous that we are being in going gaga over the article, we have been just as impulsive in deciding the future of our country over all these decades. Like it or not, our politicians are made from what we have been as a society. Waves of Communalism have risen because of the lack of interest we have shown as a society. Our entire political system has been damaged today because of the lax we have shown in bringing it to order. Somewhere we are responsible, be it for what we call sixty years of misrule or communal riots such as Godhra. Why? - Because we have been fast asleep all these years.

Sandip Roy reciprocated his thoughts on Thane’s piece in a fairly eloquent manner. No doubt Modi should be held accountable for Godhra, but just as much as Congress should be held responsible for the 1984 bloodbath. 2004 being just ten years apart on the timeline to 2014 does not in any way overshadow what happened thirty years before. Just because we were children running around playing hide and seek in 1984 or probably not even born then and have one significant genocide memory fresh in our minds does not entitle us to take just one politician to the guillotine. Blaming one politician for communal violence when it has been entrenched in our history by no means seems fair. Thane might not have intended to convey that however the excessive mention of Modi made the already charged audience to read it that way.

Now we have woken up. And there couldn't be a more positive sign for India than that. If nothing, the rise of AAP proves that we no longer want to take things sitting down but the damage that has been done cannot be easily undone. Years of unruly governance cannot be set right overnight. Precisely what Thane writes somewhere in the middle of the clarification he wrote based on the heated response he got on his article.

   

“This one is a pickle. I said upfront in the piece that this was not about whether you thought Rahul Gandhi was better or not.  If, after working backwards and eliminating all the murderers and rapists and extortionists and thieves, there is still not someone good enough on the ballot, then we have a much bigger problem. Who’s problem is this? Ultimately, yours: the voter’s.”

Unfortunately this is not how most read his article. This piece that went viral was read as becoming “MODIfied” and not “Justified” in our voting. It made us throw daggers at each other on the opinions each of us is entitled to have on the right candidate. The right candidate? Like it or not we do not have much of a choice today. And harping on the same string, we are responsible for this lack of choice. Maybe Modi isn't the right person to rule this country but nor is Rahul or Kejriwal or Mamata or Amma. We as a society have called this time onto ourselves, for now we have to live with it, make the choice that we feel singes us the least.But what happens next? 

Economic growth is a prerogative now, regardless of the past we have unknowingly helped create. But do we continue to sell our souls to purchase economic growth as Thane, an outsider has so painfully voiced out? If he can feel the pain, why can we not? Do we brand ourselves as Kumbhakarnas who woke up from the deep sleep to fight just one battle? Or do we sit up and ensure that four years down the Thane Richard’s of this world have no premise left to write another such piece?

The choice is ours.