BY PACHU MENON

Democracy cannot be blamed for the present order of things; it is only an unsuspecting victim of the representatives of the masses, who indulge in an intriguing web of complicities to dupe the citizenry.

WAKING up to a rather paradoxical truth that when we, as a nation, could cross swords with the British Empire for freedom from all sorts of bonds, and gain it too, the efforts by successive governments to deny legitimate rights to its citizens who are bracketed as ‘minorities’ for their scattered presence in the statistical report of the country’s population census, has only facilitated a further division of the nation on the lines of religion(s).

A government of the people, by the people and for the people - sounds sweet to the ears, doesn’t it? But with relevance to a great nation that is yet to come to terms with the percentage of its citizens living way below the literacy level, the poverty line and a predilection to placate the minorities, any government that purports to project itself as a popular choice of its millions is serenading to a nonsensical rhapsody.

MEEK FOLLOWERS

TO quote Shashi Tharoor, “India is anything but the unchanging land of cliché.” Nothing could be farther from the truth! This country, or better still, we as a nation can never change! It is an experiential inference that just cannot be overlooked. Decades of misery and uncertainty, plodding the same furrows, we seem to have become visionless, or should I say torpid? We dread any change, a change of the existing systems, the norms and practices. Why become trendsetters, when we can meekly follow?

Should the common man then be seen as the moral police, the conscience-keepers, of a nation guarding against the excesses of that grand genre we recognise as politicians? Let us praise our inanities; a pervasive longing for anything orderly somehow doesn’t fit into our psyche. For, the miasma of grunge that seems to have congealed our senses does not allow us to think rationally. Attributing a numinous connotation to everyday happenings, obsequious in our expressions, we remain stranded in a hellish quagmire, and have to bear the brunt of a few powerful maniacs imposing their views on a system fortified by a centuries’ old culture, and over a generation given the best of education.

Secure in our conviction that we are giving the best to our youngsters, we conveniently forget that we have been highly unsuccessful in imbibing in them a feeling of belonging, a sense of propriety. In a land of billions subscribing to millions of faiths, can we claim to be living in peace with our neighbours? If so, what sort of etiquette have we passed on? Just a meek realisation of how far our moral compass has drifted should be an indicator of this bare truth. Of course, let us keep away from nurturing notions of an adventurous Don Quixote-like character; for, the parabolic character was just that, a fictitious one, chasing delusive dragons!

SOCIETY’S BANE

INFURIATED at the presence of slothful watchdogs, the intrinsic disagreements that taint any well-meaning venture has been the bane of the Indian society. The charge is presumptuous, one dare say! But the efforts at commingling comminuted, general interaction between communities have always had comminative factors thwarting the noble intentions. For all purposes, when the highfalutin postulate the theory of a majority and minority in a nation perceived as a Hindu Rashtra, all other religions are automatically reduced to a minority status, or at least that is what one is led to believe.

It is quite ironic that followers of a particular religion sound so apologetic and find the need to justify their existence in this land. Deciphering their holy texts, if hastily collected gatherings are witness to the unequivocal explanations being put forth by authorities proficient in their customs, the plaint for acceptance more than anything else assumes a greater significance. A cynical view of their dress code and various other religious traditions calling for an elucidation fails to impress one. Why should anyone be denied this fundamental right, the freedom to practice one’s religion? Why should the self-proclaimed majority feel ‘endangered’ and be sceptical of the minority communities?

The word ‘persecuted’ could well describe the plight of the minorities here. For that matter Christianity and Islam are world religions and arguably with the largest of following. Nevertheless, Muslims being held responsible for every act of terrorism across the world is a perverse truth that cannot easily be repulsed. The United States authorities treating anyone even with the least of ‘Islamic antecedents’ as a high risk individual after the 9/11 incident, is but a natural reaction of a country smitten by the anti-Islamic bug. As a consequence of these ‘sanctions’, the whole community is suffering a worldwide estrangement for the vengeful deeds of a few misguided youth, misinterpreting the Holy Writ and validating their extreme acts of retaliation against a system that purports to question their set of beliefs.

SPIRITUAL FOLLIES

WHEN paragraphs in their scriptures devoted to the sanctity of the inner-self by means of a series of ablutions to cleanse the mind, and likening these efforts to crusades of the mind to overcome stiff resistance from other worldly temptations it is subjected to, is being read as an armed resistance against those from other faiths, need anything more be said for these ‘spiritual follies’? The moment a dogma, or a principle, ceases to remain within the sacred precincts defying social or obligatory relevance, religion takes on an obsessive hue and thus are born religious zealots. Making others submit to their viewpoints, the means notwithstanding, then becomes a special agenda for them.

So, democracy cannot be blamed for the present order of things; it is only an unsuspecting victim of the representatives of the masses, who indulge in an intriguing web of complicities to dupe the citizenry. Recognising these sly games that are common place in the great political scenario of the country, no decent man will venture forth to slur his name and image. Ergo, over the years, the same unscrupulous few, the same spineless lot lacking a moral backbone, which run with the hares and hunt with the hounds, are the custodians of this land. If at all ochlocracy is upsetting our democratic norms, ‘WE’ are the culprits!

Allow me to quote an essayist: A country that has seen God in every man can never think of extinguishing the divine glow in him and convert him into a beast of burden. We believe in the dignity of man and his love of freedom. If only we were to rekindle that lost flame!