The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Sunday 18 October 2015

BIHAR POLLS: 'MAKE OR BREAK' FOR POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN INDIA

Bihar assembly polls are, no doubt, make or break for many – for Nitish Kumar, for Sharad Yadav, for Lalu Yadav and for a humiliated Congress that is desperately trying to find that elusive way that can put it back on the path to revival.

But Bihar polls are also a ‘make or break’ proposition for the ‘overall health’ of the political discourse in the country – a discourse that has been sullied much in last one year or so.

Yes, in the prevailing political scenario in the country, and based on that – at least 10 years from now, India has no other political figure but Narendra Modi to look to. We can safely say so, going by the current realpolitik of the country, that India has no other leader than Narendra Modi who can be a prime-ministerial stuff.

And it is because of Narendra Modi’s image as an efficient administrator, as an adept marketer and as a clean politician that has ‘efficiently’ spoken for his controversial political past.

India is the world’s largest democracy, in fact, is a robustly functional one – and therefore, it has to be run politically – by politically elected representatives – that happens in a democracy.

The electorate largely found that Narendra Modi was the best hope for India – in May 2014 – when the country was reeling under the mess created by the previous political establishment.

Narendra Modi remains the best and in fact the only person to steer India ahead – in these tumultuous political currents and undercurrents.

Provided he clears the way ahead.

Provided he efficiently scuttles the political undercurrents emerging now.

The way ahead that now looks chocked and bottlenecked – in the first 17 months of the Modi government.

Narendra Modi is clean but same cannot be said about political corruption and bureaucratic apathy. Yes, no one had expected any miracle but people need some blueprint now.

Claims now need to go beyond ‘mere claims’ and ‘tokenisms’ - to clear ‘imprints’ of the road ahead. People now don’t buy political promises beyond a point and BJP saw it in Delhi with a humiliating and deafening poll loss.

It is not about which ideology the person belongs to. It is fair enough that institutions will have more persons with rightwing affiliations as this ideology is in government now – and every government does so – at least in India of the day that is beset with that sort of political culture. But that should never be the pretext to fill the ranks with inefficient people like Gajendra Chauhan for that matter, the vice-chancellors of many central universities.

And above all, Narendra Modi must now quell the fringe voices that have been vitiating the social fabric of the country – a country that saw a bitter, bloody partition – based on two religions. He must control and suppress fanatic and religiously bigoted voices. He must ruthlessly abort any more attempts to affect the atmosphere of tolerance in the country. He must clearly say a ‘big no’ now to political and politically-religious elements on the prowl.

The nation has enough of beef politics and ‘cow politics’. It must stop now. Cow has always been, in every age, revered by the Hindus and they don’t need politicians and religious leaders to remind them of their duty (or preference).

BJP and Narendra Modi need to see the Delhi poll debacle in the light of these ‘facts’. If they still consider the Delhi outcome as an aberration, it may prove out to be a costly mistake in Bihar.

A loss in Bihar would push BJP to introspect on these 17 months, on voices on the prowl in these 17 months, on disturbing trends that have disturbed the society, that have disturbed a nation.

On the contrary, a BJP win in Bihar may embolden such elements even further, vitiating the atmosphere even more, engulfing our multi-religious society even further.

A BJP win in Bihar assembly polls may further take such political drifters and fringe elements away from Narendra Modi’s control.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/