The
cab driver was a Muslim. He had four Hindu passengers sitting in his cab.
During the course of the city itinerary and the thread of conversation that
followed, the one most obvious thing that cropped up was how the political
leaders of both of the communities exploit the ordinary citizens.
It
was concluded in the 60-minutes travel time that the common members of both of
the communities (defined as the ‘Aam Aadmi’) do not keep any mutual hatred and
issues like Godhara train burning or Godhara riots or Babri Mosque demolition
are well past in the history.
Their
sustenance as issues bigger enough to affect the normal functioning of the
society is just brainchild of the political class.
The
provocation to indulge in rioting is only impulsive for the masses and when
they realize the futility, they stop caring about it. Example of Bhartiya Janta
Party’s failure in Uttar Pradesh was sighted again. The party that rode to
power in Uttar Pradesh after the vote polarization in the aftermath of the
mosque demolition has failed to exploit the issue after one full term.
It
was concluded that a common member of both of the communities has to worry
daily for the subsistence of his family and he is more or less indifferent to the issues like this which do nothing
but disrupt the social and economical means to sustain that very family.
It
was concurred that all of them sitting in the cab were following religion and
somewhat believed in god in their own ways and thought a god would never allow
one to take others’ lives in any case.
And
it is on these lines all the time.
Most
of the times, when unknown people from these two communities come together in a
place (in India
That
is actually the case but the phrase ‘impulsive reaction’ unwinds all. The
religious and political leaders exploit this ‘reacting on an impulse’ mob trait
of the masses from both of the communities to further their religious and political
agenda.
Yes,
it’s the mob trait that gives
opportunity to the political and religious leaders to exploit this ‘Aam Aadmi’
sentiment forcing them to react impulsively in the name of religion that
results in senseless developments like riots or demolition of religious places.
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the
Babri Mosque demolition. Most of the television channels were running stories
on Ayodhya and Faizabad after 20 years of the mosque demolition perpetrated on
December 6, 1992.
On
the expected line, treatment of the stories was agenda driven on almost of the
carriers. Some were showing almost harmony like situation between these two
communities in the city now while some others were stressing that ‘tension’
still prevails there. Newspapers were not any different.
Like
the television channels, newspapers, religious and political leaders, every
human being is subjective and agenda-driven in personal capacity.
How
much of the real time and effort is given to the agenda depends on how much you
come to realize about it; in what context you see your life; in what System you
exist; and ultimately, how do you equate your existence on identity-conscience
and human-intellect paradigms.
Now
in a society as diverse and equally economically poor as India
And
in such a System-driven population, it is always easier for the leaders (or
manipulators) to instigate the mob-traits of the masses, say for instance for
the Babri Mosque demolition or the riots in the aftermath.
After
all, the point of the discussion during the cab ride, that most of us are somewhere religious in nature, is a very relevant tool in the hands
of the manipulators, for they know, in a population largely devoid of the basic
requirements of a dignified life, religion is the only aspect that gives the masses a sense of belonging (or the fleeting sense of relief from the
endless miseries of life).
For,
religion or the abode of the god gives masses a permanent vent to dissipate all
the negative energy that circumnavigates their capacity to think positively in
order to maintain the life on a day-to-day basis.
One
has to earn not for him but for a family. One has to play many roles. One has
to live many expectations. Rules of the society make everything a commodity.
One needs to monetize every minute of life in order to manage the financial
needs for life-sustaining requirements like food, water, education, medicines and
shelter.
Majority
of the Indian population finds it hard to manage the affairs smoothly. It is the ideal situation for a middle class
family when it could manage its day-to-day life smoothly on these five
parameters.
And
mind you this I write in the context of the middle class families. Most of them
compromise daily on more than one of these five parameters to meet the ends.
Imagine
the plight of the masses who live on less than $2 a day and according to the
World Bank, they constitute over 60 per cent of the Indian population.
For
them, none of these five parameters exist. They know just one thing that every
day is a battle and they have to pass it somehow to see the next one.
Now
this ‘over 60 per cent’ and the large middle class, always short of meeting expectations,
have suppressed anger, on System, on them, and to for some, to some extent, on
god.
They
cannot complain against the System. It has become insensitive enough to listen
to them. Weakened by the endless miseries of life, they dare not venture within
or have forgotten that they had a conscience that, at some point of time,
thought of dignified life, and so almost never think of reworking on them.
God,
in such a society (that India
In
most of the cases, the bond is not spiritual but a need-based one where the
devotee always seeks something from the giver (god) pinning all his hopes on
his almighty.
This
is true in the context of the majority of the Indian society because majority
of the Indians are religious in nature.
And
when anything negative happens to this institution of god, it provokes them to
act instantly, impulsively, for they, somewhere, see their ‘institution of the
last resort’ (and not faith in spiritual sense) threatened.
Religion
and politics are deeply intertwined in the Indian society and so directly
affect the mutual interests.
Religious
and political leaders manipulate to create such situations to provoke masses of
one community against the other to polarize the opinion. The sole aim is to
maintain the leadership in a half-baked democracy that empowers citizens to
chose leaders but at the same time, keeps them devoid of the intellectual
discretion to sift good from bad; to select democrats from among the growing
bunch of ‘pseudo-democrats’.
Democracy
is the only option for a civilized society but it is a long term investment. 62
years of the Indian Republic has not been enough to inculcate the true spirit
of democracy in the country. Its masses still act and react more like a mob
than being the carriers of the democratic spirit.
The
history of Indian democracy has given us some moments of relief when the voter truly
used his discretionary power to bring the needed change like when he spoke
against the Emergenycy; when he ousted Indira Gandhi from power; when his ‘spiral
of silence’ dethroned the NDA government so unexpectedly.
But
to his misery, the gain of these ‘history-making’ moments soon became history,
for he chose to replace one problem with another.
Riots
are still happening. Communal and sectarian tension still prevails in the
society. Development politics has largely gone to a moratorium. Appeasement and
polarization is the mainstay of almost every political group today.
And
they are emboldened by the mob trait when we, the masses of India, supposed to
use our discretionary power through our votes, act impulsively on the call of
the religious and political leaders to further their agenda, and not the country’s.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
