The
fad of being shaped in stone or ‘carving in stone’ or hung over the wall in
fabricated postures and obligated textures – what is this with the politicians
(or the so-called mass leaders)?
Okay,
this is a global phenomenon with a history that always goes back; here it is
more about our dear politicians (the Indians of a different breed – a matter of
anthropological and genetic research to understand what went wrong from Mahatma
Gandhi to the likes of Suresh Kalmadi and A Raja). Apart from the luminaries
from the past, politicians have been installing politicians from the past and
with the recent trend, they are now installing even themselves.
It
is not exaggerated to say India’s
civic infrastructure like streets, roads, parks, water bodies, buildings and
installations, all are inundated with countless statues and framed photographs
of politicians occupying the prominent geographical spaces. These are in
addition to the numerous hoardings and banners cropped up on almost every
passageway. Can anyone tell how many of them are there? If anyone is ready to
provide with an irrefutable answer, I am ready to commission a study for it.
Statues
and large-sized framed photographs are the two categories of public display
which attract attention of the politicians. While the photographs are domain of
the common men as well, statues are the exclusive stature of politicians and
great names in the history (use customized by the compulsions of the statue
politics).
The
in-tradition statues basically belong to the names already departed (except for
few ‘fanatical’ violations like Mayawati). Statues are installed to serve the
political purpose because no logic can explain how installing statues in almost
every nook and corner can augment the ‘aesthetic’ sense. In fact, most of these
statues are ill-kept and imposed. Do a little mental exercise during your next
long drive covering a comparatively larger geographic area and realize it.
Yes,
some of them do enhance the aesthetic experience but given the cost involved in
doing so when most of the Indians are devoid of basic necessities of living like
education and healthcare is not acceptable.
Also,
just installing statues would not inculcate patriotism when teachings of the
great souls departed are forgotten.
And
for the folks still alive, Mayawati has certainly shown a way and we should
expect more followers soon.
Photographs
are the in-vogue options for the politicians to strike us hard. Also, they like
to go for photographs as the common belief with statues is that they belong to
the ‘dead’.
So,
you can find photographs of every type, big and small politicians, young and
old politicians, aspiring and career politicians, staring at you with a
cosmetic smile. They pop up even from the most unexpected places like from the
under-arms of subways, from the arches of architecturally impossible
constructions, even from the moving extensions of objects in transit. They are
all so omnipresent.
And
like the statues, the huge unaccounted cost in installing photographs in and
around the government installations is paid from the public exchequer, (at the
cost of the basic necessities of the majority of Indians).
They
bask in the glory of their manufactured presence while we gasp for the answers failing
to see even an iota of logic in their silly acts.