Not at all. At least in the present scenario this philosophical notion seems to have been gradually becoming untraceable from the lives of a majority of people. And, in this respect most of our political leaders do no lag behind. They play with their words in such a magnificent way that even the most brilliant human mind remains awe struck. Our present prime minister is, most probably, unparalleled in telling lies so recklessly that even a well-known cheat in the society stands defeated when compared with him in this respect. Once Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, just before forming his government in alliance with the BJP, told the audience that “Modiji Jhoot ki Kheti Kertey Hai’n” (Modiji cultivates the land of lies).
Are promises made to be kept? One who has a good knowledge and experience as to how some political leaders play with their words especially when they enter the arena for ‘election fight’, knows this well. Most of the political leaders use very touching and captivating words to bend the mindset of the electorate to win elections. Are these words sincere and promises made with the genuineness of heart and enlivened conscience? Most of the right-thinking persons will reply in the negative. BJP National President, Amit Shah, on being reminded of the promises made by Modiji during the election campaign in 2014, is reported to have uttered. “Yeh chunao K Jumley They” (these were words for election).
An Urdu couplet from Mirza Ghalib will be quite relevant here. “Terey Waad-e Per Jiye Ham Toh Yeh Jaan Jhoot Jana / Kay Khushi Sey Mer Na Jaatey Ager Aitebar Hota” (I kept breathing with the knowledge that that was but a lie // (that) I would have died with pleasure had I believed in it).
Modi Government’s hypocrisy and callousness stand exposed, veteran Journalist, Manini Chatterjee writes under “Death by the Ganga” (The Telegraph, Kolkata, 22 Oct. 2018). In a country where life is so cheap and precarious, the passing away of an 86-year old man should ordinarily provoke little comment. But the death of G.D. Agarwal, also known as Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, in Rishikesh on October 11, 2018 was no ordinary death.
It came at the end of a fast that had lasted one hundred and eleven days. He had been fasting as he had done many times before, in the cause of his beloved Ganga. He had written many letters to Modiji in this regard. But no action was taken. When the BJP-led coalition under Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, Agarwal was hopeful of some gains. In one of his many letters to Modiji, he explained just why. He wrote, ‘I had a great confidence that after your becoming the P.M. you would think seriously about Gangaji because you have yourselves stated in the run up to the 2014 elections in Banaras that you have come there because of the call given to you by Ma Gangaji – that very moment I came to believe that you would probably do something worthwhile for Gangaji and it is on account of that belief that I kept waiting in peace for the past four and a half years.’
Nothing happened. He died and his dream got shattered. The Modi government’s indifference to Agarwal’s fast is symptomatic of its callous disregard for the Himalaya and the rivers that flow out of the mountains. Congress governments have also followed the ‘development’ agenda. But they were more sensitive to environmental concerns, more open to alternative views, ready to negotiate and to compromise – evident from the contrasting approaches to Agarwal’s fasts. Narendra Modi, the self-proclaimed son of Ganga, had no qualms to let a real Gangaputra die.
But the government could get away with it because few of us knew of Agarwal’s struggle. Even his death caused no ripples, coming as it did in the midst of a social media ‘revolution’ that created overnight ‘radicals’ on the strength of their tweets. The life and death of G.D. Agarwal also show that shorn of a hash-tag, real struggles and real sacrifices have little power to stir our conscience anymore, alas. The reason behind this mental setup is but caused by a rotten and narrow outlook and completely dead conscience.
About our P.M. there is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to the journalist Vinod Jose of The Caravan. It is quoted, ‘Mr Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with your hand, and you cannot hit it with a chappal either.’ The Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, ‘If you think about it, that’s a very profound understanding of the relationship. Because if you remove a scorpion with your hand, you will get stung very badly but if you hit a Shivling with a chappal, you have undermined all the sacred tenets of the faith that you hold and that the scorpion is sitting on. So ultimately you live with it, with seething frustration. That may well be a very interesting clue to the rather complex dynamics that exist between the Hindutva movement and the Moditva expression of it.’
What the present political scenario reflects is that the economic reformism preached at the top and the cultural nationalism that animates the majority beneath have been adversely affecting the government agenda. What makes it worse is that the political majority needed by the prime minister to pursue his economic policies relies entirely on the political campaigns and organised capacity of the very people whose chauvinism plays but obstructive role in the development process.
Our country desperately needs a ‘political leader’ in the real sense of the term. We need a political leader, who could speak his heart with utmost sincerity and honesty and can save the country from the nefarious designs of RSS-BJP. We are, undoubtedly, faced with a leader who promised ‘achche din’ and delivered anarchy.
Our political leaders must develop a mindset which readily discards the personal and political ambitions in the larger interest at a time when some leaders occupying high position in the BJP government appear to have bent upon blackening the true face of democracy and assist rule of law for personal gains alone.
No right-thinking person will deny the truth that most of the political leaders, especially those associated with the ruling government at the Centre, don’t think twice before making any promise. The adage ‘Look before you leap’ is meaningless to them. Secondly, polarisation seems to be the preferred strategy when it comes to political mobilisation. And, in this respect BJP heads the list. As such, the consequences have been injurious to India’s inclusive fabric. But that is no longer the only threat. Explicit attempts are being made to exert pressure on crucial institutions that have, so far, held the nation’s secular edifice together.
A sage said, “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” Obviously, dead conscience makes one a mere skeleton of flesh and bones. So, we must not allow this to die. Another sage says, “Skeletons have a very bad habit of coming out of well-guarded cupboards.”