When pride of being an Indian takes a beating

Often distance gives a different perspective. After what happened in the Indian Parliament on Thursday, I deliberately kept myself away from other colleagues at the place where I work. Some of them have links with India and others are fascinated by the tremendous strides made by the country which was once ruled by the British.

I was apprehensive that someone would ask me uncomfortable questions about what happened in the Indian Parliament. I didn’t want to be caught on the wrong foot on my country, which incidentally is the largest democracy in the world.

On second thought, it seemed that I was actually shying away from myself. The sheer shame of facing the reality about the transformation of Indian polity. Often our leaders and those of us who live away from home use words like pluralism, diversity, empowerment –  in one way or the other they all are related to democracy. We take pride in the fact that despite her deficits, India is a vibrant democracy. When Europeans, who are so used to homogeneity, raise eyebrows on the chaos in India, we tell them India is too complex a structure to be compared to Europe. At the end of a long discussion on how diverse, multi-dimensional and colourful India is, we add a footnote stating that despite all our problems India is united, proud and values its pluralism, diversity and democracy.

I wonder what some of my European friends having interests in India would say after what happened in the Indian Parliament on Thursday. Frankly speaking, I started feeling restless the very moment, an Indian television channel which beams here in the UK informed me about the use of pepper spray and knives in the temple of democracy, a term often used by Indians. To relieve me from the restlessness, I posted on the social media: “Indian lawmakers act as insurgents in the land of Mahatma.”

It was an instant reaction, but on reflection, I was swamped in depression. The significant strides that India has made in the fields of science and technology, software development, human resources, academia and services etc. are rated even more highly as we have been able to achieve them despite being a democracy where divergence of views and opinion are taken into consideration. Despite the high growth rate of China, India is preferentially treated because she is a democracy as compared to China being under a one-party rule. We know where our strength lies and yet none other than the lawmakers decided to tarnish India’s image. Our pride in democracy, pluralism and tolerance has all fallen flat with one stroke of an action.

Twenty years back as a young journalist, I had a chance to meet Hiren Mukherjee, the celebrated parliamentarian of CPI. As expected, I was mesmerised by his depth of knowledge and yet his patience to listen to somebody as inexperienced and naïve as myself. Despite his unflinching faith in Communism, the late parliamentarian told me that India’s strength lies in its multi-party democracy. “Our strength lies in the power of our patience and our readiness to absorb,” I remember him telling me.

Then he narrated instances from his parliamentary life when Nehru would often make it a point to listen to his speeches as well as those of other political adversaries like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.  “We were political adversaries but our friendship and respect for each other were still intact,” he told me. On hindsight, it seems that is the novelty of democracy and is now gradually disappearing from Indian polity.

Any sane person would support social mobility, especially in a country as complex as India and empowerment of people coming from different socio, cultural, ethnic and regional groups augurs well for democracy. Unfortunately, that has also contributed to the intolerance and impatience, and often the animosity between different social elements was reflected on the floor of the house. Even live telecast of the parliamentary proceedings couldn’t stop the lawmakers from behaving inappropriately.  They often take pride in the fact that such unruly behaviour made them more popular among their constituents and ensured electoral gains.

Does it imply that India as a nation is becoming impatient, intolerant and argumentatively perilous. Nothing can be more unfortunate in a country which takes pride in being the successor of great leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore, Netaji, Abul Kalam Azad and many more. None can deny the political differences between Tagore, Netaji, Nehru and the Mahatma, frankly they were quite stark, and yet not for once did they fail in publicly acknowledging respect towards their political opponents.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 

He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 
All comments are personal.

Theorising Kejriwal's Muffler

Arvind Kejriwal is always seen sporting a muffler. Even when he was formally taking over as the chief minister of Delhi, his trademark muffler was seen hanging on the coveted chair. I wonder if this depicts a sense of strong determination and will power, without caring about what others may think or make out of it.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

Generally, politicians are used to pulling out their best assets in the wardrobe while taking over positions of pride and power. For Kejriwal, however, taking over as the Delhi chief minister apparently made no difference, and he was sporting the same attire as he did on any other day.

One might argue that it was a well choreographed move to demonstrate that he was still an 'aam aadmi' or the proverbial ordinary man. A subtle analysis, based on a different context and a separate set of parameters, may lead to a different conclusion.

People generally tend to avoid using mufflers or monkey caps (also known as balaclava) on the presumption that they tend to infuse a sense of image to the user which is construed as not so smart (or unsmart in common parlance). Since most of us are interested in showing and seeing ourselves in good and smart light, we tend avoid attires which don't do so.

There is a general feeling that those who use muffler or monkey caps are either elderly or more concerned about their health or are risk-averse or are not (so much) bothered about worldly style. The flamboyance that is synonymous to charisma and is very important in politics in a country like India, doesn't go very well with mufflers, especially if it is worn in the style that Kejriwal does. But he is neither elderly, nor risk averse or too concerned about his health. In fact, very few people are as risk-prone and less concerned about himself as Kejriwal.

So the obvious conclusion is that Kejriwal is strong on determination and is least bothered about what others may think or make out of him. Probably, this flows from his Haryanvi genealogy. Kejriwal is from Siwani in Haryana. I am not sure whether he is a Jat, but Jats are credited with dogged determination, with a clear sense of purpose. This might be the reason behind him getting into the IIT, one of the premier institutes in India or the Indian Revenue Service. No wonder, Kejriwal left a coveted job to venture out in a life of uncertainty and risk

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 
All comments are personal.