Smashed Dreams

 

‘Mother India’s dreams have been smashed,’ many who took out time to look at the scenario in 2012 appeared to pay the famed hypothetical concern. This concern is fuelled by the petty individual-level disappointments fathering little-little grudge-born cynicism, the latter then delivering its grandchild, the I-know-it-all attitude. There were many frogs croaking in different voices in the muddied pond. Everybody was taking pot-shots at the Congress, the grand old, wrinkled century-plus outfit, well past its prime, and getting mistreatment by the revolting grandchildren like they snatch the crown of authority from the ageing heads.  

Somewhere the retired professor was jotting down the collective fury, crowning it with his individual misery. His farewell speech indeed had ruffled a few local-level feathers. It had reached the university Vice Chancellor’s ears. As all of us know, during the present state of the affairs, this august position is a subtle, academically justified means of the state government to have its political share in managing the academic institution as per its suitability. So even though the issue had not raised any ripples in the state capital a good 200 kilometres away, the VC had deemed it fit to take it politically at his own level, feeling politically responsible, lest it created troubles for him later. So the professor’s post-retirement leisure and peace had been disturbed a great deal. A mini racket had been busted. For years most of the staff had been claiming LTA (leave travel allowance), like they do in most of the departments, without travelling, just taking a tiny short-cut, assuming it to be almost a legal right now because it gets done so easily and also all others elsewhere taking it--theses little impregnations of commonly allowed illegalities, to deliver a baby of malpractice when the situation demanded. So the last year’s case had been put under enquiry, and his pension put on hold consequently. Afraid to speak loudly, the professor was jotting in his journal:  

It is the time to rethink. Rethink at the collective level. The time is ripe. Any educated Indian will accept that the Republic has been mismanaged terribly. Overflowing wealth in Swiss accounts bears testimony to this. If we compare the wealth amassed in dubious foreign accounts in independent India with the wealth drain during the colonial regime, I am afraid there might not be much difference between the two figures. The only consolation we can draw is that instead of the White man it is the Brown man who is doing the same profiteering chores. Indian judiciary is incapable of catching these big fish, it eats up the little ones, the helpless ones.  

Do you remember the guy from the The Broken Dream who now slogged in the private sector for his bread and butter? He worked the hardest he could, looked back many a time at the prestigious position he had been deprived of by the Congress government in Haryana, again went back to work even harder, only to be stalled by rampant office politics that allows the politically smarter ones to move on, leaving the apolitical hardworkers in the position where they belong, the real hardworking, subordinate donkeys. The anti-congress political analyst in him raised tirade many times:

The question arises: Whom to blame? Even with a pinch of salt, majority of us will agree that the kind of political ruling class and culture that emerged after Independence is more or less sired by the Congress. As the juggernaut that fetched us freedom, it occupied a holy, absolute and unquestionable status. Dreamy-eyed Indians don’t question the illogical circumstances developing in their lives. They still worship their deities. Congress was a deity. Unfortunately public service rarely comes out of the bum feeling the warmth of divinity perpetually carpeting the throne. So for terms after terms the masses paid homage to Devi Congress by voting in its favour. But the religious trusts are rarely managed well by the priests.

Sukh Ram, the Hindu with a scared soul, and thus a natural supporter of the BJP, was irritated by default with whatever the Congress did. Lynched by the so called ‘Muslim-appeasement policies’ of the first political family, he was prattling about the multi-generation political business in India:

The lesser genies are just the offshoots of the same colonial hangover like the absolute power, milking the public resources for enlarging self-interests, using public authority to cut down any wind of change, family raj, etc. When non-Congress politicians amass wealth to lay a solid footing for dynasty-raj in their territories, they are just taking a logical and justified clue from the rulebook of the first political family in the country. It is tragic for the democracy. When as a legislator you lose sight of the constitutional objectives and responsibilities of public service for the masses and instead focus on establishing your lineage on the throne, then all the golden lines that were framed with dreamy eyes in the lengthy sessions of the Constituent Assembly take a backseat and become strings to a farcical puppet show of money, power and vagabondage.

The Frog Fella with his senses jolted had turned a philosopher. Very surprisingly! He could have lost his senses as well, but it happened otherwise. He was hammering his judgements with intellectual solidity and envisioning darker days for the democracy:

Indian democracy is supposedly evolving healthily. But in reality it has been a malnutritioned and unhealthy baby. Where is the political choice at the national level? Literally every Indian is using bad words for the UPA government. There are not too many praises of the BJP either. What will people do? A fractured mandate is a real possibility. The regional dynasty-rule-lorn satraps will enjoy the hotchpotch poultice brimming up in Delhi. Over-fed Congressites will belch and burp and happily welcome a break after enjoying the public resources for a decade during its latest innings at amassing wealth. The Yuvraj will go sight-seeing, relaxed and visit Dalit homes and try to find out the taste in the famed dal-roti of India. The Maharani will give more focus to her Hindi lessons. The BJP is trying to see beyond Lal Krishna Advani. Its house in disarray, how much it can cash on popular angst is still in doubt. Maulana Mulayam plays his cards well and always sees the throne in Delhi a distinctly achievable target. Mayavati is happy to rally all the historically mistreated dalits behind her and make them believe that merely voting for a dalit and showing the index finger to upper-caste candidates means the Buddha-sent justice for them.

The Kejriwal ignited soul--his disillusionment now healing like a wound getting the coagulated crust towards getting a political skin)--our ageing unmarried social reformer from A Fistful of Goodness was shutting up many lesser noises to raise his toot of a mini-white-revolution:

The question is: How long the educated middle class in India will continue with its famed apathy and allow the present kind of ruling establishment to thrive at the cost of the common good. The popularity of Civil Society Movement provides a glimmer of hope. But how long can a movement survive and sustain while harping from the clean pedestal of morally clean apolitical carpet? How can you fight evil politicians without jumping into the political cauldron? It is like hunting a lion with sling-shots. For an effective fight it has to be inside the political cage only: a hand to hand real fight. But the moment they try to do it, even their supporters point fingers in admonishments that they appear just lesser dirty politicians in this avatar.

Among all this hoot and holler, the red-nosed guy from Friends and Foes, his time buddy safely in his pocket, was telling his co-passenger in a noisy, rickety state transport bus plying on a pot-holed road:  

The main problem lies with the kind of political machinery that has taken the driving seat in the wagon of Indian constitutionality. So the main fight is there only. As far as the Civil Society Movement is concerned, we can do them a favour--clap when they take mud-shots at the so-called starched khadi wears by fighting with as much political force as possible. In the looming directionless scenario, I think this is the need of the time. Who knows this extra hand will come with a pleasant surprise. So Ramdev, Anna Saheb & Company, the soon-to-retire General and many others should be encouraged to draw as much politics into their movement as possible. At least politics played by educated middle class will be better than the one played by people like the buffoon from Bihar.