Claws tearing the Lotus in Muddied Waters

 There is a very nice story. During not so old days, cattle thieves played a really professional trick on unsuspecting farmers. Before untying the animal, they used to take the neck bell off. Then one thief made off with the tinkling bell in one direction. Rest of them took buffalo in the opposite direction. Poor villagers pursued the sound. The bell-bearing thief then dropped the bell and would just scamper away in the dark. The poor folks would get the quintessential ghanta and the thieves ran way with cattle and buffalo.

Our politicians do the same to we poor folks. Our cattle comprises education, health, sanitation, employment, security, electricity, law and order, women empowerment, transport, clean water, and so many common things needed to lead a decent life. But then the smart tricksters mislead us with the tinkling bells of Temple-Mosque, Hindu-Muslim, Dalit-Swarna, Bihari-Marathi, etc., etc. So running after the chiming bells of these hyperbolic notes of the bell, the netas sneak out with public money meant for our cattle listed above.

Yours truly literally gets cowardly goose-bumps even at the mention of the word ‘politician’. Still I take tiny pot-shots from a safe distance sometimes just to assuage the feeling that I didn’t do anything while the super-species took away our buffalo. So off and on I have my funny conceptualizations about the political game. Not that I believe in the practicality of my expertise. I fully know that the politicians start to think at a point where your humble colleague in misery stops after giving a full stretch to his imagery. Well, that defines the equation between the ruler and the ruled.

In my poor capacity, I try to make out my understanding of the two major political forces in the country. As much as Congress means systematic, well-oiled corruption, BJP means 'bhai chara bigado'. The former is always there to allow as much plundering of public resources as possible through newest means. The latter, on the other hand, has to aggravate social tensions in the Indian society. India's has been a highly segregated society. It’s always hot. You just need to raise the temperature a bit to boil the thing. The caste system has created a highly compartmentalized society, so much so that the exploitation of the lower castes passes off as a God-ordained system of lower and higher karma.

India I suppose is at least half a century away from becoming a casteless society. It doesn’t seem possible before that to rid the Indian society from this ancient scourge, simply because Indian democracy presently survives on socio-economic, cultural, religious, caste, communal and regional divisions. These are the potent wheels that pull the juggernaut march.

The political parties set up on caste, communal and regional lines need the system of discrimination to survive and excel in politics. The Congress thrives by pandering the tiny evil flickering in the self-seeking masses, turning a blind eye to the short-cuts by the smallest to the biggest, giving them a feeling of milking the cow. It simply makes everybody a partner in the crime.

The BJP thrives on polarization, the oldest mantra with rulers. They divide society along any line of separation visible. Like in UP, where it is Muslims and Hindus, in Haryana they have smartly allowed the Hindu society to be divided as Jats and non-Jats. They are eyeing 74% of non-Jats. Looking at the mass scale vandalism during job reservation stir by Jats, there are many who allege that the government didn't do anything to stop Jats from destroying the properties of non-Jats. They wanted a violent episode, an episode of loss of life and property and most importantly Bhai chara, to keep the fire of divisiveness among Jats and non-Jats burning.

Jats have now literally become Hindu-Muslims of Haryana, almost hated by non-Jats enblock. The BJP's shock tactics of dividing society means at least I am far more moderate than earlier. With corruption Congress tainted the very soul of Indian democracy. Let's see where polarizing forces let loose by BJP take us. It can be far more lethal for the Indian society.

One more thing, Jats may find bonhomie with Muslims of Southern Haryana. Both have their own set of real and imaginary woes against BJP. It will take the total Jat-Muslim combine above 30%, a formidable force. The politics of populist rhetoric, BJP's trademark, may not find many takers in Haryana because the most suitable section culpable to be swayed by sentimental rhetoric, the Jats, given their ever-on-the edge temperament and raw attitude, is feeling left out in the opposite corner in BJP's scheme of polarization.  So the strategy now is to divide Jat vote bank among different parties so that their political effectiveness gets diluted.

Well, as the elections come to the fore, it appears a divided house full of hate, mistrust and mudslinging. It makes me very sad. But well, as they say Lotus smiles from the mud. But then getting muddied before the proverbial Kamal shines above the dirty waters is very discomforting.