The spiral stooping

Kuch baat hai ke hasti mit ti nahin hamari

Sadion raha hei dushman daure jahan hamara

We Indians, banking upon the sentiment of the couplet by Allama Iqbal truly and heartily feel proud of being Indians. The pride stems out of our deep rooted culture, rich heritage and exemplary emotional bondage which continues to knit us in one thread despite all odds. But all such inheritances, with the passage of time are getting weak and vulnerable due to continuous hammering of different segments of society. The identity which was once boasted off not getting deleted despite been targeted by the global forces appears most vulnerable now and Allama Iqbal perhaps has to ponder afresh over  that ‘Kuch baat ’which is at the core of strength and glory of our culture under which we still continue to bask.

Getting out of that thin basking, that fragile pride, that poetic rhetoric, the fading charm of that couplet, we can experience the scenario which projects and shows our shameful face. The rampant corruption, dishonesty, immorality which has very subtly become part and parcel of our behavior, insulated breed of politicians who nurture in their hearts only the vested interests instead of incubating national interests in their souls make us drop our head with utmost shame.

That ‘Kuch Baat’ in Alama’s couplet very truly oozes out our deep rooted collaborative culture, the secular texture of our society which are fast getting erased because of the political lust and desires dwelling deep in the filthy minds of today’s politicians who happen to lead or mislead us.

The countrymen had very earnestly pinned their hopes on the new set of people at helm of country’s affairs in 2014. The hopes were although against hope as the men sailed through to the corridors of power, dwelling very conveniently on the saffron cushion and riding on the Hindutva chariot yet somewhere a common man hoped of some improvement from national perspective.

The hopes after four years of governance of the present regime have started fading fast, the dreams made to taste the bitter reality; the high aspirations grounded and made to bite the dust. Instead of catering to the concerns of economy which continues to stand ridden with the problems of illiteracy, unemployment, hunger, malnutrition, the leaders very shamefully continued toeing the lines of their political interests only. Keeping morality and ethics at bay today’s politicians are disseminating lessons of stooping to any lows for sinful political motives. No doubt that the sluggish economic growth, disturbing figures on unemployment, some foolish and half cooked economic decisions, the black money menace, the peasant pangs, diplomacy failure with regard to neighboring countries, new channels of scams and frauds, all appear redlined in the report card of the present Govt., but the most alarming and disturbing factors which can have longer lasting impact on thinking and behavior of the new breed of politicians are the new trends and practices which do not accommodate ethics and morality. Such practices are very dangerously feared to initiate vicious circle of degradation in society. The recent incident witnessed in Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur speak volumes of the lust and greed ingrained in the political class governing the country. The entire political scenario and system is getting perilously vitiated as new lessons, new chapters are getting unfolded and strategically exploited by the political brass.

The talks of ethics, morality, honesty and propriety were seldom found in the speeches of political leaders of good old days as these were very subtly ingrained in their character hence only practiced and preached through their behavior. Contrary to this, today’s politicians ‘throatfully’ preach such canons making them limited only to speeches and political platforms only.

When elections are fought on caste issues, when society is polarized for political gains, when beef becomes the central issue, when slugfest gains the centre stage, when freebies and hollow promises are lavishly aired for votes, a rational heart sulks somewhere. When issues of economic growth, employment, education, social welfare and security are either totally ignored or are presented ambiguously, a nationalist mind feels concerned and pained. When institutions in country are seen getting instrumentalized to the wills and wishes of politicians, the cautious eyes warn of the darkness ahead. When person of the stature of PM has to stoop and get engaged in the false propaganda and mudslinging, every vigilant eye can see new lows on the horizon.

The strength of any democracy is said to be based on four pillars namely the judiciary, the executive, the legislature and the media. During four years of the present regime all these four pillars of strength have been subjected to the threats of substantial magnitude and their credibility stands dented. For the first time in the history of free India four senior judges of the apex court had to revolt and get to the press to air their concerns regarding the manner in which the apex court was being made to behave. The role of Governors who are entrusted to uphold the legislative norms have been put under the serious question mark, raising doubts over the effectiveness of constitutional norms. The revelations by Raghuram Rajan former Governor of RBI in his book caste light on the vulnerability of the executive. And last but not the least the recent Cobrapost stings have seriously dented the credibility of the fourth pillar i.e. media courtesy: the desire of a particular class of politicians to grab power through the short cut route.

The sheen and strength of these four pillars now appears to be limited to papers only as in practice all of these four pillars stand weak and paralytic. The more weak and vulnerable these pillars are, the strong and powerful are the personal ambitions and aspirations of today’s politicians for which they seem to be stooping to the lowest.

DR SANJEEV TRIKHA