One of the most unconstructive traits of the Indians is their unquestioning devotion or extreme affinity towards anything, be it a person or religion, political party or a social system. This is apparent across the country, take the example of Rajanikanth, the superstar from Tamilnadu who is almost worshipped as demigod or Sachin Tendulkar, the cricket God of India, or consider the admiration of Bal Thackeray and his firebrand son Raj Thackeray by their followers, the so called Shivsainiks.
Such a blind fidelity is benign is some instances such as sports, but in most other this attitude is pushing India on a retrograde path. Especially in political arena whose dear siblings are money, caste, regionalism, corruption and political correctness, such an unquestioning loyalty gives free access to that party or its leader to adopt policies that are unconstitutional, tyrannical and dictatorial that could lead our country on a detrimental path. History has taught us two great examples of after-effects of such a fundamentalist and blind allegiance to its leader- the defeat of Japanese imperialism and destruction of Nazi Germany and on both these occasions the results were catastrophic. While Germany and Japan put behind their violent past and rose from ashes to become the most advanced countries of the world, we on the other hand are selling our souls by putting our beloved leader before the country. The people of India are unable to distinguish between the reel world and the real world as evident from the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where chief ministers have usually been movie stars in their hey day. It took MGR and NTR, the late film veterans, a couple of hip movements in a rain song and a string of fake punches on few imaginary goons to seize power of these states. Once the power was seized, it was ever to stay in the same house.
We would like the head of the family to be a fair person and a role model but when it comes to choosing a leader of our state we blissfully ignore such questions by pledging adherence to someone we happen to admire, not because such a person is good thinker or a great leader, just because he has been an entertainer or in some cases, such a person happens to belong to same caste. This has been the trend not just with illiterate masses but even with university educated people. And if this continues and it is what likely looks like the case, India has a bleak future.
Such a blind fidelity is benign is some instances such as sports, but in most other this attitude is pushing India on a retrograde path. Especially in political arena whose dear siblings are money, caste, regionalism, corruption and political correctness, such an unquestioning loyalty gives free access to that party or its leader to adopt policies that are unconstitutional, tyrannical and dictatorial that could lead our country on a detrimental path. History has taught us two great examples of after-effects of such a fundamentalist and blind allegiance to its leader- the defeat of Japanese imperialism and destruction of Nazi Germany and on both these occasions the results were catastrophic. While Germany and Japan put behind their violent past and rose from ashes to become the most advanced countries of the world, we on the other hand are selling our souls by putting our beloved leader before the country. The people of India are unable to distinguish between the reel world and the real world as evident from the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where chief ministers have usually been movie stars in their hey day. It took MGR and NTR, the late film veterans, a couple of hip movements in a rain song and a string of fake punches on few imaginary goons to seize power of these states. Once the power was seized, it was ever to stay in the same house.
We would like the head of the family to be a fair person and a role model but when it comes to choosing a leader of our state we blissfully ignore such questions by pledging adherence to someone we happen to admire, not because such a person is good thinker or a great leader, just because he has been an entertainer or in some cases, such a person happens to belong to same caste. This has been the trend not just with illiterate masses but even with university educated people. And if this continues and it is what likely looks like the case, India has a bleak future.
No comments:
Post a Comment