This happened much before the current ruckus around Prime
Minister Modi’s remark to the effect that Indians have turned from being ashamed
to proud in the past one year (presumably under his rule). The social media
largely took it as an insult that the insinuation was that Indians were an
ashamed lot before they elected him and his party BJP to power. The hashtag
#ModiInsultsIndia started trending furiously.
The two “items” above are somewhat related and symptomatic
of a virulent divide that can be seen playing out on social media, in various
clubs and other platforms, among different “stripes” of Indians.
The arguments are seen flying thick and fast, without much
justification or civilized discussion, often taking an ugly, unintended or
tangential turn. The prevailing attitude is: my way or the highway.
Let’s first see the different sides of people in India.
One side, let’s call it Side A, comprises a small majority
that wears its pride on its weapons of noise and nuisance. Some in media call
them the “saffron brigade” but I find it silly to use the otherwise nice and
healthy moniker “saffron” (which represents the color as well as the substance)
for a motley bunch of trouble-makers. Members of Side A keep coming up with
inane remarks or pronouncements once in a while, usually with distorted notions
of what being a Hindu means and often with little or no impact on the society at
large. (But the media adds turbo aviation fuel to their puny fires and makes
the whole affair seem like a conflagration. More
on media in the Side D part below.)
On another side are the majority of “common” people, Side B.
In India you can see them everywhere: on railway platforms, in bustling markets
(not malls), in buses, toiling in the fields or at construction sites, in
factories and offices, and several other places where “the milling crowds” can
be spotted. They belong to multiple religions. One way to define their
commonality might be that the wealth manager of a bank wouldn’t touch them with
a barge pole. Constituting 70 to 80% of Indian population, they are primarily
busy worrying about the next meal or sticking to their work or job. Mostly,
they have no business about this “proud Indian” thingy.
Let’s call the political class, Side C. What? Why are you
laughing?? It’s we, people of the page, who have elected them (in whatever
fallacious ways democracy works in India). With two of them, Arvind Kejriwal
and Narendra Modi, hopes of positive change surged among the electorate in
recent times—but more recent events concerning both these “special characters”
are quickly dashing those hopes into the dust. (Now a third character, a
curious sort, is going around on padyatras
(walking journeys) after taking a two-month-long holiday and flip-flopping
about what he should be doing or should not be doing—and the eyes of the nation
are watching his handsome face with bewilderment mixed with suspicion or
sycophancy, take your pick).
It is an open secret in India how its political class has
failed every test: be it making India an egalitarian society, controlling
population (or pollution, for that matter), achieving self-sufficiency in
defense or technology, or any other parameter of the human development index.
Yes, there’s one thing they have excelled in: filling their own coffers and
making sure their next seven generations are taken care of, especially at the
cost of common citizens they are supposed to “serve.”
Side D can be considered to comprise media folk (for the
sake of simplicity, I’m including both mainstream and social, though it’s not
so simple, I know). Barring some very, very few kindred souls, whose hearts
ache for real, investigative reportage (though they may not be able to produce
much “journalism” for want of financial or editorial patronage), the majority
are happy-go-lucky, shouting, rash, brash, prejudiced, hurried and harried
types. The kind you see on TV shoving mikes in people’s faces for “bites,” or
trying to out-shout a battery of “personalities” speaking simultaneously in
ominous voices from small squares on the screen, or the ones belting out
quickie articles without much thought or corroboration of facts...You get my
point, right.
The growing, prosperous class of entrepreneurs, businessmen
and industrialists can make up Side E. They are not bothered about who is in
power: they want electrical power for their machinery. They are not bothered
about corruption: they want their things done. They are increasingly losing
patience for long-term planning: they want quick results (read money). To be
fair, there are a few conscientious, honest guys (and gals) in this category,
but they are too few in number and just too difficult to find, especially in a
“developing” India.
The majority on Side E are like the storied baniya (person of a caste in India thought
to be shrewd at business since old times) who told Yamraj (an Indian deity said
to appear at the time of one’s death, a la Grim Reaper) when the latter asked
him whether he would like to go to heaven or hell: “Jahan do paise ka fayada ho wahan le chalo bhai!” (“Take me
wherever there’s some profit to be made!”)
I have often seen such businessmen chant “Mera Bharat mahan” with an impish
twinkle in their eye rather than pride in their heart.
There’s another, much smaller class, though. Side F defies
stereotypical categorization but you can be sure they do exist. I’m not
supporting or endorsing anyone, but I’m talking of the Anna Hazares, the E
Sreedharans, the MS Dhonis, the Khemkas of India who are doing what they must
to salvage, nurture or enhance whatever pride India is left with after
centuries of foreign rule, exploitation, ignorance and misdirection. Here I
would also include people with some sense of discretion and a modicum of education
and decency in their head who can perceive all the histrionics going on at the
moment. They may lack monetary means or political capital or influence but they
have wisdom in ample supply.
Sure, there are overlaps and inter-connections among the
above sides. But the point is, before you go batty over the question of hurt
pride, you may want to look at which side you are on. And, along with that,
consider how you would like to answer these questions:
* Who are the people in India who have the right to take pride
in being Indian?
* What are the specific things to take pride about India—from its glorious past as well as its jumbled present?
* Is there a proud future for India as a whole in the next 10, 20, 30 years? (Don’t quote GDP only, please!)
* What are the various ways in which that pride can be hurt? Which of those ways are most harmful to India in terms of real impact? How much time should be spent on discussing minor hurts versus that spent on taking effective measures?
Maybe it’s high time we stopped getting on our high horses every now and then and, instead, started putting things in their right perspective. No short-cuts but long, even arduous pathways; no slanging matches but exchanging well-reasoned arguments; no shouts, nor murmurs but just the right tone to convey the right sense of pride in the right context.
* What are the specific things to take pride about India—from its glorious past as well as its jumbled present?
* Is there a proud future for India as a whole in the next 10, 20, 30 years? (Don’t quote GDP only, please!)
* What are the various ways in which that pride can be hurt? Which of those ways are most harmful to India in terms of real impact? How much time should be spent on discussing minor hurts versus that spent on taking effective measures?
Maybe it’s high time we stopped getting on our high horses every now and then and, instead, started putting things in their right perspective. No short-cuts but long, even arduous pathways; no slanging matches but exchanging well-reasoned arguments; no shouts, nor murmurs but just the right tone to convey the right sense of pride in the right context.
