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GRK Murty
As our military might was marching past in its assigned splendor on
our 61st Republic Day, every Indian turned a little nostalgic.
At 10.24 a.m., Chief Justice Kania swore in Rajendra Prasad as the first
President of India. Thus transited India from being a British Dominion
to a Republic. Indians had finally—severing from the diktats of Rajas,
Maharajas, Badshahs and Jahanpanahs—placed themselves under the
command of a supreme law, the Constitution of India. Thus began
our ‘tryst with destiny’—a destiny that we are still struggling to come
to terms with even after 60 years. There is an all-pervasive
‘intolerance’ that is driving India in different directions. Much against
the wishes of our founding fathers, everything looks distressing, if
not threatening.
That aside, today, ‘politics of hatred’ seems to have become the in-
thing of our political system across the country. Any party can deliver
fiery speeches fanning acts that obstruct civil life, for they have
gained legitimacy by virtue of winning a few elections here and there
by blatantly practicing parochial politics. They can even dictate terms
of their own for compliance by the common man, while the system
of governance remains a mute witness to it. They can hunt migrant
labor, stall the release of movies, disrupt public life demanding
separate statehood or opposing it, and can mightily shout in chorus
against all the known logic—all to intimidate people, instill fear, and
make them submit to their irrational diktats. This disturbing trend of
a section of the society fighting against another, that too in a
pluralist society like ours, is sure to harm us—our very growth
prospects. Yet, we see, of course, for some unknown reason, the
sovereign feeling shy to act against such disruptive forces or to curb
political hooliganism.
Ironically, amidst all this, the elite of the country are not able to offer
a well-reasoned opinion on any matter of national concern or do not
have the courage to condemn even incidents such as the
manhandling of a legislator for taking oath in Hindi—perhaps,
because they are caught in their own elitism. It is not that the country
is not endowed with intelligentsia, but it has no political voice.
Cumulatively, the adverse effect that these opposing forces are
inflicting on the economic growth by pulling the country’s energies in
different directions is not only sickening to every conscious citizen’s
mind, but also makes one wonder: Is our nation at war with itself?
The ultimate victim of this national indifference is: the marginalized
commoners on the streets.
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