- In his essay on the occasion of India's 68th
Republic Day, Tarun Dalaya says that
our aspiration for a better life is intrinsically interwoven with the desire
for material things and our political choices, and we have to be cautious as both have the ability to
influence us towards taking wrong decisions which throw us farther from
embracing the reality that we are Indians first. -
As I write these thoughts, millions of my
countrymen and countrywomen would have already formed some opinion or another,
in a few seconds, on life, politics, aspirations, faith, identity and
livelihood - influenced by information technology and word of mouth.
For a nation which has seen huge advancements in
information technology and the varied mediums of communication that it offers,
not too far behind with the developed world, there is still a sizeable part of
our population which is bereft of such technology and means. Hence, for them,
word of mouth continues to command attention as an expectation as well as a
delivery mechanism of information and thought.
We may not realise it but as each brain processes
what it sees, reads and hears; biases and divisions are being moulded and
created in milliseconds.
Two subjects which are part of the communications
we receive and interact with, for instance, are politics and things of a
material nature, and both of them have immense power to polarise us and to
further influence our thinking.
Both have an unusually common ability to influence
the aspiration of the masses which is - the aspiration for a better life.
Our antennae towards material things is
finely-tuned as we do not live in isolation. We observe. We constantly see who
has got what we do not have. And if we forget, then we have advertisements
which do not leave our side; plastered all over. We are enticed every time we
look at what is advertised. While affordability is a great determining factor,
need and greed are drivers for possession, with a thin line between them. And
when we don't possess what we think we badly want in material things, chances
are that we will feel polarised or divided into the camp of have-nots versus
the haves.
And then we forget that we belong to the same
nation which has a free market economy, which certainly has large swathes of
inequality. Those who identify themselves passionately as the have-nots then
transfer their feelings of being disenfranchised on to a leader in polity whom
they perceive to be an instrument for bridging the gap of what others possess
and they do not. This is increasingly becoming evident in the voting pattern of
those who are not below the poverty line and are not necessarily low income
group constituents. Well-educated, and middle income and primarily the salaried
among them, have voted with feelings of deep disenfranchisement. The more
passionate their feelings, unfortunately the greater the chances of them being
fooled by false promises being made by someone desperate to reach a higher
pedestal of power for oneself or one's ideology or both.
Of course a political leaning would also have other
aspects of attracting one to a political party such as ideology, a history of
family affiliation, a religious connotation or roots of the party or the
charisma of a leader. But if we were to strip these off for a moment, then
there would be little difference between politics and material objects being
perceived as providers of a better life.
And hence the danger of falling prey to this
enticement is ever present and real.
If we were to acknowledge this with courage and
sincerity, we would realise that we need to be constantly on guard. On guard
not just for ourselves, to prevent the damage we could cause to oneself and to
others, but to be able to hold on to sensible moorings that could prevent
others from going astray.
India does not need a reinvention of thought on its
identity or those of its citizens for it has the benefit of a great footprint
in civilizational legacy and in the words left behind for us by stellar souls
and thinkers. Also, there is no need to be reminded, as we are nowadays, of
what nationalism or patriotism means. Nearly 70 years of having obtained
Independence, a Constitution and Rule of Law to live by, have been and are good
enough to bind us together.
However, this does not in any way imply that we
need not think for ourselves and blindly follow the exceptional voices of the
past.
Our civilization possesses a great legacy of the
spirit of inquiry going back thousands of years ago on just about anything
related to life and living. In things spiritual it became a spiritual
powerhouse due to the nurturing and practice of this spirit.
Despite the height of enlightenment that he had
reached, Shakyamuni Buddha, for instance, encouraged the questioning and
self-experience of his teachings by his followers through this tradition of the
spirit of inquiry.
And so it is in this tradition that we need to walk
even in the 21st century to discern the authenticity of those who lead us in
our polity.
All political leaders leave markers from the
beginning of their careers. These markers are supposed to be studied and
understood by everyone, especially the educated, before we bring them to power.
Someone or a few would rise who are capable of
polarising us by influencing our opinions about them to such an extent that we
would rather follow our liking for the person or the hold that she or he has
over our mind, at the cost of recognising that we all belong to one land.
We all have feelings for and opinions about whom we
bring to power but more importantly we need to have feelings for who we are -
Indians.
That we are one people has to be a constant
reminder to ourselves as we pin our hopes on those things that we think will
better our lives – material things and politics. We must cultivate the
spirit of inquiry which is in our DNA and hence our ethos and also find strength
to criticise those things that we think as good, when we find our conscience
telling us that they are veering towards something bad. If we are unable to
hear our conscience, and we must accept that this could happen, then we must be
tolerant and patient with those who could play the role of conscience-keepers.
We must never forget that there is something above
ideology, need, greed, power, and even the hope for a better life.
And that is that we are Indians first!
Copyright © Tarun Dalaya
