India Takes Second Huge Step Towards Dictatorship

23^rd May, 2019 – Modi-led BJP government has emerged victorious in the general elections of India and oh what a win! They have garnered 300+ seats out of 542 and have crushed the opposition to such extent that recovery seems difficult. Here’s a revisit to what worked out for them that didn’t work out for the rest. Here I must mention that I’m no expert in this field and this is purely a layman point of view. But, to be fair, it’s been proven in the recent past that one doesn’t need to be a radar/cloud expert to give valuable advice to the Air Force, or, in the not so recent past that one doesn’t need to be an economics expert to take decisions that can financially cripple a country. All it takes is a degree in Entire Political Science and a chest that's 56 inches wide.

What worked in their Favor:

• The charisma of Modi or as the “numero uno” journalist of India likes to call it, Modi-Wave: Modi is an effective orator, period. Modi has the ability to stir crowds with his oration skills. He’s able to strike a chord with a person’s most basic instincts. He begins by stating a fact that is true, irrespective of its relevance. He repeatedly asks you if you believe it to be true or not until you agree with him with all your passion and might. He then passes a judgement based on the fact and then demands to know if he’s right or if he’s right. He chants his question again and again and then some more until you find yourself chiming in with him feeling one with his cause. A chord has been struck.
• Marketing and PR: One must agree that for a product to be successful, marketing is everything. Even the most useless of products can raise millions if it gets the right branding and campaign. This is something to invest in and BJP did. BJP may have provided Modi a platform initially but right now BJP is solely surviving on the face value of the brand that is Modi (literally, even selling merchandize). Modi was painted as the gareeb chaiwala who had been through many hardships to finally reach where he was and based on his discipline and ideals he was the ultimate Messiah, the upholder of the rights of the common man. As the product sales increased, others also wanted in. There came the media and via the joint venture Modi was painted as God and we all know what happens when a new God or new religion is introduced in the world – you either stand with them and prove your allegiance and purity of intentions or defy and take the path of the devil.
• The Cash Inflow: According to Broadcast Audience Research Council, in the run up to assembly elections BJP became the biggest advertiser on TV with the most number of ads played. They funded movies and series promoting Modi and schemes and decisions taken by Modi government. They utilized social media platforms to the fullest leaving all other political parties miles behind. Modi garnered the trust and support of business giants and by introducing electoral bonds, which enabled anonymous whitewashing of black money along with tax exemption – a perfect win-win scenario (detailed analysis coming soon).
• Weak and entitled Opposition: Congress has held the power position in the Lok Sabha elections multiple times since its inception and their terms have been jewelled with multiple scams and scandals. They developed a certain level of complacency thinking they were undefeatable. To top it all, the face of Congress is Rahul Gandhi. BJP’s marketing team did the phenomenal job of branding him as Pappu which became synonymous to an idiotic person. It caught on like fire after advertisements with tagline “Pappu pass ho gaya” and movie song “Pappu can’t dance”. Jokes, memes and clipped-looped videos of Rahul spread faster than an epidemic. AAP’s Kejriwal and TMC’s Mamata Banerji were among the others ridiculed in similar fashion. Hence the Pappu image along with general lack of morale among Congress party workers, not just Congress, but no party stood a chance against God Modi.
• Lack of Education and Basic Instinct of Voter: Our system of education doesn’t usually encourage questioning the authority. From a young age we’re expected to blindly mug up text material and replicate that at the time of an exam and this habit is difficult to break out from. It’s difficult to question your government or to hold them accountable for their actions even though the fourth pillar of democracy is dependent on it. Also, as sad as it sounds, it’s much easier to hate than to love and a large portion of Indians hate Muslims, Dalits and Pakistanis. Hatred towards a common enemy is an easier (maybe even stronger) binding force than love for a common friend. With a little brain-washing (or sometimes even without) if you hit the right nerve, you can make brothers murder each other and that sentiment was exploited by our Divider-in-Chief.

What didn’t work for the Opposition/s:

• Inability to unite even in the face of Danger: The 2019 elections required a sacrifice. The parties that believed that the democracy was at stake could have let go of their personal aspirations and instead could have tried to unite their forces. Some tried while others fell short. Easier said than done but not impossible to achieve if it really mattered.
• Inactivity of Opposition: No matter the number of seats secured, Congress is considered the prime opposition to BJP and it remained mostly dormant throughout the previous assembly term. Criticising the government is not enough; they needed to propose solutions to the issues they raised. Congress couldn’t form the opposition last term and they weren’t even prepared for this term either.
• Entered the pit a bit too late: Priyanka Gandhi charmed us with her dynamic personality this campaign season but it was too late considering the BJP PR mechanism didn’t take a break even after their victory in 2014. Priyanka Gandhi joined Congress towards the end of January 2019 after being relatively invisible from the public eye for the first four and half years of Modi government. As for Rahul Gandhi, two weeks back had a bhakt asked me, “If not Modi, then who – Rahul Gandhi?”, I would have been tongue tied for the lack of an answer as he seemed to have accepted and agreed upon his Pappu identity. However, two weeks back when Rahul let Ravish Kumar interview him, it surprised everyone. In the two final weeks of the election 2019, Rahul amazed the onlookers with his ready grasp on facts, his adherence to procedure and his refusal to budge from the path of non-violence. So, if the Kill ‘em with Kindness persona was in him all this while, why didn’t he break his silence two years ago or at least two months ago when there was still time to campaign?
• Lack of Exposure due to Death of Media: Indian prime time news has been reduced to a circus where limelight is hogged by loud hosts who do not provide stage time to guests but are busy pushing their own agenda. Irrelevant controversies, yellow journalism and fake information was diligently propagated to remove focus from real issues and it thrived.
• Inability of voter to see beyond campaign agenda: At some point or the other we all have been a victim of vigorous marketing campaigns. But when it concerns the governance of our country, as a citizen it’s our duty to question the governments’ actions even if to confirm that we haven’t been captured in a make believe alternate reality like the lotus eaters in Greek mythology. We should have stepped out of our comfort zones and held the government accountable for their actions.

 Things that could have mattered but unfortunately didn't:

• Highest unemployment rate, worst value of Indian Rupee, Negative GDP growth, Death of public sector units, Suicide of Farmers, Rise of Communal Violence and many more should have mattered, but they didn’t.
• Independent and remaining few unbiased media houses continued to do their job and tried to spread awareness about the current state of affairs as did the political comedians and analysts, but they couldn’t.
• Modi’s inability to answer unscripted politically relevant questions and his exaggerated lies combined with the uber-narcissistic third person reference to himself raised some eyebrows and provided content to artists but couldn’t unveil his undeserving candidature.

If you're reading this then you've reached the end of this post and I thank you for giving me your invaluable time. I'm hoping to touch these issues in depth in the upcoming weeks and try to simplify them for my readers. In conclusion, I’d like to add a quote:

Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.

Inhuman India

My previous blog post was dated 5^th June and I know it’s been a long while since I have written. In my writings I tend to complain about those things that are not going the way that things are ideally supposed to go. At times I feel embarrassed and frustrated because all this whining isn’t really leading to anything productive and the social evils are only going up day by day. The picture that you see is a blurred collection of some screenshots of examples of mob cruelty:

-        An Infosys employee hacked to death on a railway station and nobody came forward to help.

-        A worker from Assam tortured and left in the sun to die.

-        Mother shot dead by son after she refused to give money for drugs.

-        Husband and in-laws gang-rape woman. Tattoo her forehead and arms with abuses.

-        22-year old lynched by mob in front of his mother, mistaking him as a buffalo thief.-         

-        Woman raped at gunpoint, pistol forced in her private parts.

-        Tribal couple stripped and paraded naked by villagers.

-        Students of nursing college force a junior to drink toilet cleaner.

-        16-year-old stripped nude, thrashed for an alleged crime.

-        DGP suggests taking laws into one’s hands and killing criminals on the spot.

… And the list continues. It’s frightening, disgusting, shameful and plain sad. We are losing those basic traits which made us human, which distinguished us from the animals. The social media is abuzz these days with instances of “humanity” that the animals exhibit and the acts of selfless kindness that they exchange. As for us people, there are too many examples of the inhumane cruelty we inflict on each other. Where’s the compassion? Where’s the empathy? When did we become so intolerant? When did we become such sadistic blood-thirsty inhuman demons?

Most religions I know of have always emphasized on kindness and devotion. Is it not ironic that these days so many hate-crimes have their roots in religion? It’s shameful how people use religion as an excuse to explain their acts of malice. The level of hypocrisy in people is alarming. Somehow people believe that the best way to deal with any problem is to take the matters into one’s own hands. Unlike the Indian Judiciary, these people believe that a person accused of a crime is guilty unless proven innocent. What’s worse is that the alleged criminal is not even given a chance to prove their innocence or even to explain their side of the story.

Mob violence is rising at an uncanny rate. If a person is considered to have committed a crime, however much trivial it is, the mob is probably going to thrash him or lynch him to death for it. If the person by some stroke of luck escapes, then his/her family members are going to be targeted: stripped, tortured and humiliated to pay for their crimes. Passers-by will either stop to watch or will join the mob; nobody will raise their voice against the cruelty. Punishments meted out will be so brutal that its effects will haunt the victims for life. Irrationality, hatred, bias and fear are the key emotions governing the hearts of the people of our nation.

At times like this, it’s easy to lose faith in humanity. However, it is necessary that we stick to our beliefs and morality now more than ever. Question the illogical. Raise your voice against the wrongs. Use your strength and power to prevent bullies from misusing theirs. Make informed decisions. Do not jump to conclusions. Be accepting of the uniqueness of the people around you. Be human.

A thing or two about Weddings...

There is an indefinable, undeniable, un-let-go-able chemistry between girls and weddings. I’m not saying that that applies to all girls or to girls only, but as a young woman who loves weddings, I only speak for myself and those who feel the same way as I do. Indian weddings are quite different from the rest of the world and India being a subcontinent with various cultures and religions itself has its own variety. I, fortunately or unfortunately, have only attended one kind – the Bengali kind.

We Bengalis have a saying, “baaro maashe tyaro parbon” which literally translates to twelve months for thirteen celebrations which means that we have more festivals in a year than there are days. But we aren’t satisfied with just that and always look forward to “biyebari” or wedding invitations to add that extra zing to it all. Having attended quite a few weddings here are some realizations and conclusions that I have drawn:

1. Almost every maiden, whether they admit it or not, compare the wedding that they are attending, to their future ‘dream wedding’. Knowingly or unknowingly, they are making a mental note of things that they want and do not want at their own weddings.
   
    
2. The venue is one of the most important factors. If it is pretty and comfortable, then all’s well, nobody even notices it much and that (I think) is exactly what matters. The venue, the decorations, the marquee, the “mandap” are supposed to be pretty and subtle so that they serve as the backdrop to the events which will unfold. (I feel) The theme should not overpower the event or the people. However, a shabby or dirty venue is never subtle. It screams out loud and gives the people a negative vibe as soon as they enter and only gives them content for gossip.
    
   The wedding venue may be our own homes, a garden, a hall, a hotel… it could be anywhere. The creativity of the people responsible for its decoration is what really matters in order to liven it up so that it serves as the perfect background to one of the biggest events of a person’s life. How the venue originally looks or how it will look after the wedding is over is immaterial. Lights, flowers, cloth, ribbons, use anything you can get your hands on to beautify it for the event.
3. The most important part of any event, especially for sharks like me, is the food and one thing that I have learnt through experience is that it doesn’t matter if you have five items on the menu or five hundred, what matters is that the food should taste good. The variety of items will only awe or shock the people till they have tasted it. Once they start eating the food, it all comes down to the taste and that is what makes the biggest impact.
   
    
4. Planning the wedding is very important and wedding planners nowadays are angels who willingly take up the entire planning and organizational headache and allow the hosts to enjoy and relax a little more. They do know how to raise the glamour quotient of the events and how to awe the guests! However, (this is not a generalization) most wedding planners, lack the basic knowledge about specific rituals or family traditions and they sometimes end up mechanizing the whole event to such an extent that the heirlooms and customs are adversely affected.
    
5. Speaking about mechanizations – the best thing about weddings of people we are close to is the fact that we are involved in the whole process. However insignificant our contributions are, the fact that we are able to be useful at an event is what marks the difference between being an ordinary guest and being someone close to the host family. Wedding planners have a troop of employees to handle even the tiniest of job these days and that removes the fine line of difference between guests and extended families and that feeling isn’t particularly pleasing.
   
    
6. It doesn’t matter how strong the ladies on the bride’s side are; it doesn’t matter if the bride has already been living away from her family for years now; it doesn’t matter how huge a fight the bride had with an aunt or a sister… irrespective of any of these, all the ladies of the bride’s side (and sometimes the men too) will be an emotional wreck during the “bidaye” or “vidai” ceremony and they will cry puddles at the thought of the separation.
   
    
7. And finally what’s a wedding without some family drama? Organizing an event, whatever it may be, is a stressful task and it can get to even the best of people. People stress out, lose their temper, get irritated easily, behave in a mean manner and end up fighting with each other, sometimes over insignificant and sometimes over grave issues. What’s important is to make sure that we resolve these issues once the wedding is over and go back to being a functional family; after all, all hands on deck will be required for the next wedding in the family.
   
    

Every wedding is unique and beautiful and very personal to the people it revolves around. I personally feel that the best thing about weddings is that they make us believe in love. It gives us a chance to reunite with our families, extended families, friends, neighbors, colleagues and any other person one can reunite with. Most of all, it is an important occasion in the lives of the bride and the groom and being able to be a part of their celebration is indeed something to be very happy about.

Why We All Need Feminism

Nowadays there are lots of Indians who do not like to be associated with the most dangerous F-word in the dictionary. Indeed, I’m writing about Feminism. These people cringe at the mention of the word and deny ever having any association with it. After-all isn’t feminism all about women hating men and trying to become the supreme power in the world under the mask of pretentious equality? I for one am neither ashamed nor afraid of it and proud to be a female and hence a feminist.

 

Unlike countries in the West, India’s Feminist movement was initiated by men and later joined by women. Our forefathers who had fought for the freedom of our nation knew the importance of educating the women and upholding their rights. As a result women started breaking out of the shackles imposed on them and also played a major role in India’s Freedom Movement. Unfortunately this feminist spirit in our countrymen eventually died out and a majority of today’s men are sexist. That is why I believe that we need Feminism. Real feminists do not want to rule over men. Real feminists do not want to be the supreme power holders. Real feminists only want to co-exist in the society with equal rights and equal respect. However in order to achieve the Utopian idea of a peaceful co-existence, the men have to be supportive and empathetic towards the women’s issues and not act like these issues do not exist. The wage gap does exist. The rape culture and objectification also exists. So does the practices of dowry, domestic violence and female foeticide.

 

Lots of people argue that Feminism is not a movement for Equality because there isn’t a fair representation of the issues of all genders. With all due respect I would like to disagree with that statement. Feminists, for instance, coined the term rape culture. Every single day innumerable women, trans-people as well as men become victims of rape. But the victims are not the problem. Victims are NEVER the problem. The rapists, the offenders are the problem and the offenders in this case happen to be men almost all the time and these are the people the real feminists are up against. Objectification of women also happens to be another issue which feminists keep bringing up. Anti feminists retaliate by either saying that men are objectified too or that women sign up willingly to portray those objectified roles. That is true but once again they miss the basic point that the models and actors who sign up for those roles, it’s their job, their work and source of income. The directors, producers or music composers who create such low-quality work which won’t survive a day without the skin show are the ones to be blamed and they too mostly happen to be men; the sexist men feminists are against.

 

As a woman, it infuriates me when I realize that my life would have been very different and much more privileged had I been a man. That is exactly why I need feminism. Irrespective of my gender, I should have the advantage of living life the way I want to and not be judged for it. And that is going to be possible only when the society, especially the men changes their attitude towards women and enable to create a world where all genders have equal rights, responsibilities, duties and perks. Living in the city I must admit that I have a much better lifestyle compared to women who are living in underdeveloped rural areas. Given the chance I would indeed like to help in bringing all of them at par with us privileged urban girls so that we can aim for an egalitarian society. A society which does not allow progress to a majority of its population is regressive. Let's not stay regressive. Let's try to achieve perfection.