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Stage Play: ON THE HOLY TRAIL
Staged By: The Mustard Seed Art Company
Where: Kala Academy - Mini Open-air Auditorium
When: Dec 20 & 21, 2007 @ 7pm
Read a Review at:
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2007-December/066558.html
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INDIA RISING OR SHINING ?
Averthanus L. DSouza.
So, the expected has happened! L.K. Advani has been nominated
as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the B.J.P. ahead of the expected
general elections early next year. This has been accompanied by the usual
rhetoric about the hard-line versus the soft-line Hindutva. The media
has already begun to dissect the already desiccated theme of Hindutva. It
is a great pity that the Media cannot find anything more interesting or more
important to discuss than Advanis emergence as the future P.M. of India.
Of course, this has always been his one great consuming ambition, and he is
grabbing at the straw of gaining immortality.
The sad thing about this, of course, is that the ordinary
citizen, who has more important matters on his mind, is being subjected to
all the inanities about the future of Advani, and the future of the BJP
instead of the future of India.
A recent discussion on NDTV about the new slogan of Advani
about India Rising made one wonder whether the obvious talents of the young
NDTV team cannot be put to more productive use. The attempt to analyse
the previous slogan of India Shining which bombed (to use the term
employed by the moderator of the discussion) became so boring and
directionless that it left the viewer wondering whether the time could not
have been spent in a more entertaining way.
Advani very magnanimously admitted that his espousal of the
India Shining propaganda was a mistake. He made feeble attempts to try to
find the reasons why it led to the BJP becoming the laughing stock of the
entire country, and of the whole world. He gave several reasons, none of
which, was sensible or convincing. As an alternative he now proposes to
popularize the new slogan of India Rising. This, he hopes, will not only
redound to his personal glory, but that it will also serve to resuscitate
the fortunes of the BJP. One is reminded of the puppy which after failing
to get at the marrow inside the bone from one end, then tries to get at it
from the other end. The end result, of course, remains exactly the same.
The marrow remains unattainable. With all the political experience at his
disposal, Advani should have realized that the shift in sloganeering will
not change the fortunes of the BJP or of himself, for that matter. One
begins to wonder about the ability of Advani to lead the BJP when he seems
to be losing his grip on simple and obvious reality. Merely changing a
slogan does not and will not change the reality which the BJP represents
an antiquated and irrelevant political ideology which is completely out of
sync with modern times. Whether India shines or whether India Rises, the
BJP will not be able take credit for it because the BJP is backward
looking and is seeking to drag India back into the Dark Ages of fascism and
totalitarianism. The fact that fascism has become passé and that in a
modern world which is rapidly globalizing, there is no place for a Hindutva
ideology (whether hard or soft) does not seem to attract the attention
of a hard-boiled politician and his cohorts.
In a recent response to queries from media persons, Advani is
reported to have said that the Prime Minister (Dr. Manmohan Singh) does not
understand politics. The response of the common citizen is: Thank God for
this. Dr. Manmohan Singh is a man of intellectual achievements of
international stature, and is respected for his ability to see issues
without the coloured glasses through which people like Advani view the
world. In sharp contrast to the blinkered view of people like L.K. Advani,
Dr. Manmohan Singh is able to transcend the limitations of political
ideology and to preside over the renaissance of India as a respected member
of the international community. If India is rising, or even if it is
shining, it is due to the intellectual leadership of statesmen like Dr.
Manmohan Singh and his core team of academics who are charting the economic
and political future of this great country. We citizens of India are
grateful that Manmohan Singh, who did not aspire to political office,
finally accepted the offer to become Prime Minister, and that he has not
been affected by the power which, as Lord Acton declared, corrupts people.
Merely shouting slogans, whether of India Shining or India Rising does
not achieve anything. Such sloganeering, which is the hallmark of the BJP,
only serves to deceive the masses and make them believe that slogans are the
alternative to hard work and clear thinking.
The constant alternating between soft line Hindutva and hard
line Hindutva hardly really matters for the progress and development of
India. Hard or soft, Hindutva, is totally irrelevant as a solution to
Indias problems. Instead of facing the economic and political issues
head on, the BJP seeks to divert the attention (and the energy) of the
people to non-issues such as the cultural identity of the citizens of India.
Its constant harping on the need to make India a Hindu nation, is so
completely out of sync with international trends both political and
economic that one begins to question even the sanity of leaders who
continue to pursue this line of thinking.
Intelligent and questioning Indians are aware of the truth which
G.K. Chesterton so succinctly put it: You may release the tiger from its
cage; but you may never release it from its stripes.
Averthanus L. DSouza,
D-13, La Marvel Colony,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004.
Tel: (0832) 2453628.
e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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