Disclaimer: I’m going to break a ground rule even before I’ve committed to a formal blog-constitution. Just this time, I will talk about politics
defined as: ‘Social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power’
A 29 year old poet politican has been in the news lately. By definition, he would seem like a keen student of his chosen profession except that he’s not.
He’s an opportunist who says one thing, renounces it immediately, claims the credit for the underlying metphor of his alleged comments(while claiming vociferously that he meant no such thing) and then finally goes out there to say it again!
The ensuing chaos is managed effectively by suggesting that he never meant to typecast a community, he’s actually planning on being selective in arson!
The message has been delivered, the valorous poet is here, he’s got the dagger this time, the law be damned. Be scared, very scared.
It’s all a bit silly and very much of the brand of ‘politics’ that we’ve sadly come to terms with. The standard operating procedure now is to ignore such rants and move on - ’Its OK, the guy wants his votes, and the OB vans outside his house, let him have them.’
To this day I have nothing to say to the half-wit for his diabolical outburst. I am, however, shocked at a friend’s hero worship of this unfortunate politician. “Hail Varun Gandhi!” she says, I respect her emotions and the right she enjoys by virtue of our constitution to express her views, but before the public veneration, I’d like her to consider these -
- Does she believe that our knight-in-shining-armour even cares for the cause he claims to espouse?
- Does she believe her hero digs social propriety: is it now acceptable to threaten to maim because it may work at the polls?
- How did she react when her hero went back and attributed the ugliest bits of his tirade to a skilled voice-over or nifty editing?
- Does she consider these ‘alleged’ remarks constructive or destructive?
- If there was point that the hero wanted to make, what was it? What does he want to do and what does he want others to do? How can you possibly think this guy is sincere and he’s going to follow up on what he is ‘alledged’ to have said(a famous lineage of contempt for the law, notwithstanding)? If there’s a new social reality, I don’t get it!
I suggest we cut our hero some slack, let’s not burden him with all these expectations. He’s all of 29 and probably hasn’t seen much of our country beyond his cosy house in Delhi’s Maharani Bagh. A few ideas on how things may turn out -
- He may eventually go the way of his great-grandfather, Jawaharlal. He may evolve into a balanced ‘politician’ and a legendary statesman (much of his present circuitry would have to be rewired, but its possible! Crazier things have happened!)
- He may go down his current path, get very lucky, catch a populist-hatred-traction tailwind and become some sort of a minister somewhere. He might, in the process, be called upon to demonstrate field knowledge of system assisted genocide. His exploits might never match the highs of Gujarat, but he’ll give it a shot anyway, he will get better at it, given time.
- He may continue to drift down his present trajectory, win or lose a bunch of elections but he won’t eventually have an impact on the demographic mix of our country( he would have failed as a defender of his faith, and as the ethnic-cleansing superhero that he so wants to be! ). Condemned to being the the dolt son of a famous father, he will however, register a significant spike on the I-am-a-nutcase scale.
To my friend: If she choses to continue her hero worship, I’d still love her the same. I’d however, like her to be original in her salutes, normal cognition makes me associate the ‘hail’ word with another famous blowhard warmonger for whom things didn’t turn out so well!
About me? I’m not impressed, not scared.
Back to pure semantics, Varun should be fine; its ‘politics’ and he seems to be on the button. And that is just unfortunate!
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
True to the hilt….great write up
Awesome piece. U really let ur emotions loose on this one…
Well true that he is condemned to be the dolt son….a bad gush of ‘Varun’ which would pass away……This political ‘Abecedarian’ like the ‘Mistress’, who reproduced him, takes the legacy of being the sonorous rebels, blabbering mouth-shots with no respect to the harmony of the society that his fore-family sort of masoned. No more proofs needed to prove that they will do anything I mean anything to dismantle the delicately balanced society…..
Here is me, a huge fan of the ‘perception’ group “Varun..ah pain in the neck’,wishing the new lamb of the lost sheeps all the worst!
Parting note: Varun is the dump of the Clan!! (ah thats why his words smell bad too!!!!!!!)
thanks for the amazing article…..and of course for the special mention
……faraz i may never be so good with words. your article is perfect but what i hailed for was that he expressed what his party actually had come to existence for and never had the guts to say tht in public. and ofcourse it is politics and it is a dirty game…..wen a bollywoood actor who was indirectly involved in bomblasts and and proudly owned machine guns can be a part of it then y not this guy, people wud always support such people because they are gud in public eye…..we indians are fools we never try and turn the coin and see the other side of it, we see what is shown to us…..I thought that at least someone can express their hatred…..cause we all have it deep inside us no matter whatever the reasons may be….I know most of them never do what they say, i know that all they want is a seat in the lok sabha, i know all they want are votes, i know that most of them are some great politicians sons or grand sons…..but because of these things i would never want to lose my hopes….i would always want to believe in someone…. i would always want to have faith in indian politics because no matter we vote or we dont a govt. will form and it will change our lives probably for better or worse…..
Hammad!! Haha… not bad!!
I love the Abecedarian metaphor and your wishes for our ‘new lamb of the lost sheeps’. Nicely done!
Raghav!
Your spirit and your Pakistan trips are the reason this country is great and Varun and his stinking ideas can only be an aberration.
Stay this way!
Hey Nitika!
Thanks for writing in, I truly I appreciate all that you said.
Here’s what I think, If this bunch is screwed then I just wouldn’t pick my heroes from amongst them. There are tons of great thinkers outside politics that we could hail. James Nachtwey, Marc Andreessen, Francis Crick, Gates(for the philanthropy!), Hilton(for the hotels!!!), Godin, those guys make great heroes!
Sweetie, It’s all good!!
Am really glad you finally put this up and I did share my reaction with you. So you know. I have a take two (too) and I shall pen it really soon..
Enjoy the accolades (and the brickbats, if any)
I am really confused.
To Nitika’s point, why do we all have the inherent hatred? What inherent hatred are we talking about? Is it against some people or some community or some cause? I have no such feelings. If it’s the community, then I am acutely aware that I also belong to a minority in this country. But that is no reason for me to have undying love for others like me and unending hatred for those who are the majority.
If it’s the people, I don’t hate them unless they give me a reason to. And in this case, I don’t think we need to elaborate on who has more reasons to hate!!
And hatred to a cause I think is beyond the purview of the above comment. We are not in the dark ages anymore.
As for Varun Gandhi having the guts to come out in the open with what he truly believes and endorse his hatred on national television, I think that is the one thing he is not doing. He is merely sleep walking hoping that some good samaritan will guide him through. He needs to know, that’s not happening. And really what guts and courage are we talking about here..he denied ever having made that speech!! What courage I tell you.
Lastly, I don’t believe I want to be a mute spectator while some silly man wakes up in the midst of his silks and decide he is going to run my country and decide my future. I don’t think so!!
Nice article.
I don’t think that Varun Gandhi really believes what he said and would really have the stomach to do anything remotely resembling all his claims, even if he was elected in Pilibhit. To me, his attempt at demagoguery is reflective of his and the BJP’s frustrations on the eve of the next elections. I have been a staunch BJP supporter all my adult life and I find it surprising that this time around they seem to have no agenda whatsoever. The only shaky plank they are relying upon seems to be “what the UPA government did not do”. Pity is that they seem to realize that it isn’t going to be enough to convince a country to vote for them. The BJP has great leaders, people who could really transform this country but IMHO, the lethal problem that has plagued the BJP since inception has been that they aren’t wily or shrewd enough to be politicians. Their instinctive candour is a cardinal sin in politics.
Admittedly, Varun went quite overboard with a speech originally meant to assuage the fears of the Hindus in Pilibhit (especially after a series of rapes of Hindu girls) and you correctly attribute it to his immaturity in the realm of politics. His speech is merely symptomatic of a larger problem; the growing insecurities faced by the majority religion in this country. It is common knowledge that at this point in our country’s history, the most insecure and most ignored part of the country is the Majority religion. With politicians hankering after Christians, Sikhs and Muslims for their votes, offering crucial enticements such as Job reservation, the Hindus feel neglected and insecure. Politicians realize that Hindus have never been a vote-bank and not even the ‘Ram-Mandir’ issue can mobilize their voting preferences, anymore. It’s very similar to how educated white Americans feel towards blacks after Affirmative action.
Therefore, your friend only echoed the pervasive feeling that atleast there is someone who talks about Hindus, their right to equality and opportunity. This insecurity is just the seed sown by vote edacious politicians and is largely responsible for the rising discord between the communities, when none should exist.
I liked http://faraz.org