I think some of us have really grown up this election season. The discourse following the loksabha election in India has really flared up quite an interest in politics. Throughout last year I have seen people realising the lingering status quo and the will to go political about it. This with a mix of staunch idolism and neo politics practise has bought much needed fervour in our political discourse.
I was lucky to have been in a group of friends brandishing distinct political ideas. If that thought made you think of me as some global thinker replete with appeasing data, than sadly that’s not me. We as Indians are known and pride our self as custodians of free opinion. Every guy in the street will brag about the topic irrespective of the veracity of his views. Maybe that’s the exact reason why debates would suddenly crop up in between a random conversation over plate of sevpuri. The polarisation on an (pseudo) intellectual capacity has led to people talking.
To me this election has been as illuminating as it is to a spiritual person. In days of yore, I would readily hurl abuses and point fingers based on things I heard. For amateur trying to clear grade one of understanding Indian politics one needs to know that the blindfold needs to go. But it’s not that easy, removing blindfold would mean looking things from a single point perspective and therefore every now then a reality check is essential. Contrarily I refused myself of any unnecessary theories. Of course you will hear words like ‘commie bastard, sanghi, rightist, kangressi’ being spewed at you across the table. I have been told our mass leaders have done worse. Such prolonged innocuous discussion even forced us to create a political appendage to our seemingly friendly whatsapp group. Long ‘fingering’ of each others political views would continue all day. One-upmanship would lead me to reading more and accumulating data to corner a friend with a tint of vengeance. In this perennially long 8-10 month election drama with kilometre long message discussion forums, we would tell each other to take their socio political opinion, tie them on stick, light it on fire and shove it. It’s good that we had an opinion and it was not as altercating as loyalties to IPL teams. To an erudite outsider this would seem lacking rationale and tad bit of shrewdness but who cared as long as you can further your political motivation.
It was also the time when words such as ‘pseudo secular, pseudo intellectual’ started losing its sheen. It invited sarcasm and sometime smug duck face when referred to. People forgot what a parliament debate looked like and began switching to holier than thou anchors sermonising about righteousness. Strange statuses began tempting me but resisted by the god given ability not to bark the wrong tree. It was really difficult to keep up as one guy will say “situation on the ground is not good” and next day another guy will flash images implying the opposite. I think more than any particular party or leader; I came to hate that phrase.
The inference that indulgence of social media has produced venom, valid as that may, need to know that to expect a total civilised response is a utopian fantasy. We are undergoing a huge political overhaul if I to believe some analyst. People are adjusting to getting accountable and to oversee things that they never had been noticed. Like a political rally we all love to hear what the person behind the mike like to say, but we also like standing in the rally, being among the diaspora and occasionally enjoying the freebies that are passed around.
Frayed Notes 