Communication

THE annual (January 2007) issue of Seminar underlines the fact that the moderates in Indian society, as elsewhere in the world, are willingly metamorphosing into sinners by conceding space to extremists with considerable capacity to create cacophony. Take the Iraq war and the Lebanon bombing, which though at a distance, invoked such passionate protest and opposition. Nearer home too the public sphere is epitsmised by mountainous stupidity, which is always ready to turn into life threatening incidents. Still the right thinking members of society – intellectuals, activists, policy-makers and laymen – tend to keep their opinions to themselves. We all fail to be sufficiently intrusive, demanding and converting the decibels of public sound into thought provoking action. Amartya Sen as well as Niraja Gopal Jayal have emphasized this point with varying degrees of intensity. We don’t argue. We don’t object. We don’t put our foot down. Our chalta hai attitude gives room to crumbling bridges to fall on speeding trains – each tragedy presaging a thousand other creaking structures waiting in the wings. Hooch is brewed all over the country with periodic eruptions of serial deaths. Right in the busy business districts of the capital fake medicines are manufactured to be exported to poor countries around the world. We all know these things but let the bloodhounds continue with their work by remaining tolerant, civilized and silent.

The voice of dissent is stifled within us. Opposition is seen as uncouth behaviour. Educated middle class Indians feel ashamed of initiating an argument, debating it out in the public sphere and stalling dangerous policies by unthinking politicians. Raising concerns and voicing grievances has become unfashionable if not embarrassing. We silently watch and accept business giants gobbling up huge stretches of fertile farmland for special economic zones. Our amicability and silent rejoicing on middle class achievements have pushed the deprived to the brink of extinction. The bloated claims of being a knowledge superpower waiting to be an economic superpower have blinded our vision towards those 300 millions with rags on their bodies and empty hands.

We keep quiet as a ritual. For decades the communalists have articulated a single point agenda of building the temple. In an amazingly stupid stance national newspapers report the promise as first lead even for the present UP elections. We don’t shout nor do we yell at the propagators of the appeasement theory even when the Sachar report enumerates the dismal picture of Muslim backwardness. The report reveals that a minuscule 0.8% of school going Muslim children attend madrasas. And this they do primarily because of assured minimum meals of dal-roti round the year. Yet middle class Muslims and the intellectuals fail to come out with this explanation for fear of being branded as Al Qaida supporters. For centuries the madrasas provided courses in science, astronomy, philosophy, logic, ethics and religion. They were the sites of public reasoning, elaborate debate and free thinking in the realm of evolving sciences. However, with the widespread acceptability of western education, logical spaces in the madrasas shrunk as enlightened tutors and students left them for university and the impoverished centres became institutions of rote learning in religion. The Indian madrasas still do the same for deprived students and have no links with so-called terrorism. The error, which brewed in the Afghan and frontier madrasas of Pakistan, was actively aided and abetted by USA and Saudi Arabia. The folly of the Russians in invading Kabul forced Muslims all over the world to wear the mantle of fundamentalism and barbarism.

It has become fashionable to talk of double-digit economic growth even as apologists from the World Bank and IMF adorn chairs of policy-making and permit all doors to be opened for predators masquerading as multinational companies ready to gobble up our basic resources, not even leaving neem, turmeric and basmati for the housewives. Even mentioning this in the media can result in the exponents of moderate thinking being labelled as regressive. The right thinking minds are at a loss as they fear being branded as communists and backward the moment they raise positive concerns.

We need affirmative action in every sphere of our lives. Positive changes will only occur after concerns are dragged into the midst of public thinking, initiating debate, weighing various options and striking mixed responses with the best possible solutions. This is easier said than done. How could we argue against our own selves? Every middle class household owns a couple of two-wheelers and one or two cars. So we don’t pester the government for viable public transport, speedy subway trains and higher petrol prices as deterrence to private vehicle owners. We are living for the moment. In this ad hoc scenario we encircle the available benefits with our liberalized arms and do not think, talk or put forward agendas for a sustained progressive and equitable growth for every citizen.

Social justice and egalitarian society appears a far-fetched idea for India of the present day. A massive groundwork of thinking, public reasoning, debating and arguing for better results needs to be initiated. The middle class citizen should not assume that an argument means an uproarious procession on the street, rubber bullets, lathi charge and water cannons. A citizen with an assured monthly salary would never reach out to this nightmare. A change can be initiated in educational institutions, public fora, media and in the confines of the household where a valid point raised with some emphasis could stir us out of our complacency. We need to talk to clean it out.

Nahid Mehmood

Udaipur