Long Post Alert

At a long last. A tumultuous journey later. Hope!

Since a few years I stopped airing my views. I was cautioned and reprimanded to not speak my mind. Big Brother was snooping. And it spelt Bad for anyone. The deep monotone was my Achilles Heel  and I shut it out. When NDTV was sold to a Godi corporate I stopped watching the new on TVs. My favourite anchors had exited these channels. Newspapers were taking sides. Many of my idols fell from grace as they were compromised. I crawled into my cocoon, happily an ignoramus, in denial while there was raucous sound bites about the Ram Mandir et al. The Whats app groups abounded with the Godi Playbook and any sane comments were shouted down as unacceptable by the Bhakts in their adulation.

A month ago my life changed. A casual comment about my non citizenship status due to ignorance about its cause d’etre by my spouse upped my ante and I started watching You Tube Videos with gusto. There were “Chamchi” Channels with Navika Kumar, Anjana Kashyap and others who mouthed doctored comments and were a farce. There were sane commentators like the dependable  Prannoy Roy who spoke serious sense. Then there were the band of “change makers”, an army who spoke fearlessly, they ranted, they criticized brought forward incendiary issues. They mocked and roasted. It became an engrossing pastime.

I watched and learnt and soaked up view points. The Ram Mandir appealed to the Hindus, maybe the hidden angst of partition which prevailed over many, many Indians. These seemingly too many Hindus appeared everywhere  and were devout BJP supporters. The elections started on a somber note. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi undaunted,  covered the country on foot propagating his “Mohabbaaat ki Dukaan”. We felt this as maybe  a pointless exercise against the clout, money, religious propaganda  and the strong social media presence of the powers that be.

Rahul, steadfast despite all the humiliation heaped on him, spoke relentlessly about issues and embraced all against the divisive hype.  Agniveer, OBC Quotas, Electoral Bonds Corruption, employment, inflation, freedom of speech, debasement of women, Manipur uprising.  He was joined by his sister Priyanka who has become my hero. The duo spun simple stories about housewives and homes and children and spoke about real issues. The PM wore a self constructed gigantic halo, stuck to his stand of no interviews and spoke about  his presence abroad, “war rukwa di” rhetoric, financial sops, stock markets on the rise with the underlying Hindu trump card. An inordinately long election extending over three months and seven phases with a pervasive heat wave was initiated perhaps to provide him with an assured All India presence.

The opinion and exit polls predicted a sweep by the ruling Govt. I was teetering dangerously between a sense of doom and some hope. My knowledge gleaned, albeit from anti M so-called hype. My only rationale was that why should they endanger their existence, moreover their agenda seemed  relevant. The share markets were unrealistically inflated despite extensive FIIs selling many zeroes worth of stocks. Nothing added up. The Ram Mandir and Benaras beautification touted as a religious marvel to appeal to the Bhakts, caused a lot of negativity among locals as eons old mandirs were uprooted in Benaras callously. The Ram Mandir was modern and the old, original idol was rejected. Is this Bhakti?

The Election propaganda grew bizarre as sidelining of OBCs, stealing the Mangal Sutra, mutton and fish causing evil, the Congress taking bribes in tempos by the Govt funders, Mujra, Modi – a non biological Avatar on earth, Gandhi a non person before 1983, personal attacks on the Opposition. These were highlighted tactfully and the people have realized and spoken.

BJP 3.0 is at risk as two mega obscene money guzzler events took place, the Ambani pre wedding tamasha and Modi meditating in Kanyakumari. Couldn’t the money be used for the poor. The Andha bhakts maintained that they would tolerate their penury as it was small change to let a super human rule and have a direct connect with God and a global presence.

The people have spoken, Democracy rules. I rued the fact that the Nationalists about a hundred years ago lost their lives and fought for freedom not realising that our country would regress into this swamp ruled by a “Tanaashah”. Our wonderful country with its glorious legacy of inclusion, religious pluralism, have regained their self worth. The collaborators and foot soldiers of the INDIA alliance have spoken. My heart remains with the Gandhi duo. They have my vote forever.