Hindustan Times
Move aside, a transformation is underway
It is clear as daylight that the rising spirit of India is not acceptable to the archaic powers of this great nation. The smothering of humour by Mamata; of books, art and films by fundamentalists; of information by the government; of development by naxalites…all these are examples of a larger, darker force that’s seeking to crush the growing aspirations of India.
Here is a country that’s beginning to dust off its inert tamasic past and stand on vital energy, the rajas. This change hurts those who are already standing on the rajasic plane — leaders, officials, entrepreneurs, doers. Long used to having their way and enjoying the benefits that come on that path, these worthies are doing all they can to make the road as steep as possible for the rest of us.
Blind in their lust, deaf to signals of reason, dumb to anything but their personal needs, drunk in the wine of largely-inherited fortunes that are translating themselves into entitlements, the battle of us versus them is really one of vital force of the past with the vital force of today. It is difficult for them to believe that energetic and ambitious young people from the interiors of India as well as the invisibles in urban areas are harbouring sky-high aspirations.
A lot of that energy is being mis-organised by the ‘them’ — a busload of protestors to pressure an author, a rabble of no-gooders to loot West Bengal, a gang of fundamentalists to burn books. As always, the silent majority that has a stake in the system through jobs or just from the pressure to deliver the $2 a day — all 850 million of them — find it difficult to fight the ‘them’.
But without a fight, the ‘us’ is going to remain where it is. At some point, unique to every individual, that energy will have to be tapped. The resultant force need not necessarily be violent, though very often without it moving forward is difficult. Since the spirit of India is now being shaken, a lot of ideas, institutions, people will have be rattled. They must change.
Else, they will have to move aside in this greatest-ever transformation — a spiritual transformation — of a nation.
(8 votes, average: 2.88 out of 5)
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