Country of Fractions

 

Imagine living in a country whose ruler gives a moving lecture on the importance of atmanirbharta (self-reliance) and then dashes off to the neighbouring country to sign a deal on a statue that will cost the nation Rs3000 crore. When there is a conspicuous contradiction between one’s words and deeds, the person obviously suffers from a lack of integrity.

In mathematics, integers are whole numbers and fractions are fragments. There are a lot of fragmented people in the world today. If the leaders are conspicuously fragmented, the followers cannot be whole. No disciple can be greater than the master.

Wholeness is essential, however, for any individual’s psychological, and hence physical, health. This wholeness is a harmony among one’s thoughts, words, and deeds. If you put on the garb of an ascetic and change your name to Yogi but behave like a criminal, obviously you have no idea of what you are, forget integrity.

Present India’s national curse is the fragmentation of our leaders. Most of them pretend to be saints, if not deities. And they go on to teach hatred and violence directly or indirectly. They give their views charming names like nationalism.

It is easy to hoodwink a whole nation in the name of romantic ideals especially if they are grounded in negative emotions like hatred and vengeance. Nothing is more powerful than hatred and vindictiveness. You tell people that they were exploited by a particular community in the past and now the time has come to wreak vengeance. People will love nothing better. Most people love to let loose the demons within themselves.

Demons have been let loose in India by its present leaders who lack even a semblance of integrity. The tongues of these leaders intone mellifluous lines while their hearts overflow with poison.

As a result, innocent people die on the wayside in the name of sacred totems. Little girls are raped and then killed inhumanly. In the name of gods!

It is easy to commit crimes in the names of gods. Or in the name of ideals. Isn’t that what Hitler did, for a historic example?

And Hitler lacked personal integrity. That was his fundamental problem. He was driven by hatred and vengeance. He knew he was wrong. He knew it in the core of his heart. When he said in his New Year’s Proclamation in 1945 that “I carry my heavy burdens with dutiful thanks to Providence which has deemed me worthy…,” he was suppressing his feelings of unworthiness and guilt. He did that many times in his speeches. In other words, Hitler knew he was doing something terribly wrong. Yet he convinced himself that Providence was with him and hence he was worthy of what he was doing. “The Great Judge of all time … will always give victory to those who are the most worthy,” he said in his New Year’s Proclamation in 1944. Every New Year, he seemed to be wracked by guilt and regret. Every introspection must have given him the realisation how wrong he was. But he went on to ignore those feelings precisely because he lacked the integrity required for coming to terms with such ennobling feelings. He was a fragmented personality. He was just a fraction, one-fourth of a person.

Such fractions are ruling India today.

“Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish like circumcision,” Hitler told the Germans. And the Germans willingly became fractions of people, people without consciences, without souls. And they killed without regret. They raped and plundered believing that they were doing something great for their nation.

That history is repeating in India today. A country of fractions.

 

PS. This blog is participating in Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa campaign.