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Zeitgeist


This is the last post in the A-to-Z series that I have been writing in April. Most of the posts in the series touched explicitly or implicitly the post-truth politics of present India. Post-truth is the zeitgeist of India now. Facts don’t matter here. Emotions do. Slogans do. We have a Prime Minister who loves to play with words. He keeps on giving us new slogans every year, if not more frequently. Remember slogans or jingles like Achhe din aane waale hain? Make in India (which has now become Break in India), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Minimum Government Maximum Governance, Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas… Hollow slogans. That has been the zeitgeist of India from 2014. Hollow. Resounding hollowness.

What is the reality behind those slogans and rhetoric? I found the following illustration from a Malayalam weekly the most apt depiction of our present reality. 


You know what it means. A thickly populated area in the national capital is bulldozed after Mr Modi’s supporters orchestrated a riot-like situation there. Some 200-odd people carrying tridents and rods march into the area playing high decibel music on a DJ system under the pretext of celebrating Hanuman Jayanti. Why choose a place like Jahangirpuri for such a celebration? You know the answer. It was a tailor-made communal clash. Tailor-made communal clashes are integral parts of present India’s zeitgeist. I bet we can expect many more of them soon.

If you think Modi and his supporters are the only people who are possessed by this zeitgeist you are mistaken. Kejriwal is going out of the way to own that spirit. He has suddenly become a Hanuman bhakt. He visits Hanuman temples, sings Hanuman chalisa there, and arranges Sundara Kanda of Ramayana to be recited in the temples of his constituency.  

Rahul Gandhi also flirted with gods for a while. Since he doesn’t know the game, it didn’t work. Nothing works in his case. Poor man in a wrong place. He doesn’t understand the zeitgeist at all.

While the hollow zeitgeist marches on holding tridents and rods, the country is reeling under price rise, ever-increasing taxes, unemployment, poverty, and overall misery. Nobody in the ruling party seems concerned. They are concerned about Rama and Hanuman. Zeitgeist of GST Raj. 


Last month the Gujarat High Court remarked that it was easier to reach the moon than understand the intricacies of the GST tax system. The truth is that the entire politics of Narendra Modi is beyond any human understanding. May the 33 million gods of our pantheon save us!

PS. This is the last part of #BlogchatterA2Z

Comments

  1. magiceyeApril 30, 2022 at 11:32 AM

    Perfect conclusion to the series...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Afshan ShaikApril 30, 2022 at 3:52 PM

    Zeitgeist a new word for me almost sounds like "Poltergeist" if u know what I mean. I was wondering what u would write as an end post. This is like a perfect epilogue to all ur remaining posts. It was good knowing u and ur blog...


    Congrats on completing a to z. From "The Pensive"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 30, 2022 at 4:28 PM

      Poltergeist 😅 The similarity is not only in sound!

      Hope you will return to this space occasionally though A2Z is over.

      Delete
  3. Yamini MacLeanApril 30, 2022 at 5:30 PM

    Hari OM
    Yes, a good roundup to conclude this month's offerings... and I wish it only pertained to India (no disprespect), but we have a completely scary situation here in the UK (I haven't dared look to see how OZ is shaping up). Ours is not comparable in the misuse of religious application, but there is so much going on under the table and folk appear to be totally blind to the encroachment on freedoms. Fascism is alive and swelling...

    Thanks for an entertaining, engaging and enthralling April - now keep it going!!! YAM xx
    Z=Zany

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 30, 2022 at 7:49 PM

      April became richer with your presnce here, Yam. You made this space international. Your comments added to my interest in the world beyond Delhi.

      Delete
  4. Janaki/Ishaan SaiApril 30, 2022 at 6:44 PM

    Can't agree more. And in the absence of a strong opposition this will continue. Hope our 33 million God's help our country with a strong opposition and get us out of this circus!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 30, 2022 at 7:52 PM

      Lack of opposition is detrimental even to gods, as our scriptures show. Modi is scaling heights that he doesn't even understand. A big fall is imminent.

      Delete
  5. Prasanna RaghavanApril 30, 2022 at 8:22 PM

    Oh well, how nicely your post captures the spirit of India of the present. But that spirit embodied in the facades of those muppathimukkodi gods of India were constructed India, not originated there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 30, 2022 at 8:54 PM

      A constructed India, you said it. Orchestrated, as I put it in the post. Fabrications.

      Delete
  6. GBMay 1, 2022 at 6:57 PM

    Lovely! I love reading your posts. One of the few people who speak the real truth in a world filled with deception.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chinmayee Gayatree SahuMay 2, 2022 at 11:01 PM

    The situation is grim and the economic crisis is really to worry about. I could not stop laughing after reading the last line ! Amazing write , as always.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Deepa from FictionPiesMay 5, 2022 at 7:20 PM

    It's almost as if several in our populace are waiting with bated breath, more of a wait and watch game to see how the country shapes up in the coming decades. So much of 'Zeitgeist' (a new word for me!) becomes game changes, or rather a fork in the road. The whole world seems to be going crazy.

    Cheers,
    Deepa from FictionPies

    ReplyDelete

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