There’s an oily sort of feeling to the
politics of India today. There is a nausea inducing sort of slipperiness
masquerading as the process of governance. Faith and religion’s imperatives are
working their way into the oh-so-fragile skin of reason that is attempting to
hold this billion plus collection of ego and emotion together.
And, it all feels so familiar. There
is déjà vu happening all up in here. It’s like I’m hearing Carl ‘Retro’ Rove and his Christian Crew tuning up to
play a gig in India; Christian Rock morphed into Saffron Rock (lyrics by RSS). Thrash
music that assaults and overpowers the sense of the listener; rhyme and reason
battered into submission by the screaming chorus of Because My God Says So.
Not that I’m accusing the Hindu Right
of plagiarism, not at all, I hasten to add, as quickly as possible. I just
think that the brains trust of India’s new Governors saw something that worked
and by adding the much richer masala that is this ancient culture, made it
their own.
Take this business of Ancient Culture
as a simple solution to the trials and issues of a not at all ancient, far from
simple, social organism. Do this. Don’t do that - Edicts of a simpler time as
the way to manage the mad mélange of self-interest that is this modern construct,
India. Any suggestion that those Ancient Rules of Behavior might not be an
exact, or even comfortable, fit on the modern body politic is dismissed as the
work of the devil, quite often, the foreign devil. Any argument that Ancient
Writings, Vedas, Commandments, what have you, are guidelines and not, as it
were, carved in stone, is howled down as anti-national and disloyal,
treasonous, Christian America and Hindu India. Culture elevated to the status
of Religion. It wasn’t that good a song when Ronnie and the Republicans were
doing their thing; it hasn’t gotten any better by adding masala to it. But for
some reason, or the lack thereof, Ronnie and the Reps were able to spawn a
faith based form of governance that produced George W. Bush and the Democracy Destroyers.
It took a while, but Carl and Crew got there. I don’t think it is going to take
that long in India. After all India is doing in 60 years what took the USA 200
years to do.
I guess I’m hoping that India’s lean
and hungry youth will do better than the fat and happy US electorate. Maybe
India’s youthful intelligence will recognize the dangers of isolate purity and
vote for the exhilaration of diversity. Festivals are best when new meets old
and dances in the melodies so created.
