Friday, February 12, 2010

Of Heroes and Senas...

So finally, the long drama surrounding the SRK and his famed release seems to be ending, with the sena clearly and emphatically being shown its place in the dustbin of Indian History. With effigies of Thakre scions being burnt, the common Indian has shown that the sounds of hollow rhetoric and unwarranted hate propaganda do not make sense to the major chunk. This is the third major reversal for the sena in recent days, the others being the utterly mistimed attack on Sachin Tendulkar - the God of Cricket and the forgettable duel with Rahul Gandhi - the emerging youth icon.

This leaves just one thing to be pondered over. Even though it is amply clear that the concept of 'Mumbaikars only in Mumbai' is totally impractical, unwanted and unworkable, why is it that it gets so much mileage? Has the Indian social fabric, with all its famed ethics and morality, become so feeble that it is unable to filter out the good from the bad?

I remember the blasts in Sankat Mochan, a major temple in Varanasi. After that, Vinay Katiyar gave a hateful speech directed (or misdirected) against muslims. However, the 'Mahant' of the temple got him out of the mandir campus, called upon the 'Imam' of nearby mosque and gave a message of togetherness. The degree of appreciation was immense, and disgraced face of Katiyar made it to the news nest day.

But are these pockets of sanity enough? How to tackle this social menace of regional politics? Is it a major flaw of our educational system which, by emphasising on local language, creates a cultural rift that widens with time? Today seems to be a day of questions. Maybe someday I will post an answer.

1 comment:

  1. 2 comments (My personal beliefs- no offense meant):
    1. I do not believe Indian Social fabric has any ethics to boast of ..I do hope it is true in a parallel universe.
    2. The education system emphasizes on local languages mostly because that is how the states were formed back in the days of Nehru. Whether that was an intelligent idea is still being debated and opens up whole new avenues of discussion.

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