Talking Shop: We need coconuts

“If we ever forget that we are

‘One Nation’ under God, we

will be a nation gone under.”

—Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, other than his good looks and charisma, had also got his brain-vein just right. And Reagan’s quote leads me to a vein of thought that I have shared before on these very pages—of one of Indian democracy's finest and most poignant moments. Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the Opposition at that time, was requested by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to represent India at the United Nations in the 1970s. Asked by reporters why the Opposition was representing a nation at such a key event, Vajpayee-ji’s answer was truly historic and iconic, delineating his elevated thinking and unwavering focus on social justice, integrity and dignity.

Traditionally, Vajpayee-ji said, India has always battled adversity and reversals with courage and a democratic unity that has won hearts and admiration around the world. The gathering at the UN was stunned by his words, which underlined India's comeuppance even in the face of global hardships. Asked why he was helping one of his staunchest critics, Indira Gandhi, Vajpayee-ji’s reply left everyone speechless. “A rose adorns a garden, so does a lily. Each is beset with the idea that they are individually the most beautiful. But when the garden falls into a crisis, the gardeners have to safeguard its beauty as one. I have come today to save the Indian garden. This is democracy,” he said. The gathering rose as one to applaud.

Of such mettle are some special people made, and that is why I am sharing this vignette, for it starkly exposes the regression that we witness today. We need to stem the slide at once, before we delve deeper into even lower realms, places from where redemption and resuscitation will be far more difficult and cumbersome, if not impossible. We need to claw our way back. Now. Today.

Feral and grisly

All around us today, we see people making unbecoming and abrasive comments, many a time bordering on the gross and repugnant. Mind you, this is not sign of national growth or maturity, but of declining core values and basic countenance. We are declining, despite the fast-selling luxury cars and the continuing consumption of tikkas, butter chicken and daal makhani during car-o-bars. Things, in fact, have got to such a stead that the highest court of the land has had to intervene yet again with some very harsh words, calling the authorities ‘impotent’ and observing that the only way to stop the verbal spiel and vitriol is to leave religion out of politics.

To understand, let’s check out excerpts from a recent ruling by a Supreme Court bench of Hon’ble Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, who didn’t mince their words on the role of the authorities in taking action against incidents of hate speech, or rather the lack thereof. “The State is impotent, the State is powerless; it does not act in time. Why do we have a State at all if it is remaining silent? If we want to become a superpower, the first thing we need is the rule of law. We had orators like Nehru and Vajpayee; people from rural areas would come to listen to them. Unfortunately (now), people who have no stuff, fringe elements on all sides are making such (hate) speeches. If there is intellectual depravity, you cannot take this country as Number 1 in the world and intellectual depravity only comes when there is intolerance, lack of knowledge and lack of education. The moment politics and religion are segregated, all this will stop.” Whew.

Stinging, but true

Strong words and observations indeed, but sadly, it is a true reflection of the slide in our nation’s intrinsic values and moral structure. Through this writeup today, I pray for decisive intervention before things get even worse. The paradoxical saving grace is that getting worse is a near-impossibility, since we are pretty much at rock bottom already. Look at what happened during the Ram Navami ‘celebrations’ last week; in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Vadodara and many other cities across the country. People blatantly raised religious slogans, pelted stones at one another, assaulted and beat up those hailing from other communities and defaced places of worship. It happens every other day now, especially during ‘religious celebrations’.

It is not just disappointing and depressing to see where we are headed, but scary and numbing too. There is a palpable fear in the air today that you can all but smell, with people voicing their true opinions and feelings only in closed rooms or during private conversations. What we have descended into is a complicated tangle of emotions and feelings which are taking a firm hold of our lives. The shock of repeated clashes is leaving most inured and resigned, while some flirt with recurrent bewilderment and anger over this regression.

The masses are wondering how to continue with this helplessness. The privileged are leaving, if only to give their children a better and more stable future. Look at the number of people who have given up their Indian citizenship since 2011—nearly 17 lakhs. Last year alone, it was 2,25,620, the highest since 2011, while the lowest of 85,256 was in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, just before the pandemic, 1,44,017 Indians relinquished their citizenship to move out of the country.

Need to reassess

This, then, is a clarion call, a fervent appeal if you will, to mend our fences, think hard and act before we cross the tipping point, which we have all but reached. Tolerance, bonhomie and camaraderie are wonderful virtues, all of which we possess in abundance. This slide in our moral and social fabric is predominantly the doing of those who address public gatherings and jamborees with a microphone in hand; the average Jane and Joe are far more interested in living their simple lives and making things better. It is only a handful with vested interests and (un)-hidden agendas who are spewing venom and poison. It is time then for us to use our own wisdom and better sense to identify and segregate these have-mikes from the non-mikes and build a more harmonious society called India.

And that, perhaps, makes what Michael Merzenich said years ago very relevant in today’s context. “Your brain—every brain—is a work in progress. It is plastic. From the day we’re born to the day we die, it continuously revises and remodels, improving or slowly declining, as a function of how we use it.” Let’s agree with Michael, that it is time we start using our grey matter before it turns black, or worse, chooses any other dreaded colour.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal