In my previous post was talking about the changes in society of the urban areas and the consequent change in politics. In one of the ending sentences of the last post I used this expression micro-regionalism. Micro-regionalism is in fact the outcome of the changed politics. The prime example of this is Telangana. In most of the literature that is available today the demand for a separate Telangana is commonly referred to as sub-regionalism. I disagree with this taxonomy because sub-regionalism accepts that a certain region is a part of a larger region. If Telangana is the sub-region of Andhra Pradesh, then a demand for a separation cannot be logically sustained since the sub aspect refers to the lack of independent existence of the same. Micro-regionalism on the other hand conveys the desire of the people to draw out identities based in culture from smaller and smaller geographies and the phrase (micro-regionalism) also denotes a lack of commonality between the different geographies. This micro-regionalism which began due to an insecurity created by an improper and inefficient education system percolates to all aspects of society and politics. The net result of the change is that there is a dissolution of the symbols of commonality that were once used in order to build more and more homogeneous communities. The emphasis shifts to difference. Let me explain this through an example.
If one were to take the case of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata they can be (and have been) used to build threads of a common culture based in the idea that the epics symbolize the collective past and history of an entire people. This actively happened during the freedom movement. What happened during this period and later also the disputes of this imaginary. The example of this can be found in the Justice Party and the DK movement which evolved into the DMK and AIADMK later on. I have talked about that in one of my previous posts when I talked about how the differences between the Telugu/Tamil Brahmin and the Tamilian non-Brahmin found articulation as a racial difference. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been rejected as Aryan (Brahmin) creation and foisted upon the Dravidian (non-Brahmin) with the intention to dominate and subjugate. If one were to take into consideration of the recent debate and controversy between the DMK and the BJP over the Ramar Sethu one finds the echoes of this past. The DMK wants the demolition of that natural barrier while the BJP wants to preserve the bridge constructed by Rama and his Vanara army.
I am now arguing that the acts of construction and dissolution are both deliberate and always have a political agenda behind them. The intellectually impoverished society, a result of a farcical education system, in conjunction with the migration of the originally educated elite whom I had called the OUI contributed to the emergence of a lumpen political leadership which is a result of a society that itself has become largely lumpenised. This leadership has the sole purpose of capturing of political power with the view of self aggrandizement and monetary gain. It is common to see political leaders having made thousands of crores in deals and there is no protest based in indignation from the general society, which means that this is now an accepted way of life. Development is just a by product of the politician's greed. The new politician may hold degrees but has no education and consequently no idea of what good can be done for the country and how it can be done. Appointments to all crucial positions such as Vice Chancellors of Universities have become political and the Vice Chancellors, themselves products of the failed education system, contribute to the farcical aspects of the education system thereby rendering it more and more meaningless. Today there are still some leaders like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who have vision. Therefore there is still some enlightened development which percolates to the lower levels of political leadership. But once this generation of leaders ceases to exist, then only politics of pragmatism will remain and tear the fabric of the country apart, rendering meaningless the sacrifices of the previous generations. Here let me quote my favourite poet/musician, Roger Waters. He talked about what happened in England after the second World War. "But when the fight was over, we spent what they had made". We are also on the verge of spending everything that was made for us by our freedom fighting generation. Separate Telangana, Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Harith Pradesh, Maharashtra Navnirman Samithi, caste based politics and political parties, illiterate and uneducated teachers in schools, colleges and universities are all symptoms of a deep malady that will kill Indian society and the nation itself. Yet we only behave like we are passengers to laws of physics. The question is are we?
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