But what about masks!
Supreme Court did not mention anything on the masks covering the ugly real faces of politicians in India when passing an order to prohibit photographs of burqa-clad voters on their identity cards. The Supreme Court categorically said that a woman can't vote clad in burqa as it would hamper the identification of the voter. The apex court comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan himself and Justice Deepak Verma rightly said that if sentiments are so strong and a woman does not want to be seen by any member of the public or by the officers and employees of the election commission, then she should not go to vote, as it is creating serious complications in identification of voters. Yes, certainly this is a right decision at a right time when our national security is on stake, but there is a big question left unanswered: how do we recognize the politicians wearing a mask since independence? With this the verdict of the Supreme Court, a symbolic message has gone and an academic debate has started as to who after all should wear the veil and who should not. Wearing the burqa or the veil is not at all related with religion, it was meant to differentiate between the genuine and the non-genuine or the common and the elite. The first recorded instance of veil for women is recorded in an Assyrian legal text from 13th century BC, which restricted its use to noble women and forbade prostitutes and common women from adopting it. Ancient Greek texts have also spoken of veiling and seclusion of women being practiced among the Persian elite. Statues from Persepolis depict women both veiled and unveiled, and it seems to be regarded as an attribute of prostitution. Right since our modern era began after independence, we could not see the real face of our politicians. We felt their horrible faces by seeing their nefarious anti-social, anti-ethical, anti-human and anti-national deeds but always saw a social, ethical, human and nationalist mask on their face. There is a famous saying in Sanskrit – yatha raja tatha praja. It means the people always inherit the character of the rulers, or the ruler's character always reflects on citizens, it's a natural process. Exactly is the same happening in India. Hypocrisy in politics is a big issue in most countries, but it's a particularly problematic one in India. It has almost ruined the whole society and you can imagine the scene when the complete Indian society will be metamorphosed into artificiality. And it is happening fast. The extent of the poison of mendaciousness and impotency that the country's long line of political class has injected into arteries of the nation could be well measured since the so-called independence till date, or starting from the Chinese attack in North East to the Pakistani-breed terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, attack on the symbol of national pride Lal-Quila (Red Fort), on Parliament, on the economic capital Mumbai or the regular and continuing deadly blasts one after another on the common people. But, still our politicians and the people are troubled by the manifestations of impotency and look hither and thither for excuses. Every sensitive citizen of the country is crying that a pitch black darkness of imprudence is enveloping the country very fast. But what we do to eradicate it? We are today masking ourselves under a veneer of slogans of 'modernity', 'development' and 'progressiveness'. Since independence, the leaders whom we have chosen consistently have only made us fools, impotent and uncivilized. We have become cowards, the blood flowing in our bodies is of second class, but we don't accept it! We hide our real face under the garbs of the catchwords like 'modernity' or 'development' and removing the mask, we can't show our faces to each other. We have become so progressive that we have put aside the nation altogether. But mind it; this is not supposed to be a preaching session. I want to talk straight about the real challenges we face: millions of Indians indulge in or race with politicians in acts of hypocrisy and this collectively adds up to an epidemic. It would take an enormous amount of introspection, a ruthless sense of honesty, and the courage to act upon the schism when we encounter them to get rid of this disease. All this would be painful, but if we have the perspective to consider our actions, and the courage to correct ourselves, we could rekindle the greatness that our country once had. The politicians are bad, not politics. The purification of politics is necessary and for this the ugly face of the politicians must be exposed. Only then the sober and beautiful alternative will come into being. The resolution to unmask our face has to be taken. The hypocrisy will naturally be vanished. Come forward, start from own and see the change... (Published in By-Line National News Weekly (Hindi and English) February 06, 2010 Issue under regular column - Last Punch)
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