Indian politicians need a thorough headbanging

Samarjit Kambam *

'Headbanging' is a term used in music where power and speed metal bands and their fans shake their heads to and fro vigorously and rhythmically as they play or listen to songs which adds to the fervor of enjoying the song played or heard. I don't mean to say that the Indian politicians should attend power metal concerts. The reason why I bring in the term 'headbanging' in conjunction with politicians is that the Indian politicians need to clear the cobwebs inside their heads.

Recently, a ruckus was created wherein Chief Ministers and Governors of North Eastern part of India towed in line to enthusiastically state that Lord Krishna had bounded the North East in Indian mainland during Dwapur Yug with our state's Hon'ble Chief Minister stating that Manipur was a part of India during Lord Krishna's time while on the flip side Manipur remained an independent princely state for more millenniums until the British overtook Manipur in 1891 thereby distorting the historical facts of Manipur once known as Kangleipak.

On April 18 also, Tripura's Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb claimed that Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata mentioning that Sanjay gave a live relay of the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas to the blind king Dhristarashtra. We all know that The Mahabharata is an epic which is a pure creation of Ved Vyasa. Whether it's a novel or an epic, it is entirely upto the writer to put in characters, words of wisdom, figments of imaginations, creative thoughts, inspirational words, master-blaster boombastic ideas, thought provoking fictions in myriad factors etc.

In Valmiki's Ramayana, Hanuman could fly even though he did not have wings, could lengthen his tail manifold, could shrink or increase the size of his body. Well, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of DC Comics also came up with fictional superhero Superman who can fly without wings at almost the speed of light. Every nation of the world has their own myths, facts and fictions. Lord Krishna who could be physically present with 108 women at the same time at different locations can be considered as purely mythological.

China and many other Asian nations worship dragons but they are mythological for there is so far no evidence of fire spitting flying dragons. A few months ago, Union Minister Satypal Singh's speech debunking Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution saying it was wrong and the changes need to be reflected in the school and college curriculum is a very unpalatable remark. Further, his statement "Nobody, including our ancestors in written or oral, said they saw an ape turning into a man" has been found to be even more unpalatable.

He should have known what evolution is in the first place. Evolution is a very slow process spanning millions and millions of years. Our ape-like ancestors did not become upright walking Homo-Sapiens overnight. Making outrageous and false statements as per their whims seems to become the trend of contemporary politicians of India. It's an irony that there are many more popular politicians known for spitting venom from their mouths whenever they speak and sparking or fuelling communal tensions.

The CM of Uttar Pradesh Jogi Adityanath is among the pioneers. His speech on actor Shahrukh Khan that if people boycott his films, he would also have to wander in the streets like a normal Muslim, that he speaks in the language of a terrorist, that there is no difference between the language of the actor and Hafiz Saeed has been found quite disturbing by a huge populace of India. His speech on Mother Teresa stating "She was part of the country to Christianise India. Hindus were converted to Christians in the name of doing service" as well as his speech "Lord Shankar was the biggest Yogi who started Yoga.

Mahadev lives in every particle of this country. So those who want to avoid Yoga and Lord Shankar can leave Hindustan" are speeches communal to the fore and go divergent with the way where a hot shot politician should speak in a country which flaunts of embracing a secular democratic system. Again, his speech citing that women are not capable of being left independent reflects the patriarchal mindset that women should be confined within the four walls of the kitchen which is not relevant in this world of advanced information technology and artificial intelligence.

By the way, where's "Women Empowerment"?. The government of India talks about women empowerment all the time. It is the very duty of the government of India to really empower women so that they are capable of being left independent. In the 105th Edition of The Indian Science Congress, the speech of Union Science Minister Mr Harsh Vardhan was found quoted in The Hindu as, "We recently lost a renowned scientist, cosmologist Stephen Hawking.

He emphatically said on record that our Vedas might have a theory superior to that of Einstein's E=mc2″. This indicates the government's attitude towards Science and the position of India in the field of Science and Technology. Quite shameful. Please do not insult Science to prove ancient Indian glory. After C.V. Raman, we are struggling to achieve Nobel Prize in Physics or other branches of Science. The government spending in Research and Development is 0.8% of GDP only in comparison to China(2%), Germany (>2%) and USA (2.9%). Research paper presentation is only 156 per million of population.

Compared to other countries, it is way to less with many other countries having more than 1000 per million of population. Adding salt to the wound is the statement by Ex-CM of UP Mulayam Singh Yadav that we should avoid the use of computers and English in India. In a multi-lingual, multi-religion and pluralistic country like India, English is the Linqua Franca of its populace even though Hindi is the National Language of India. In fact, English is the language that keeps India intact. Now India is known as the powerhouse of English in the world, the reason for many Indians working in mammoth multinationals abroad with NRIs among the list of billionaires Forbes' listings.

Avoiding use of computers will push us backwards towards the Stone Age. Maybe, Mr Yadav should live under a stone-cave if he is too serious. It is crucial time to focus on solving problems rather than spewing absolutely factless statements. The politicians also have a knack for story telling these days. They can go as balderdash and speak gibberish so as to blame anybody or anything whom or which they see for problems which they should have solved. One recent sensation is Jerry the mouse of Tom & Jerry fame.

From liquor to floods, the tiny rat is dominating the public discourse in Bihar. Bihar's Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan blamed rodents for the states crumbling embankments and the consequent flooding in 21 districts of Bihar that had left more than 500 people dead and lakhs homeless. Bihar's Department Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh too blamed rats for the problem. Next time, they may be blaming rain itself for floods like "No Rain, No Floods" or something similar.

What adds more to the histrionics was the Bihar Police Department's statement that rats in Bihar are alcoholics and have drunk over 9 lakh litres of seized alcohol. They should have put up videos of drunk rats to prove their point. But yeah, Its India... Anything can happen. A rat can be a drunkard, a squirrel can be a psychopath, a dog can be a lawbreaker, a cat can be a drug addict, a cow can be a political advisor, a horse can be a sniper, a rabbit can be an assassin. So and so.....

When it comes down to rapes/gangrapes and crimes committed against women and minors, our politicians make the most stupid statements. They blame everything to the women who are victims with many mentioning that women dress provocatively. Even though every citizen of this country has a right to voice his/her opinion, telling half the population of the country how to dress certainly doesn't seem right. Do women really need to be policed about what they wear in India in this day and age?

With such kinda statements, the onus of violence against women and their abuse has been clearly shifted from the attacker to the victim, which is a very wrong trend, the sole reason why India is becoming the harbinger of rape in the world. Recently, the media is filled with gross news of rapes and crimes against women and minors at various parts of the country. Women in our country don't get raped, abused or killed because of the clothes they wear or don't wear.

It is because men feel that they can get away with as they are fuelled and empowered by political leaders in high positions making topsy-turvy statements which only add to wrong notions against women and children. A crystal clear example can be given of two serving state ministers viz Chaudhary Lal Singh, Minister for Forest and Chander Prakash Ganga, Minister for Commerce & Industries who were seen attending a rally organised by Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused in the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl from Kathua.

Such unruly acts of supporting the accused instead of the victim by politicians act as an impetus for more rape cases climbing up the chart. It may not be wrong to mention that majority of the politicians of India are living in a different world, a distorted myopic world of severed time and space where the public has been seen as preys on the political hunting ground or as dolls in a toy shop. It is high time that Indian politics take a turn for the better.

It is time that the Election Commission enacts stringent measures with regard to eligibility of political candidates. It is an insult to the nation to have representatives of people who are either criminals or poorly educated. We need to set a certain standard before the world community or else we will become a laughing stock in front of other nations of the world.

Does our nation not deserve politicians who are well educated, well groomed and spotless in their character? We do have them but the problem is that our system is so vicious that such persons either refuse to soil their hands or are outspoken, outwitted or bogged down by the goons and dacoits in the guise of politicians. This is the reason why we need to revamp our system once and for all.

It's time for us the people to eradicate "cash for vote" otherwise the perverse politicians will say, "Why do you elect me in the first place?" and then they will always have the last laugh.