Role of cricketers and film stars in today’s politics

Radhakanta Barik

Cricketers, film stars and ruling politicians have a shared bond with the black money who enjoy privileges and power without doing creative things. They do not pay tax and they are in a cosy club with these people. This group are enjoying power today because they do not believe in a dialogue with the others. They are not like Bedi who played for fun without money and they enjoyed their life. They are not like Raj Kapoor who choreographed street as the space for making film songs as the road today is getting used as space for farmers’ protest.   Guru Dutt who named the hero as Kalu to identify with the Dalits and he sung a powerful song for the prostitutes and another song for changing the world. Ray made film Do Bigha Jamin which turned into a hit film of that time. Middle class responded to the sufferings of farmers losing their land to the Landlords. Today they are losing land to the corporate houses and Modi government is helping them by making three laws. Yes a section of middle class are supporting the movement today.  Cricketer Tendulkar and Ganguli are hobnobbing with the Hindutva poltics today.  Tendulkar has given a statement in the support of the government’s attack on farmers. These people today side the RSS as fascists who do not know ABC of aesthetics be Indian or Western. They make film for money and sleep and dream for money. RSS members are ready to buy the railway platforms which symbolize the nation building and national movement. They do not respect history and culture of pluralism in India.

 Indian budget making has been reduced to aesthetics of Ganga arati in Rishikesh. The whole program has been stylised in a form of modern dance to draw the crowd. But in the end the rich spectators are supposed to contribute voluntarily. This has resulted in losses for the organizers. The industry has been allowed to pay tax voluntarily. The Indian state has been reduced to a farce. This year’s budget has made tax paying by the industrialists as a joke who are not bound by the Department to pay their dues to the state. A bull entered into arati which made chaotic which resulted to get some bribes. By eating banana the bull got pushed out of the arati area. This resulted in making bulls to earn more in stock exchange of India. The stock exchange is getting hotter and bulls are making money which does not reflect in the Indian economy as this year economy is going down by minus 12 to minus 29.

 The finance minister spoke on the budget for almost three hours but said nothing of the real issues. Real issues are not touched by her. Her hard work is like Prime Minister's eighteen hours work for a day. Both lack imagination to tackle the problems of people. The real problem is unemployment which makes majority people without income. Consumption of people have fallen as they not have the buying capacity. The real investment would have been in generating employment by putting money in MGNREGA.  Those who lost their jobs during the Covid 19 and having no income need an income support but the budget has no voice for these millions of workers standing on the streets. The state lacks resources for meeting it's own routine matters such as more taxes but slashed tax level. As a good bania PM is ready to sell the major public sector units including district level hospitals in the name of public private partnership. There is no money for health, education and social Security. He wants to work out the RSS vision by destroying the economy which is going to reduce India into a pastoral economy where Aryans used to move with their cows and reciting sloks. A modern economy is going to be replaced with a pastoral economy. Three cheers for Modi- Nrimala for their unintelligent hard work.  In the present budget there is support for the granary owned by the private players but no voice for the suffering farmers.

Farmers getting into agitation like going on rafting in the river Ganga in Rishikesh. At the outset there's anxiety but the way enjoy by going on. Rapid creates thrilling experience as Young farmers tell us. They enjoy participating and suffer during the movement. They are being motivated by Gandhi to organize the peaceful protest against the Modi and Shah government who are using the terrorist methods in attacking the farmers.

 There is a beautiful park near sea beach of Puri town where a sculpture of Gandhi is there. It's highly artistic and has captured the spirit of Gandhi as a leader who was always on move. He had an immense faith on his ideas, stick and foot. There is a synchronization of all three in sculpture. While he was on move, his eyes were on the ground, his stick turned into his guide and his muscles had come out to exhibit his physical and mental energy. Today the leaders are farmers are having physical and mental and spiritual energies to fight a long battle against the government.

Today's crisis in India's politics has brought liberal, socialist and communist under Gandhi's canopy. The man who walked thousand kms understood the importance of non violence and communal harmony in everyday life of an Indian. Politics of everyday life needs to be probed. In the morning he sings bhajans and prayers which brings the importance of one God which is there in every religion. His prayer "iswar alla Tere naam" Which brings truth of universal appeal of an idea of God. He cleans his dress and takes bath and meets people. Every day he meets a thousand people. In the afternoon he replies to letters and writes articles. In the night he reads books. Reading writing and listening makes his day  complete. His everyday life runs around activities without self interest for which he is known as Gandhi for us. We all depend on him at present to save the Constitution. Today is Gandhi's death anniversary and Savarkar's people killed him and his people went to the farmers protest site and attacked the farmers. The same force is ruling India today. We must be careful of these forces who want to divide the society and destroy the Constitution and attack the freedom of protest in a peaceful manner.

Moving in UP one sees the anger of people against the BJP. Farmers are refusing to pay money for the Ram mandir. It's mandir politics destroyed the industries and today the construction of mandir is going to destroy the agriculture. They are coming in big number to the kisan panchayat at Bijnoir. All castes and all communities are joining hands against the RSS which is a ballon getting burst.  Bijnoir is the city dominated by Dalits and Muslims went to attend the Kisan panchayat. It brings all castes into farmers’ politics but some journalists want to characterize into a caste based movement. They have a narrow vision of the present day politics.

Farmers’ movement has turned into an ocean where waves come and go. But the ocean can teach a lesson when it turns into a stormy. Yesterday after the police attack the Ocean has turned into a stormy one. This storm will wash away the Modi and Shah. Storms do not bother whether one lives in air conditioned house with protection from the police. No protection in democracy is bigger than people themselves. The Modi government has filed the cases against the leaders under UAPA there are strong waves are coming in the Ocean. Tikait's tears created magic impact on the farmers and they have come in lakhs in the middle of night. The TV Channels have been taken over by the Modi government through their editors and editors have turned rascals who removed some of the journalists for their work. But news cannot be stopped flowing and it has reached vast section of farmers while they were having dinner and they left the dinner and came back to Gazipur to support the farmers movement. This is another wave and it looks like calm sea before the storm.

When one person cried in the parliament, the world laughed! When one person cried in the movement, the world was overflowing!! This happened to Yogi who faced charges against him on communal riots in Gorakhpur and he cried in the parliament as MP which gets laughed by many people. But the speaker of the Lok Sabha Somanath Chatterjee a great lawyer with a big heart looked at the case with compassion. Yogi as the chief minister created tears in eyes of many people but a crook is a crook but Tikait cried when his tears came out of his heart as a kisan leader melted many hearts of India and they thronged to Gazipur site where farmers were protesting. The policemen and special force were standing there to clear the site from farmers. But tears can be hypocritical like Yogi in Parliament and tears can speak truth of human soul like Tikait which moved the hills and stones of the country.

Why does the BJP disconnect power and water supply to a person or to Gazipur where farmers are holding demonstration? Today morning a BJP MLA went to see Tikait and he raised this question and told him that he does not trust the leaders of the BJP now. They did the same thing to Sanjeev  Bhatt an IPS officer of Gujarat who gave statement against Modi that Modi’s instruction created riots in Gujarat of 2002. I faced it when they terminated me from the job in IIPA by the chairman T N Chatruvedi a BJP person. These are basic services according to the Supreme Court judgment that even in illegal and unauthorized colony the government should not do it. The BJP does not bother of the Supreme court judgment and basic human values needed for a party or human being. In Hinduism to provide water is taken as a service. One sees many people sponsor the Piau for providing free water. The Hindutva does not have any link with the Hinduism.

 As a student in JNU we used to go in batches to attend the kisan protest in Boat club which lasted for 7days. Mrs Indira Gandhi herself negotiated with the leader of the kisans the elder Tikait and he was addressing the meeting and many students and workers and civil servants joined the protest. He never cried and he went back homes with a victory sign in his hands. Today his son is leading on the Gazipur site of farmers rally. It is the BJP government from this belt all MP seats went to the BJP and these MPs and MLAs have turned so powerless in front of Modi and Shah that they have made Rakesh Tikait to cry and tears of these farmers will curse the Hindutva fascists. There will have victory one day. They stand for truth and non violence which is going to result in victory one day.

Know all about the significance as an auspicious date in the Hindu calendar, Paush Purnima is the beginning of the month of Magha, when many devotees in north India mark a month of austerity. On the Full Moon day of Paush Purnima, thousands of devotees take a holy dip in the sacred Ganga and Yamuna rivers. People from different parts of the country gather at the Sangam in Prayagraj. Today the Modi government has given an order for arresting the kisan leaders under the UAPA and a great tribute to Pausa Purnima by the Hindutva who have no respect for the Hinduism but it is a fascist organisation in the name of Hindutva.

President Biden read out a poem written by Robert Hayden,' Those winter Sundays’ speak the pains sufferings of people including the old and young. "Speaking indifferently to him who had driven out the cold." this explains the suffering of farmers on strike against these three laws related to agriculture suffering from cold and ignored by the Modi. One President reading out a poem of pathos and another Prime Minister has no regard for poetry. No pains he feels for sufferings of farmers during the winter. It needs to compare and contrasts two democracies headed by a democrat Biden and another right winger fascist Modi.

Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda of Mrs Indira Gandhi could not maintain the law and order in response to the protest by the RSS people for which he had to resign from the post. Mr Shah as the Home Minister could not maintain the law and order of Delhi in response to the farmers' protest should resign from the post. During the congress rule there was a question of moral responsibility and legal issue related to Minister's functioning. In Modi government anything one does nobody is responsible neither on moral ground or legal ground. As Shakespeare says that hell is empty all these criminals have abandoned it.

Prof Radhakanta Barik (retd), Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi

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Frontier
Feb 6, 2021