Of late I am getting more and more convinced that like "organised" religion, nationalism is also one more opium for the masses.
People just want to feel good for the fact that they belong to something bigger than a five to six feet tall body frame.
And thats why they start believing in things like nation, country, state etc.
And this sort of feeling is well moulded into making systems like democracy and notions like "swaraj" (self-governance).
If I am being ruled by someone of my own type (and type can be anything starting from colour to caste) then I feel good!
And if that someone can get a fake support like what we call "mandate", then the system becomes holy.
The hoipoloi really do not care about what is the colour of the skin of the president or what his religious beliefs are. We care about a good quality peaceful life, what we call as Suraaj or good governance. I have heard that in Saudi Arab, the young princes are trained as per the portfolio that they will take care of in their future life. They become trained to do a certain thing better. And given that he is not a tyrant (and believe me you can get tyrants of demonical magnitude in democracy as well), he can give a much better governance than democracy. Just because we do not know of a better system than democracy, does not make it the best. Just because some nations do well under democracy does not mean that its a panacea for all. I do not have an alternative. But I just can not stand the fake Swaraaj (self governance).
And today is India's umpteenth independence day. A day which should actually be observed as a black day, because this was the day when thousands of people were suddenly told that they are foreigners and need to leave the land; this was the day when neighbours killed, looted, raped neighbours. This was the day which showed the real demon in man. And what have we achieved yet? The inherently unapt system of democracy caused in highly concentrated growth. And the result is quite clear from our ex-home minister (Mr. Chidambaram)'s statement that currently around 30% of the nation's land is under some sort of parallel governance, like Naxals. It is high time, we should stop following the developed nations and seriously look for alternatives. Time to say "Thank you" to Swaraj and think of real "Suraaj".
The hoipoloi really do not care about what is the colour of the skin of the president or what his religious beliefs are. We care about a good quality peaceful life, what we call as Suraaj or good governance. I have heard that in Saudi Arab, the young princes are trained as per the portfolio that they will take care of in their future life. They become trained to do a certain thing better. And given that he is not a tyrant (and believe me you can get tyrants of demonical magnitude in democracy as well), he can give a much better governance than democracy. Just because we do not know of a better system than democracy, does not make it the best. Just because some nations do well under democracy does not mean that its a panacea for all. I do not have an alternative. But I just can not stand the fake Swaraaj (self governance).
And today is India's umpteenth independence day. A day which should actually be observed as a black day, because this was the day when thousands of people were suddenly told that they are foreigners and need to leave the land; this was the day when neighbours killed, looted, raped neighbours. This was the day which showed the real demon in man. And what have we achieved yet? The inherently unapt system of democracy caused in highly concentrated growth. And the result is quite clear from our ex-home minister (Mr. Chidambaram)'s statement that currently around 30% of the nation's land is under some sort of parallel governance, like Naxals. It is high time, we should stop following the developed nations and seriously look for alternatives. Time to say "Thank you" to Swaraj and think of real "Suraaj".
