State of Indifference

Der König herrscht aber regiert nicht
The king reigns but does not govern
- Otto von Bismarck

Mired in the fundamental existential issue of availability of basic economic and financial resources, the average Indian citizen might possibly be excused for displaying a remarkable disinterest in issues that concern the conduct of the State, in realms cultural, societal and nationalist. It only requires a measure of curiosity, a re-reading of history and a re-evaluation of commonly accepted wisdom to realize that certain political notions internalized in Indian society stand independent of the economic and socio-political situation of its peoples, and serve as both the cause and consequence of the official apathy now being propitiated in the name of the said people. And to realize that what may be mistaken for insouciance is, in fact, indifference.

From the mountains of the Karakoram, to the plains of Bengal, from the hills of Assam to the valleys of Lanka, the cultural and linguistic boundaries forever identified with being Indian have withered and crumbled, and yet failed to produce any coagulation whatsoever of a unison of identity among the original inhabitants of these lands. Indeed the one strikingly visible consequence of millenia of territorial alienation and cultural fragmentation has been the thorough orwellianism of collective judgement. The Stockholm Syndrome is passe, for now it is the age of the Delhi Syndrome, where the aggrieved not only sympathises with the culprit but goes beyond the call of duty and defends, justifies and propagates the ideas of the latter. And so it comes to pass that a self-proclaimed egalitarian society accords "reservations" to select communities, that a "secular" republic decrees differing personal laws for different religious groups, that a "sovereign" nation watches with detachment the brazen land-grabbing being practiced by its neighbours to its detriment.

We watch, meekly, as our soldiers are murdered and mutilated by bankrupt banana republics. We watch, callously, as our ethnic brethren are humiliated and exploited against all norms of civilized morality by neighbours whose inclinations towards cultural despotism has been proven continuously through history. We watch, pusillanimously, as countries whose foundation are predicated on existential enmity institutionalize mechanisms to kill and maim our hard-working tax-paying citizens.

That this must happen in a democratic soceity only reinforces the argument of this essay - that the hypocrisy of judgement displayed in India is a facet not merely of the government, but of the people that determine the government. Arguments such as that governments are essentially determined by the "undereducated" classes are fundamentally specious, for the popular thought processes of the adequately "educated" classes are hardly any different. For it must be learnt that education can serve only as the means to an end, and not the end itself - the end being better sense of judgement.

Admittedly, we do sometimes make the right noises. That our sovereignty will not be open to debate. That our territorial boundaries will not be negotiated upon. That terrorism as a tool of State policy will not be tolerated. That the human rights of our peoples will not be trampled upon without consequence. But then, these are exactly that - noises. With no consequence. For we then proclaim as "well-intentioned" activities whose only intentions were that of ethnic cleansing, sup with "well-wishers" who only the day before had been busy invading our country, negotiate in "good faith" with those whose only faith lies in ambitions of imperium. For we then return to our customary practice of labeling friend as foe and foe as friend, of prioritising tactical interests over strategic, of mortgaging righteousness to propound expedience.

Perhaps it is that such twisted logic is not one that been internalized - perhaps it always has been internal to Indian society. After all, the earliest evidenced intrusion of "Indian" cultural space, the Persian invasion, was not the cause but the demonstrable consequence of internal fragmentation. Perhaps it is an uniquely Indian trait that perpetuates such fragmentation, which leads to a deeper resolve of indifference, which results in further fragmentation, the cycle repeating itself ad infinitum. Perhaps, in that case, we are destined, or doomed, as your perspective may guide you, to wither, crumble and eventually dissolve as a nation. And perhaps even as a people.