No, I am not talking about a project that is to kick off soon, neither am I talking about any aspect of a supply chain. I am talking about the chain of values that follow each other in a 'politically correct' and a 'morally correct' society. Yes, since the Shree Ram Sene has become synonymous to the word 'moral', I am also going to talk about that.
I happened to come across Amit Verma's latest blog, on the comments of Pramod Muthalik reported by the Hindu. He compares these comments to those made by the "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" in Saudi Arabia. I do agree with him to an extent, but then I just want to explore a few more thoughts before I jump to any conclusion. Let me make it clear though at this point, I am not pro-beating-up-women-for-going-to-the-pub, and am not a follower of any moral policing, in fact I was as disgusted by those acts as much as most other Indians.
We as a society, by and large are prone to bigotry especially when it comes to morals. When it happens to society, we hold idealistic views, whereas when it happens to us its something 'personal'. It comes so naturally to us (this bigotry), that it is a given that everyone would behave that way. Not bothering to check your children's habits, you may talk about how a random neighbour's son was seen smoking, holding hands with a girl or just hanging about on a random day loitering around doing nothing. Not really worried if your own daughter listens to you, you would talk to a random person about how some other random persons daughter is a rebel and does not listen to a word of her parents. But we do it with an air of condescension and pseudo-sympathy which we think justifies the hypocrisy. One of my very good friends, who I always consider rational and practical, told me that if her friend plans to marry someone out of her community and thinks its right, then she would support her, but if it was her sister, she would not allow that to happen at all! (This was the same bigotry but reversed, but bigotry nevertheless) It was an eye-opener. If I could not understand the rationale, at least it was practical.
What about politics? I have always believed that we are big hypocrites even when it comes to politicians. We have never tried to find out real facts, about India's foreign policy, trade policies, or even the Nuclear policies, though we have mastered the art of criticising them (unless of course we are directly involved in a business that is affected). You may say, that an average Indian is still well-informed about most of the policies, but how many of us actually bother to understand what is happening? I agree politicians may be corrupt, and that to enter Mantralaya your clout needs to start with the clerks. I also agree that our governing methods are as transparent as air. You know there is something in theory, but do not know what its actually made of right now. All this said, even good moves by politicians and any progress made by them is looked at skeptically. I know that its not unwarranted considering the murky pasts and blatantly immoral (again... refer the para upstairs) present. But do we use the rationale we are supposed to use, to evaluate every act and proposition by the value it delivers, or do we just consider anything done by politicians suspicious?
This takes me to the point I wanted to make. Considering the moral values our society holds, the older generation (meaning our parents, uncles & aunts) are not so convinced about the way of life in the modern society. Going to pubs or bars are frowned upon even at homes. A girls dressing style is also a matter of debate in most households. If the same thoughts were to be echoed by some political group (sans the beating up women part, which I reiterate is the lowest form of moral governance), would we be ready to challenge them with same respect and sensibility as we would do at home? I agree that the ideology of Muthalik is quite distorted. But what he stated in that Hindu article, would be agreeable to any parent, uncle, aunt, grandad or grandma. Do we send a Pink-Chaddi ONLY to Muthalik because we think we can get away with it?
These comments Muthalik made perhaps we could look at with some revolt thanks to his history. But in general, are we ready to hear about 'morals' (moral bigotry: Para 1) from 'politicians' (political hypocrisy: Para 2) or do we assume it has to do something with the sadistic ways of politics, and ignore the essence of what could be echoed even at home!
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