An individual who is a citizen of a country, is more than a few lines etched on a paper signed by government functionaries. This additional space to an individual, that apart from being, in the most reductive terms, a national of a country, he is a human being, opines Dr. Jernail. An exclusive for Different Truths.

The liberalist movement which took off with John Locke has run into rough weather in the political atmosphere that now has come to stay in countries like India which unequivocally vouched for it. Indian polity was crafted in the best possible western traditions of liberalism, where maximum flexibility was provided to the citizens for intellectual athletics. There have been times bad and worse in the history of nations, and history possesses that distinctive quality to make corrections by itself, because,  the flow of history cannot be artificially diverted for long. It resumes its original shape, even if there are intentioned diversions.

Without going into the political fallout of the present scenario, which is not happy at all, I wish to focus my gaze upon the individual, who is the greatest loser. He has lost his identity in the pouring rain of identity cards.

Without going into the political fallout of the present scenario, which is not happy

at all, I wish to focus my gaze upon the individual, who is the greatest loser. He has lost his identity in the pouring rain of identity cards. An individual who is a citizen of a country, is more than a few lines etched on a paper signed by government functionaries. This additional space to an individual, that apart from being, in the most reductive terms, a national of a country, he is a human being, with an independent thought process, and intelligent understanding, has been severely compromised.  And, it will be reflected in times to come, when our contribution to the brotherhood of world thinkers and philosophers will register a fall, as in other areas of public conduct.

Every individual citizen today is a member of a household, which believes in a caste, and then, a religion, and then, a political party.  And the worst part of it is that, as an individual, he has no voice. Partyism has engulfed the humanism of the present century like meningitis, and people are divided in two or even more than two groups, take up any family, or any community, or even a nation. Whether a person belongs to a particular caste or a class – is not under discussion; the core theme of this article is: when you join a party, why it is the first condition that you have mortgaged your mind?  You have no soul (zameer), and if the party is doing something wrong, you will never utter a word. If you disagree, you stand to lose all the benefits of belonging to that party. The worst is: you will be left alone. Who will stand for you in your times of need?

Criticism is treason. This is the latest that is coming up. If you criticise, and demonstrate, you are against the state, and deserve the punishment meted out to secessionists. Speaking against the government is tantamount to speaking against the state.

I wonder why CMs and PMs need a battery of advisers, because no adviser has the nerve to give an advice, which does not suit the administrator. Reverse, they keep an army of advisers around them, who only extol their good or bad virtues, and they throw away people who hold an independent view of things, and tend to criticise them. Criticism is treason. This is the latest that is coming up. If you criticise, and demonstrate, you are against the state, and deserve the punishment meted out to secessionists. Speaking against the government is tantamount to speaking against the state. Better keep shut, or migrate to Canada. If you want to stay in the country, you must agree that the govt. makes the wisest decisions, and you must all stand by it.

In the government, individual space has been ploughed over. In the party, there is no individual room. If you think differently, you stand to lose your perks. No minister has any mind of his own. They belong to a collective mind, converged around the first among non-entities. There is blatant misuse of official machinery, like police, as seen in UP of late. We have seen leaders pick up those who have no individual say, who have no brains, as their close associates, and they are trained in saying: final decision will be taken by the leader. Even in a democratic set up, Unitarian principles are applied. Individuals have no voice. Disagree, and you lose all. Who can venture out with his personal views?

This is the age when individual has lost his sheen. He has lost his space. No doubt, society is composed of individuals. But, now, an individual has been reduced to an identity card.

This is the age when individual has lost his sheen. He has lost his space. No doubt, society is composed of individuals. But, now, an individual has been reduced to an identity card. If he does not carry an identity card, (like Adhaar Card), he has no ‘adhaar’ (no basis) to speak.  Even if he carries an adhar card, he is not allowed to have any voice. Don’t talk of conscience, please.  In film Pink, Amitabh Bachchan played an old lawyer, and the film centres round the right of a woman to say no. If we are living in a civil society, and if we are to make progress as a great nation, we will have to learn the art of tolerating the no. Men fight as parties, and as armies, but when it comes to their individual existence, they take recourse to ‘No’. If you cannot say No, if you are forced to say Yes, it means the individual has lost to the mob.

We call ourselves a great nation. Just by shouting ‘great’  ‘great’, it cannot become great. Let us look at the happiness quotient of the people. Are they happy? Can they say No when they want to say No? Moreover, we should not forget that our younger generation are quitters. Loss of students from colleges and the heavy turnout at IELTS centres shows dismal signs of disenchantment with the country of their birth, where governments are busy creating chasms, rather than jobs. Our great minds are running to Silicon Valley?  Punjab will become a state of old men, waiting for their sons to send money from Canada, to get their lands freed from banks. A country to which no one wants to migrate, cannot be called great. A country to which its own sons and daughters don’t want to migrate back, cannot be called great.  We are living in a state of collective self-delusion. The world loved India for its mystery. Its spiritualism. Its great prophets. But it was only in the past. If we look at the present, it is a dismal scenario. All the magic of old rests on the individual chrishma of our great men.  Erosion of the individual space is a disturbing development of the present times.  On such a present, I wonder if any viable future can be built.

Photo from the Internet