{"id":2129,"date":"2020-06-16T12:49:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T12:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/?p=2129"},"modified":"2020-06-16T12:49:44","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T12:49:44","slug":"everything-is-political-revisiting-indian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/2020\/06\/16\/everything-is-political-revisiting-indian-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything is Political: Revisiting Indian Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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By Aastha Tiwari<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I walk past the holy shrines of Ram Mandir, I am appalled by the mere thought of Gods being\npolitical. Hobbes said that human beings are innately selfish and always at a war with one\nanother; these words can be felt in the political arena where politicians are ready to go to any\nextent to emerge triumphantly. Politics is not wicked or despicable. \u2018Political’ is a ubiquitous and\nseemingly indispensable term in the discussion of human affairs, undeniably important to\ndistribute resources, to establish stability in the society, to maintain territorial borders, to\ncomprehend the modesty of affairs. As days turn to be bygones, everything that was once\npristine and virgin, in terms of politics, has become politicized. The fact that politics has seeped\ninsidiously into every aspect of not just our lives but also objects and things is shuddery. Much\nof our modern-day political polarization is the result of the politicization of everything, literally\neverything. The article reveals the subtle politicization of the basic and unnoticed things like\ncolour, name, clothes, food etc, especially in light of the recent political climate of our country\namidst the CAA\/NRC protests and the saffronisation wave that has plagued the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politicization of Colour and Name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nWhat does orange or green colour invoke? For an individual of the 2000s, it just means colour or\nif I delve deeper, the significance of these colours, in particular, is they are represented in our\nflag. But in 2020, as I walk, dressed in an orange printed kurta embellished with the name of\nRam (to worsen the situation), I am seen as a sanghi or part of right-wing. This change in\nperception is an outcome of the saffronisation wave that has infested the minds of people into\nassociating a colour with their political ideology. In the very same way, the present times\naccount for the politicization of clothes and name. When Shakespeare quotes \u201cWhat\u2019s in a\nname?\u201d A Muslim in India silently whispered \u2013\u201cMY LIFE\u201d. During the anti-CAA protests, men\ndressed in bhagwa, chanting Jai Shri Ram, tortured and butchered those wearing burkha or\n\nturban. Clothes, thus, became a political connotation. As I was traversing through the pages of\nthe newspaper, my eyes couldn\u2019t escape the brutality meted out to a Muslim man because of his\nname. These cases definitely account for minority cases but the underlying issue confronting us\nis the epidemic of politicisation that has plagued anything and everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicisation of food:<\/p>\n

\nThe situation exacerbates when there is an open glorification of politicisation of food and\nthoughts. One must wonder, how the world would look like if politicians and individuals started\nperceiving food from political lenses. What we eat and what we don\u2019t is no more a matter of\nchoice rather is a connotation of political affiliations. Beef-eaters are admittedly perceived to be\nMuslims, worthy enough of being lynched. The political thread running along the sacredness of\nCow by the flag-bearers of Hindutva ideology is just one horrifying example of what our world\nwould be if we allowed politicians to decide what we could possibly eat. Upholding, and not\nglorifying, the consecration of Cow, but the only question that leaves me cold is \u2013 which God\ngives you the license to kill others, primarily because of what they eat or think. We live in a\npost-enlightenment era, which is flooded with progressive ideologies and ideals, yet we cling on\nto preserving the long-gone traditions to an extremist end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicisation of thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nBy virtue of Article 19(1) of the Indian constitution, all citizens shall have the right to freedom\nof speech and expression, only to be curtailed under ‘reasonable restrictions’. Are we really free\nto claim our thoughts in public, though? Theoretically, as per democratic ideals, we are free but\nif we take cognizance of the present political climate, a mere act of solidarity expressed is\nconstrued to be anti-national, making the person eligible for backlash. The narrative being fed to\nthe people is coloured in orange, where there is no room for different vibrant colours, by the\npoliticians. This is how politicisation of mind gets translated into polarisation where any\nviews\/act against the interest of the ruling party is crushed, labelled and measured. I often\nwonder if our nationalism is this petty, that it is threatened by the existence of a bare\noppositional viewpoint. Today, we are wreathing ourselves into the intolerance that has grown\nmanifold times owing to the politicisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicisation of media:<\/p>\n

\nThe whole scenario of news and its dissemination has undergone a transformation. The portrayal\nof any news is driven by a political motive. All the important news are politicized to benefit one\npolitical party and the viewers are bereft of authentic news. Viewers are fed what the media\nwants to show them which is in close association with the narratives of the political parties. We\nget different versions of the same story depending on what newspaper\/news channel we\nsubscribe to. One will go all the way to praise the ruling party while the other will fire cylinders\non the ruling party. With this kind of tussle being the reality of Indian media, the real news gets\nlost. Media is the only way to know what is going on and the ultimate tool that shapes public\n\nopinion, but with this kind of authenticity, media has lost its charisma due to the politicization.\nToday, as we sit back on our couch and turn to the news channel, the only expression we witness\nis shouting and howling, where the media wears the garb of judiciary dispensing justice. The\ncontemporary media fulfils the role of all the institutions except the role of being the fourth\nestate, what an irony. We can plainly see favouritism, biases in the way news are propagated and\ndebate\/discussion is held. The anchor becomes a politician projecting his personal views that\naligns with the respective political party. This is the image of a politicized media. The\npoliticization of media worsens all other tools of politicization as it is through media, we take\ncognisance of the present scenario of political climate. Thus, the media has the power to project\nthe politicization for political gains, instead of what they really are. Media shouldn\u2019t abuse its\npower as it has a large societal impact. Let us all pledge for a free, transparent and just media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current state of politicisation leaves me shivering with my heart desiring the caress of\nwarmth of the India that was once envisioned. Inclusion of the word \u2018secular\u2019 was not just for the\nbeautification of the preamble but was an epitome of the cultural and political fabric of India.\nUnfortunately, we live in times where an act of solidarity for a humanitarian cause, rape, sex,\nfood, the very act of thinking and voicing opinion, clothing, colour, education and almost\neverything is weighed from the purview of political lenses. The mere thought that all our actions\nare open to political scrutiny is nerve-wracking. When radical feminists coined the phrase\n\u201cpersonal is political\u201d; they stood for bringing up the oppression that was neglected for being a\npart of the private sphere which is in no way an indication of undermining the idea of\nPRIVACY. We cannot escape politics today especially when everything is political.\nMudslinging about politicization often reflects deeper assumptions and arguments on what is\nobjective, what is neutral, what is true i.e. free from the distortions of political interference. In a\nworld, where everything exists in a twilight zone, politicization is inevitable. But when this act\nof politicization translates into polarisation where the question of existential threat becomes the\nfundamental thing for one community, it is in this moment that we dismantle this politicization\nof politics done at the hands of politicians. If singing the national anthem and adhering to\nHindutva ideology is a sign of patriotism and the onus to prove the loyalty hangs on the heads of\nMUSLIMS, then it is surely the right time to learn, un-learn, revisit and rethink the Indian\npolitics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the earlier unbiased media to the Colour Bhagwa, everything is political today. How does this politicization of everything affect the lives of the commonest of
\ncommon people? Read here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1367,1373,1364,1385,1363,580,422,1375,1382,1366,1381,1384,1378,615,1377,1376,1374,1365,1130,1383,1369,1372,1386,1368,289,1370,1371,1379,1380],"class_list":["post-2129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity","tag-anti-national","tag-article-191","tag-bangladeshi","tag-beef","tag-bhagwa","tag-biryani","tag-bjp","tag-caa-protests","tag-freedom-of-speech-and-expression","tag-hinduttva","tag-hobbes","tag-lynching","tag-national-anthem-singing","tag-nationalism","tag-nationality","tag-nrs","tag-personal-is-political","tag-poha","tag-politicization","tag-politicization-of-media","tag-politics-of-colour","tag-politics-of-food","tag-privacy","tag-ram-mandir","tag-saffron","tag-saffron-drive","tag-saffronisation","tag-shakespeare","tag-whats-in-a-name","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2129"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2155,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions\/2155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisaras.org\/projectdhaara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}