Today, we are living in a country where we talk about the events of 1984 as our political history. Now, that was just an incident which happened because of a political killing that turned religious. But, for the new generation, was the emergency during the 1970s the only emergency this country ever witnessed?
Whatever is happening right now in India, it looks like now there is no need even to announce that we are having an emergency because we are getting used to this way of living. Our politicians are getting inspired by different people on different jayantis of freedom fighters, writers, activists. It’s great to have such politicians who are so inspired by those who played a role in building this nation but now it just seems as if they are confused about who to follow among these many inspirations.
We are talking about saying no to international brands so we can contribute to our economy and that’s how we are selling Bhagat Singh t-Shirts, flip-flops and building our home-grown brands in the name of our heroes. We say that journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy, but it looks like that pillar is rusting and the hope is also fading away for its restoration. We have anchors shouting at everybody but politicians, we have reporters who are doing reporting inside their offices but not on the roads, we have editors who have another layer of editors above them checking what they are approving, we have advertisers who are paying steeply just to title the prime time show which is mainly about praising the leader or discussing religion. Oh, sorry! Did I just write discussing!
We have young politicians, journalists, film-makers, writers, comedians, satirists who are raising concerns but that too only against one person. We are afraid to write what we feel on social media, we think twice before saying anything about our real issues, we are. celebrating a statue, a highway, a radio show, and whatnot, but we are forgetting how to celebrate our real festivals. But still, I must say that I am living in the best times anyone can imagine because people around me have witnessed the emergency!