UN-POLITICALLY CORRECT!
I have grown up reading about power and what it means and what it does to people. Power was taught sometimes as money and sometimes as derived from control. However, the more I have delved into India, the more I realize how untrue this is.
India is a country run by the mob or the fear of the mob. It’s not a country run by the politicians, it’s not a country run by the businessmen.
All that businessmen try to do is control the politicians and all the politicians want to do is to have a mechanism to control the mob.
A logical question is: What is the mob? The mob is not a group of people, it’s a cause or initiative. Being a politician essentially means having a mechanism to continuously keep coming up with a cause or initiative.
So much so, that even liberals in this country are part of a mob. Sometimes, the more dangerous mob!
The liberals, who by definition should be part of non-alignment, who should always be open to consider, open to debate, open to listen, are part of a mob hell-bent on having their way. For Neanderthals like me, this goes against the very definition of liberal but then I am too much of a centrist (according to their definition) to talk over liberals. Anyway, that’s a debate for some other book.
I have had a unique vantage point over the last few years to work closely with the Indian polity but NEVER become a part of it. Coupled with my global experiences, I am using this book as an attempt to list out some aspects needed to push India into the right development cycle. While saying this, I realize that India may mean different for different people. Is it the land or the people; if it’s the people, then which people? Who defines and completes India?
As you read through this book, some of this will get answered and what doesn’t get answered will remain as an enquiry for the readers to define for themselves. And that’s the beauty of it. You get to define it yourself!
The Falling & Failing Democrats