Emperor Nero fiddled while his city burned and thereby entered the eternal portals of history as the epitome of indifference and an everlasting example for dereliction of duty owed to his subjects by a king. If I were Nero’s advocate arguing his case posthumously from this far in time I would surely plead guilty but not before putting up a stout defence. Though there were insinuations that the Royal fiddler wanted a new-look Capital and so decided to dispense off the old one, according to all evidence Nero did not set off those fires that consumed Rome. And in any case, he paid a stiff price for his careless, callous and cavalier attititude/act by losing his crown and life in the immediate present and his reputation for posterity.
Well, this imported tale from Rome has no relevance other than anecdotal value, unlike certain other Italian connections that have proved fatal for the country. The idea is to show how the Neros of modern India coolly get away even when the nation burns on many fronts. Contrived though, the comparison makes sense when we see that most of the political fires raging presently in the country have actually been set alight by the ruling Neros who also wallow in the warmth. And worse, they are not fiddling as poor Nero did nor do they face a Nero-like nemesis but are actually thriving famously, building private fortunes and prosperous futures behind the smokescreen. Now that is not music for the nation’s ears!
Now, why do our politicos light up dormant issues? The name of the game here is ‘diversion’. Using flares as decoys is an age old human tactic of deception. Politics being the second oldest profession has always ‘warmed’ up to this technique. ‘When in trouble, throw a red-herring’, is the self-serving, self-sustaining mantra in this art of the possible. I am not exactly a conspiracy theorist; but I have always found it strange and even sinister that issues suddenly sprout up from nowhere, rage on for a few days and then subside with nary a trace, without being actually solved. Or are subsumed by some other new issue with an equally suspicious origin. So, at any given point of time there are always handy cans of worms or Pandora’s boxes that can be opened to the desired effect. And behind every such resurrection is the invisible hand of a politico, often the ruling ones who need a camouflage most, to push under the carpet some troublesome issue or promote a beneficial agenda on the sly. Needless to add, they invariably emerge unscathed from the blaze they ignited.
Look at some of the raging political fires in the present or in the very recent past. For casual observers Telengana is an age-old problem that even pre-dates Independent India’s birth. It raises its head often, only to land on the back-burner everytime. So, what’s the provocation this time? Insiders claim that the Cong raised this bogey to get one up on Jaganmohan Reddy, (S/o the latest Late, YSR), who has been steadfastly trying to reclaim his family legacy of CMship of AP and even challenging the leadership over that. A divided Andhra will sound the death knell for the son’s political ambitions and we all know ambitious sons are taboo in Congress unless they hail from the first family or are ready to play second fiddle to the first. Not that Jagan garu is a paragon but the sad fact is that the fire the Cong high command lit under his bottom is now consuming lives, limbs and livelihoods. AP’s geography may still remain in one piece after the fires die down, but the division in the people’s hearts looks final and fatal. The smouldering embers are waiting to be ignited by any of those dime-a- dozen torch bearers of Telengana biding their time for better bargains!
Just last month, the sugarcane pricing issue was the rage. It was no doubt a grassroots groundswell to begin with, but soon the political vultures, scenting prey, swooped down for the harvest. As the agitation aggravated, the ruling regime sensed that the sweet stem was getting a bit too sour for political consumption. The bitterness hit home when the Samajwadi Party and the BJP, the two extreme poles on the secular sphere, found common cause in the canes. Enter Liberhan leak. In a jiffy, Amar Singh re-discovered his ‘Omar’ self and started spitting fire at the ‘communal’ BJP, quitting the sugar scene as if he has had a diabetic scare. For its part, the BJP, with its political default setting already on the defence mode, also beat a quick retreat from the farmers’ front. So, as the ‘agitationists’ at the vanguard went their own ways, sugarcane soon got buried silently in the secular din. Wither cane farmers? Withering away as usual!
If the Englishman divided and ruled, for the politicians who lord over us now, the reigning leit motif is ‘distract, deceive, divert and rule’. Indira Gandhi was a pastmaster, (past-madam?) of this art: The Emergency blaze she lit was intended to draw attention away from her undoings but it scorched the nation no end. Rajiv fared poorly; not that he was wanting in intent and need. But all his attempts to make the nation look the other way on Bofors, for example, by setting off a silly Panchayati Raj blitz, backfired. Not because the nation was watchful, but his attempts were shoddy. But R’s bete noir VP Singh was a master distracter. This demented Raja of Manda himself was actually ‘diversion’ personified for he was a fatal fake and a false prophet who mouthed the politically right things like social justice, to hide his own sordid dealings.
And the serial bogeys he lighted in his short stint are aflame even today: J& K as we see it now, is his legacy, unleashed to ward off the Muslim eye; in order to counter the kissan mobilisation of Devil Lal, the troublesome insider, he set off the Mandal fires, that literally burnt young India and their aspirations to ashes; And to ensure that the Left and Right hands, that propped up his regime, did not clap together, he tipped the Ayodhya rath. He fell eventually, but not before diverting India’s history itself toward doom, Weepy’s favoured domain! PVN was the classic silent deceiver. The hawala decoy, to name just one, eased much of the pressure on his minority government. In his fateful five years he laid one bait after another for his opponents, within and without, to bite and himself survived, sans charisma … and despite that pout. But then he was one politician I would forgive gladly for all the sleights of hand he played on the nation!
Our K’s rational rope tricks are a class apart. Scripting sensational or sensuous sideshows comes naturally to this ‘award-winning’ story-teller. That super-fast fast on the Marina in May comes to mind instantly. Again, the recent furore over prostitution charges against cinewomen looked orchestrated at the highest level. For three days the State forgot all of its bread and butter issues and got worked up over the honour of those honourable womenfolk. Not that the people here are vigilant otherwise, occupied as they are with cinema and serials. But it was still diversion from, er, diversion. But all the politicos of the land cannot go scot free with their deadly decoys without the aid of the media whose fast moving attention arc ensures that even the worst deception enjoys only a few moments of infamy! That reminds me: I was actually planning to pen a few pearls on the ongoing 26/11 terror ‘hide & no-seek’ when I got distracted by someone playing something at the Margazhi Mela. No, it wasn’t Nero, nor was the instrument a fiddle. But the raging fires of anguish at, say, Kasab’s immortality, got temporarily doused out, for sure!
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