Sunday 18 March 2018

Statues, Bhakts and politics

The recent demolition of the statues of Lenin, Ambedkar, Periyar, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Lord Ganesha etc has achieved the amazing thing in doing what the statues themselves have failed to do – forcing all to remember them. The razing down the statue of Lenin forces all to talk about him- a thing that most of us have never done because communists have a very powerful propaganda network.
This is not a new thing in our country. Instances of statues being brought down or damaged have often served nothing. It depends upon how the act is used by the followers. For examples, if any statue related either with Hindu Gods or icons of Right wingers, is damaged or razed, hardly any attention is paid. But if the statue is related to Communists, Dalits or minority groups, there are all hue and cries. The same thing happened in this case too. 
Lenin bhakts are very powerful propagandists. They presented it as powerful instant in history- widely publicized dismantling on all the networks.  But this razing is a celebration of the masses; a nationalist ideology has been a sign of a liberating sense of freedom from the tyranny of communist rule. A hated regime is finally overthrown democratically; there is euphoria to mark the passing in some physical way. Since the past can neither be undone nor be rubbed out, attacking its symbols becomes the easiest and satisfying target of celebrating the end.
In the case though, it is very clear that Vladimir Lenin as a symbol of anything strong in the Indian milieu. Tripura had an elected regime, led by a CM who was aggressively admired in the media as an honest and prudent person, and who managed to win four straight terms for him. Ultimately he lost this time by a logically high margin. The demolition of a statue is an indication of long-suppressed liberty.
The endeavour to translate a big electoral triumph into the exultant oust of an ideology, which is a symbol of tyranny and repression, is both just and wise although it set off a chain of such destruction by left fringe elements in other parts of the country too.
The problem with attacking once powerful symbols in such a way is that some of them can revive sleeping passions. While Lenin is not likely to stir any emotion, Periyar is the different story, although he himself was statue worshipping and his followers demolished so many statues of Hindus Gods and Goddesses. In a state where the BJP is working hard to get a grip, to take this non-seriously with regional and Dravidian sensitivities, will be very risky for BJP because anti-BJP bloc is trying hard to link this BJP. This club is branding BJP as a North Indian party and they are trying hard to inflame the emotions in other parts of the country, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Secularists, Communists and Islamist assisted by other fringe anti-Hindu, so-called rationalists, have made statues in today’s context, promoting amnesia rather than the tribute. The usual perceptive is that the statue is a potent icon that carries on the memory of the great icon and permits their followers to channelize their sentiments towards their heroes. We honour the really great with statues; we erect images that seek to motivate the followers through their glory.
Now, people laugh at the statues. Greatness is doubtful. Only supporters pay homage to the men and women in question by making their statues as memorials of greatness. We remember the person, not his deeds or miss-deeds. Now, only a few know the deeds or miss-deeds of Lenin or Periyar, but we blindly pay homage to their statues like blind bhakts believing that the statues are after all the best way for us to remember their ideas.
Though, the fact is that statues do not remind us of a person’s greatness; it is a sign of the arrogance and strength of his followers in the name of celebrating his memory.  Literally, statues serve to remind the ignorant generations that Ambedkar wore hat, three pieces suit and Periyar had a big beard, the kind hipsters sport today.
Statues be-little the memory by rubbing us remember too little. They permit us to trust that we have not elapsed without putting any strain on us to remember anything important. In our memory, they actually evoke almost nothing. They encroach public spaces and shut to any opposition or rather they believe in blindness. They are debts that we pay back to a gone person; we rid the yoke of history on to the town plaza. In most of the cases, they become the resting place of birds, coated landmarks signifying their worthlessness. In some cases, their meaning and worth also change with time and place.
There are so many other ways used to conserve memory. The cut-outs, names of roads, lanes, parks, institutions, cities, districts, dams, canals, projects, bridges, photographs on walls etc are all means to remember the past. But the effect is almost nothing. If we pass through Ambedkar road or Lenin square, it fails to foist memory for such signs but is merely become geography rather than history.
The statue and other memory marking devices achieve nothing, in some cases, their twist is to craft a setting sprinkled with false mention points of the past popularize them with the fake markers of our past. They are here so that in this era of the uninterrupted present created by designed media, and try to force us to think that today is an invention of their past. Hardly anybody knows that Lenin, Ambedkar and Periyar were statue haters like Mughal invaders but their fringe bhakts have vulgarized the nation with their statues. 

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