Intelligent Indian is a truth, intellectual Indian is a misnomer (part-2)

'YES WE CAN' MOCK BUT DO NOTHING

Narendra Modi is a polarizing figure. People either love him or love to hate him. He is quite evidently the darling of BJP cadres and supporters and sticks out like a sore thumb in the eyes of congress supporters and AAP volunteers. He is that irritating grain of sand in the eyes of SP, JD(U) and owaisi’s which they try and rub out only to find their eyes burning more, much to their frustration. He is clearly the hottest topic of discussion in present scenario.

So it is evident that when Modi speaks, the social media has to go into frenzy. Everything he says is heard with a stethoscope so as not to miss out on a beat or a murmur. Every gesture he makes is studied microscopically. Every line he mouths is dissected minutely in order to find something to outrage about. A cyber war breaks out with both his fans and his detractors firing cannons one after the other, in order to bring down the opposition’s fort.

Alas! If only these intellectuals would pay more attention to the ideas rather than the persona of the speaker. 

Now  I am no Modi supporter( although I expect myself to be labelled so henceforth) and ii oppose him on various ideological grounds. But when it comes to listening to his speeches (or even those of Rahul Gandhi), I prefer keeping an open mind. Sadly, I seem to be a part of negligible minority as the self proclaimed patriots and armchair pundits indulge in mind numbing socio-political discussions. The stuff they utter makes me say conclusively that ‘intelligent Indian is a truth but an intellectual Indian is a misnomer’.

Take for example his speech today in Hyderabad (11^th august 2013). After a marathon speech of about an hour, you will find the twitter abuzz with tweets like this :-

Now make no mistake, these tweets are not just a random rarity. These are just an example of the vast number of tweets flooding the trends, all on a similar note. Either people are trying to glorify his speech or trying to run it down. Is that what you expect from an intellectual society?

Take for example today’s speech and his ending lines of ‘yes we can’. Now his detractors are going overboard calling him a copycat. Why? Because evidently this phrase was used, by the president of USA Mr. Barrack Obama, during his presidential campaign. Modi is being mocked for using the signature phrase of some other leader by the same people who croon in delight the plagiarised musical numbers by pritam or watch (ogle) at screen as Mahesh Bhatt and co. serve them blatant rip-offs of Hollywood movies.

Then again, aren’t we all using someone or the others signature phrases in our life, sometimes overusing it uselessly. I don’t suppose the quotes like ‘honesty is the best policy’ or ‘ignorance is bliss’ materialised out of thin air. They were all grains of wisdom dropped by someone and we use them as ours. Did people accuse Anna Hazare ji of copying the ‘jai hind’ from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose? I don’t think so. But no, how dare Modi use Obama’s line.

And no, we will pay zilch attention to what else he said. The so called educated members of social media with their iPhones and blackberry’s have to speak on predictable lines. the modifans have to sing praises of Gujarat and Modi’s model of development, congress has to remind us of 2002 Gujarat riots (1984 doesn’t exist, nor do other countless riots post 1947) and AAPians have to rant about janlokpal, RTI and Radadiya.

Why? Because nobody pays any attention to the other ideas which Modi shared. Now for example, in today’s speech he spoke about the shortage of medical colleges and the dearth of trained, well qualified doctors in India. But I dare you to show me one tweet, one debate, one news program discussing that issue. It just shows how responsible we are as citizens of India and how much do we care about its progress beyond the usual jingoism and chest thumping patriotism. Leave alone act, we cannot even discuss real issues without being condescending towards the counter view. And till we develop that level of neutrality, that level of intellect, no matter how many Kejriwal’s come and go, no matter how many years Modi stays PM and no matter how educated is our youth force, we will never progress the way we must. We will remain a nation of bright minds with a dark future. 

That is an intelligent truth and 'The Truth' always hurts!!