Age of Arrogance

For most humans in this world, it is reasonable to say that arrogance is a decreasing function of age. But not for Balasaheb Thackeray, the abominable demagogue of my city. If one were able to somehow measure arrogance and multiply it with age for all the people in this world, I'm sure he'll be the top third world contender. A couple of days ago he celebrated his 82nd birthday and there was the usual arraying of the city with his posters and an overdose of saffron. I read a TOI article where the Sena chief made the following comment on Modi's arrival in Bombay:

Maharashtra will not accept anybody. States have been divided on linguistic basis. Modi has got Gujarat. Mayawati got Uttar Pradesh. Leave Maharashtra to us. In Maharashtra, only the Shiv Sena pattern will work.

Plaguing a city dying to maintain its pluralism with the politics of alienation will no doubt leave more than bad tastes in mouths. It is true that Modi is no angel and it is only fitting that we have an in-house goonda who, with whatever life is left in him, will try his best to keep a behemoth away. But coming back to the title of this post, it is interesting how the polemics and propaganda of people like Thackeray and Modi can move a people from liberalism to extreme bigotry. And this shift has nothing to do with class, caste or creed. Fear that does not have a logical reason behind itself always hits below the belt and one immediately turns to the demon for refuge and counsel, who in turn fuels and nourishes one's bondage to an ideology favorable to himself. And in a state such as Maharashtra which is a hot bed when it comes to issues like farmer suicides, rural unemployment, undernourishment; where more than 70% of the state's commerce are channeled through a chip of a land on its west coast, with immigrants from other parts of India holding a much bigger share of the economic opportunities over the natives; a state where linguistic intolerance has penetrated itself deep into the psyche of the common man manifesting itself as a fear of the invader. And it is but natural that when an old hyena like Thackeray comes up with statements like "All residential buildings constructed henceforth must have 50% reservations for the marathi manoos", the marathi manoos naturally feels reassured of his identity thanks to the loud mouthed crusader who can afford to parade in a lions coat. And as Orwell portrays, if the plebeians act like sheep, then it is in the politician's advantage to act pigheaded.

On a different note, when I read an article in these days, I invariably end up judging the quality of prose and structure, noticing grammar errors and also the general layout of the newspaper. A paper like TOI goes out of its way to boost and nourish the ego of an insignificant editor like myself. Now that it is possible to move blocks of prose here and there you commonly find articles that defy the form of an essay in every possible way; absence of a clear flow of thought, tortuous constructions and pedestrian language are common. For instance, the article that I mentioned in this post was titled 'Only Sena pattern will work in state, says Thackeray' and its last paragraph was the following:

Thackeray predicted that Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf would be assassinated. On the occasion of his birthday, Thackeray released a book on the Sena by senior party leader Manohar Joshi.