By Gulal Salil:
I still don’t understand why people of India felt so bad when Robert Vadra called us a banana republic.
A Banana Republic is defined as – “a politically unstable country that economically depends upon the exports of a limited resource (fruits, minerals), and usually features a society composed of stratified social classes, such as a great, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy, composed of the élites of business, politics, and the military.” — Wikipedia.
I ask you, which feature of this definition do we not match with?
A politically unstable country – Check.
Usually features a society with stratified social classes – Check.
Such as a great, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy – Check.
Economically depends upon the exports of a limited resource (fruits, minerals) – Well, not exactly.
So, when someone calls us a banana republic, why do we get fueled with anger? Why does Arnab Goswami take that as a point of conflict for the whole nation, and keep on grinding it till he redefines its meaning, and makes us lose our touch with reality yet again? And from there on, why does everyone start fighting over some lost sense of purpose, over confused notions of how India is?
Of course it is a banana republic. Why shouldn’t it be called so? In our country, where the so-called intellectual, and active youth, which is glorified to a higher level of modernity, progressiveness and intelligence, starts looking forward to Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister of the country forgetting the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Where the fight against corruption becomes a fight against Congress, when almost everyone in the arena of politics is corrupt. Where a fundamentally non-secular party (in its very own manifesto) – the BJP – is being made to rise as the next Central Government.
Where the PM of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh keeps lull, Sonia Gandhi runs the government through the PM Puppet, and Rahul Gandhi displays his overly love for the public. Where Mamata Didi gets people arrested over their display of freedom of speech through a comic. Where two girls get arrested over a facebook post. Where Bombay goes into a bandh over the death of a big time, but again, a nonsecular leader. Where women folk are disallowed to enter Haji Ali in Bombay, after a fatwa from the Muslim Board. Where five year olds are raped in daylight and only some are reported.
Where, I, logged into Facebook, Â post this as a meaningless status, agreeing to the fact that India is a banana republic, while I do nothing about it in action apart from writing expecting people to act after getting supposedly moved by this.
Where we riot over a confused rationale, with a perplexed sense of agenda. And slowly drift off into entirely becoming just the labour force for the plutocracy. And then feel satisfied with our menial jobs, and fall towards complacency as we get the lowest of the expected results, after raising our so-called voices against the ruler.
Arnab Goswami, I am an unimportant person, so you won’t consider me as such, but you are free to grind me over for this nonsensical public spectacle I’ve made.