The largest set of statues in the world and the prospects of a grand temple does give us surplus enjoyment. It bestows a feeling that we have overcome all hurdles and climbed the last peak. Hence, there is a sense that everything will fall in place. All our enemies are subdued. Now we can take our rightful rest and enjoy a sense of surplus . The pleasure provided by a sense that we have finally put things in their place is powerful. One cannot discern its intoxicating deception. It is a surplus overload. It makes us blind. Although, we celebrate ourselves as a society of choice, unfortunately the only choice that we have is to offer no choice to the other , the poor , the minority, the dalit , the tribal and the women. This is a consequence of the consumerist capitalist society that we are building in the name of development. Axel Honneth in his book, The Idea of Socialism depicts our situation vividly. He states that capitalism produces dissatisfaction which explodes into rage and anger. But it is less and less possible to articulate this rage into a leftist political project . He says that the growing rage is getting more and more articulated into a program in the guise of rightist popularisms. This is why both capitalism and rage it generates can stay together as the rage is then expressed against a pseudo-demon. This is why maybe we have to think critically and ask difficult questions concerning the politics of Statues and the temple that is being played out in our country . Is that politics is a false satisfaction that we derive resulting from a deflection of the rage that is generated by the crony capitalism that is being set up in our country in the name of development? Is not the religious –nationalist fundamentalism grounded in fake economic nationalism a result of rage generated by capitalism that is growing around us? This is why it is very difficult to dislodge the authoritarian regime of the rightwing led by BJP although everyone seem to know its failure.
We need a new enlightenment in our country to delink ourselves from the false hopes given by the ruling Party. If we do not initiate steps to check our mindless acceptance of unfreedoms, one might say in the words of J.M. Keynes that ‘in the long term we are all dead’. But we have with us the ordinary people who can spring forth many surprises in the short term because despite their promises, the right wing does not seem to have the ability to deliver economic development for all. How long the bubble of the austerity politics over the poor masses and extravaganza for the powerful elite will last is not a difficult question. But to bust that bubble we will have to discern that the light at the end of the tunnel that the rightwing shows in nothing but the head light of another train which is coming in the opposite direction to crush us all. We need courage of hope to think in this hopeless condition. The light at the end of tunnel is the false hope and deception. We have several such lights that are fooling us. They are best called jumlas. With ‘ache dhin’ showing no sign of coming our vote last time became nothing but an oncoming engine that crushed all our hopes. But are we ready to learn our lessons ? Why can the series of statues and the temple politics be another head light of an oncoming train that will only electorally benefit the right wing and help their cronies? We will have to discern how the headlights of approaching engines that enkindle false hope in us are going to destroy us. Otherwise nothing can stop us from selling ourselves into neo-slavery via ballot.
To walk the path of freedom, we will have to discern the performative effects of the politics of statues and temple. It has the power to enslave us into mindless voting back the failed BJP into power . The performative effects of the politics of the rightwing that deflects our rage generated by the capitalism at play in our country will enslave us both economically , politically and socially . Our free country is in danger of being plunged into a series of unfreedoms . We have already a fore taste of it. The politics of the vigilante groups is another mask for the rage emanating from capital-centric development. The rage produced by the capital-centric development takes various forms and can be critically discerned. As far the politics of the rightwing is concerned, it seems that it allows us to have our cake and eat it at the same time. Thus, we can have Capitallo-centric development and also deflect the rage on innocent victims like the minorities, women, dalits and others. But in the long run we are all doomed. What we need is not break with the past but break with the present that is using the past to divide and rule. The brutal present needs to be reinvented. It is not in turning to the ways of the rightwing as Rahul Gandhi of the Congress seems to do these days by posing as a devout Hindu. We will have to discern how the rightwing and capitalism preys on the commons of our culture, commons of our nature and commons of our human nature. The commons of our culture is homogenized and narrowed into hindutva which is used to attack the commons of creation while we forget the commons of human nature when hate and kill each other. Discerning how all our commons are under attack of the unholy alliance of the rightwing and crony capitalists might open us ways of contestation and may assist us to understand , analyse and respond to the rage produced by capital-centric development that we have embraced. It is only in the breaking with the poisonous chain of the present that we can save our country.