What does India need urgently?
An Icon.
Not the icon of of just a religious or a display nature, but
a Symbol. An Indian who stands for
something. All societies and nations
need an Idea or Person or something, to which they can believe, and
internalize. Something which can give
Identity, a sense of togetherness, something that rises above the petty divisions
of caste and creed, community and religion.
Without this symbol, we Indians are doomed to fight our petty
internecine battles – never to rise above the pitfalls of our diversity.
We have given up on our politicos (barring a very small
minority), to be an Icon. For these few,
it is a struggle against the entrenched bloated crass set, collectively
encompassing the legislature and the bureaucracy. We’ve seen cases of judicial activism – but
the judiciary cannot take the place of the legislature. Our intelligentsia set is no good, endlessly
debating various logic to their bitter end, or paralysis by analysis, if you
must. This makes people escape to sports-persons (cricketers?) and/ or movie – and TV – persona, good in their
fields, but not suitable enough to transcend barriers and inspire policy.
An Icon, when when he or she emerges will unite our hopes,
desires, loves and fears. The identity
forged therein will transcend our current identities of region/ religion. And make them irrelevant.
The time is ripe for our Icon.
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