Mahatma146;s gesture

A heart-warming scene in Attenborough8217;s Gandhi, has the Mahatma lending his loincloth to a semi-naked woman bathing in the open. The me...

A heart-warming scene in Attenborough8217;s Gandhi, has the Mahatma lending his loincloth to a semi-naked woman bathing in the open. The messiah8217;s gesture, captured so beautifully, symbolises a colossus who cared.

That scene came back to me as TV channels choked us with graphic close-ups of the Lucknow deaths. Broken barricades, upturned chairs, asphyxiated souls, wailing relatives and all this for a five-yard sari. An India, projected as the next Asian tiger, actually hollow from within. A country where families 8220;feeling good8221; storm city malls and shopping plazas, while millions cannot afford some decent clothes.

The shining side is just the creation of the ad gurus. The other side is still an area of darkness. And it8217;s this seamy side that politicians across the spectrum exploit, time and again. They have a vested interest in perpetuating poverty. 8220;It costs a lot to keep Mahatma Gandhi poor,8221; was the wry comment in pre-independent India. 8220;It pays a lot to keep the masses poor,8221; seems to be the contemporary version.

Desperation seeks desperate measures. And it was desperation that drove those unfortunate women to Lalji Tandon8217;s birthday bash. Indian politicians. have perfected the art of lip service and tokenism.

So a Laloo Prasad Yadav happily makes the production of tadi toddy tax-free, but will not create alternative jobs for the lakhs of paasis a backward community in Bihar engaged traditionally in the toddy business. A Mulayam Singh Yadav announces a half-day holiday on Fridays, but has nothing to offer to the swelling ranks of the educated unemployed Muslim youth in his state. And a Lalji Tandon remembers underprivileged women on his birthday, but doesn8217;t have any programme for their upliftment. When a politician8217;s hearts start to bleed, you may be sure an election is in the air.

Some may argue that a sari costing a mere Rs 100 is not a thing to die for. It8217;s like telling a starving man not to run after a loaf of bread. For those who have but tatters, the promise of a free five-yard piece of cloth is irresistible. You only have to visit the deprived corners dotting the prime minister8217;s pet Golden Quadrilateral to find out how little of the 8220;feel good8221; factor has trickled down to them.

Sadly, Monday8217;s tragedy at Lucknow may get repeated elsewhere. At a poll rally at Patna8217;s historic Gandhi Maidan in the 1980s, 8216;Shotgun8217; Shatrughan Sinha, in his inimitable style, declared: 8220;Congresswalle khilayenge, pilayenge aur pehnayenge. Sab lijiye lekin BJP ko vote dijiye8221; the Congress will offer you free food, clothes and liquor. Grab them, but vote for the BJP. The politics of doles refuses to go. As does the abject poverty.

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And we don8217;t have a Mahatma to offer his loincloth to the wretched.