STORM STOOPERS

 

 

JUST as it is said that entertainment sells more than a strong story, it seems that controversies are keeping the people busy these days. Everyone seems to be finding opportunity in controversies to express political, social, cultural, ideological, financial, and even spiritual convictions. Unfortunately, very few appear to be open-minded enough to find a moment to think whether all this noise is doing any good towards enhancing the quality of their day to day life. Take the latest example of the row over ‘Tirupati Balaji Prasadam’. The row erupted with the allegations of fish oil and beef tallow in the ingredient used for making of the ‘laddoo’ at the revered temple of the Hindus. Soon, it assumed political overtones.

 

Charges flew from this side and that side.What started off as an issue that hurt religious sentiments of Hindus, soon snowballed into a political slugfest. Soon, the opinion got divided. Who had issued the tender? To whom was it awarded? Why ‘X’ company’s tender was given to ‘Y’ company? These questions sprang up as the controversy grew bigger. Gradually, ‘prasadam’ at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple at Ayodhya and other places of worship also came into focus. Meanwhile, the Indian economy kept growing. The IsraelHamas conflict turned into Israel-Hezbollah conflict, placing the world on the brink of war. Meanwhile, Lokayukta registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Karnataka Chief Minister Mr. Siddaramaiah and others in Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case. And, Karnataka withdrew general consent to Central Bureau of Investigation. But, ‘Prasadam’ row prevailed over these issues that merited wider discussion owing to the allegations of involvement of people in positions of power. Misuse of power affects every citizen. But, everybody loves a good controversy, perhaps! Prior to ‘Prasadam’ row, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi visiting the residence of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and performing ‘aarti’ of Lord Ganesh had stirred another short-lived controversy. As soon as the images appeared on social media, comments poured in -- questioning Mr. Modi as also the CJI.

 

There are some controversy creators too -- some political leaders often making inciting statements on television or lesser-known stars wearing obscene outfits. These statements and outfits are aimed at stirring new controversies. Unfortunately, most television channels lap up every possible opportunity to give a political twist to attempts of needless controversies. Soon, ‘debates’ are organised where anchors raise voice and multiple people speak at a time or counter each other. Whatever is being marketed as ‘debate’ today on television channels aims at creating mountain out of a molehill. In the process, people forget the fine difference between shrillness as a byproduct of controversy and composure inherent in any well-reasoned debate.

 

The controversies on non-issues just help in passing time, without enriching or enlightening anyone. For, controversies are stirred by people who wish to be in the limelight for their own gains or by unseen elements who wish to keep people ‘engaged’ instead of ‘informed’. Many in today’s highly politicised society willingly stoop to the level of enjoying storms in teacups. Since the invasion of social media on the public sense and sensibilities, it has become easier for controversy-mongers to give political overtones to each and every debate. The socialmedia-verse is always hungry for new controversies, to trigger a flash flood of ‘opinions’, garnished by old comments dug out from the trash-mountain of previous posts, and flavoured with ugly and unwarranted political twists. All these serve nothing except adding fuel to fire. Surprisingly, all these things vanish from the scene as soon as something newer comes up. Again, the chain reaction starts. The pattern reminds one of weighing machine at railway stations in which one has to just put in a coin and stand on the platform.

 

As soon as the machine gulps the coin, several things move inside the machine, and what comes out is a card showing one’s weight. But, till then, the person standing on the machine platform can get engrossed in watching the colourful wheel in the machine move. The controversies today are like that. They suddenly crop up, setting in motion the wheels of uncalibrated commentary, assume different colours, keep the people engaged by dividing their opinion. Meanwhile, those who trigger the controversies or the politicians, seize the opportunity of misguiding the confused society in this or that direction. The confused society is prone to crystallising its stereotypes and get trapped deeper with every new controversy. Ultimately, the misguided men act like guided missiles hitting political targets for the ones who fire them. No doubt, some people continue with their pursuit of understanding an issue even through the choppy waters of controversies, but their number is very low. India has had a great culture of debates. Sadly, it has been looked down upon as ‘boring’ or‘preachy’.Through that great culture of debates, a body of thought evolved and got passed on from one generation to another as collective wisdom. The world has started ‘enjoying’ deafening DJ music, instead of melodious music warming up heats. In this world of today, sadly, the intellectual and composed debates appear to have drowned in the consecutive waves of needless controversies. A growing country like India, that is, Bharat, cannot afford to allow such love for controversies stunt the intellectual growth of her people and see them unnecessarily turn into storm stoopers.