Two Versions

Two Versions

There is a distinct disconnect between the Government and the Governed in India. The former drifts, flounders, feathers its own nest; and the latter suffers patiently or not so patiently.

The Governed are decidedly victims of extremely poor Governance, even in the midst of high growth rates lately; in a phenomenon similar to that which prevails in neighbouring China. There too, the majority of the numerous people, on a per capita basis, are very poor, while the single Communist Party ruled Government and nation is certainly well off, and the fastest growing economy in the world to boot. But then, ours, almost equally populous, is also the second fastest growing economy.

Still, this complaint is not only about neglected and disenchanted tribals turned Maoist, disgruntled Islamists turned terrorist, emasculated middle classes turned into grumbling nonentities; or ever growing numbers of poor people robbed of every shred of their dignity!

After all, this, and more along these lines, has proved so intractable to our successive Governments as to almost seem old hat. And being in a ruling party near majority in UPA II seems paradoxically to have made the quality of Governance worse. And this has in turn bewildered and belied all the high hopes of the electorate that chose not to return a typically blackmailing, regionally focussed multi-party coalition to the Centre this time.

But things are undeniably worse than in UPA I, plagued as it was by its 60 seat wielding Communist allies. And worse also than when the Opposition many party NDA combine ruled, under the sage and popular  Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. This then must be complacency; bred perhaps by a reduced threat perception about the possibility of being unseated. Otherwise, it is indicative of the cluelessness of two leaders, or is it three, at the top, all naïve at best, about the nuts and bolts of Governance.  

This lament is also not just about corruption, though it has grown sufficiently brazen and all pervasive to put us in the leading ranks of corrupt nations worldwide. The Commonwealth Games coming up are in undeniable danger of turning into an expensive and embarrassing fiasco. And for sheer looting, shoddy workmanship and dangerous callousness, it has already plumbed heretofore unfathomed depths of depravity.

No, it is time to recognise that our political classes, the bureaucracy and other arms of Government have been left behind. They are simply unable to keep up with the demands of a resurgent India. And everything under their sway, which is altogether too much for them to cope with, is suffering. Vital matters such as Defence and Agriculture are in bad shape.  So are the entire gamut of state administered Education, Health, Natural Resources, Law & Order and Basic Infrastructure.

It has always been so in independent India. But the state of affairs was less glaring when the Government used to shackle private enterprise so tightly that they could barely function. Then everything was at a near standstill anyway. But now, the private sector has pulled away since 1991, and is today responsible for all the bright spots on the national landscape. Practically all of the growth in annual GDP figures and most of the lucrative employment opportunities are in the private domain, particularly if the unorganised sector is included in the calculations.

Through it all, the mystery wrapped up in the enigma of Indian Governance today is an insidious myth of spurious aam aadmiism. This is ruthlessly promoted, looking however, not really for equity or justice or upliftment, but for a constituency of stable votes.

It is reminiscent of the failure of Communism not just in West Bengal and Kerala, but around the globe, including in the most durable Fidel Castro’s Cuba, starving at America’s doorstep, all in its ostensible championing of the poor.  

It is also reminiscent of the riddles of revisionism that sometimes plague history and legend alike. For example, coming down to us from the 9^th century, there is a persistent and fascinating legend about the existence of a female Pope,  remembered as Pope Joan, who successfully masqueraded as a man (John or Johannes), all the way from a mere provincial monk to the exalted Seat of St. Peter in Rome.

This, of course is denied absolutely by the Vatican as scurrilous untruth, particularly as the sex of the Papess was only outed when she went into a labour of childbirth while leading a Papal Procession. She was, predictably, torn to pieces by an outraged mob.  

But the legend of Pope Joan is a compelling story, and two feature films have been made about it. The first, from 1972, was directed by Michael Anderson, and its screenplay was written by one John Briley, who also wrote one for Richard Attenborough’s multiple Oscar winning film on Mahatma Gandhi in the eighties.

The other version, also titled Pope Joan, is a multi-national and detailed production, from 2009. The older film, from 1972, is somewhat glamorised with the beauteous Liv Ullman in the title role, but the newer one is a serious attempt to capture the ignorance, superstition and brutality of the “Dark Ages” when Christianity, even Roman Catholicism, with its considerable orthodoxies, was not quite as settled into its groove.

Contextually, there are several titillations. Celibacy was by no means universally practiced by the clergy. Nor was the Church a neutral observer in matters worldly though the sword and guile was used in a manner different from the Papal diplomacy of today. Some might say, even in matters sexual, things haven’t changed very much.

Pope Joan features also on Tarot Cards, immortalised as “The Papess”. But then, Tarot Cards have always been a vehicle for a coded history imbued also with a number of fascinating Hindu (Kali), Hebrew/Kaballah and Romany Gypsy influences; woven in holistically to enhance the powerful mysticism of its fortune-telling propensities in the hands of a good reader.   

But the most telling part of the narrative on Pope Joan is to do with what is permissible to history. And there, Pope Joan, like the incompetence of Indian Governance, is simply not officially acknowledged. Our politicians and bureaucrats, our judges, municipalities and policemen, likewise admit to nothing. And as long as they can get away with this kind of stone-walling and lack of accountability, nothing substantive can change for the majority of people in this country.

(1,055 words)

September 8^th, 2010

Gautam Mukherjee