I am astounded and appalled by how much devastation one single man can cause. Look at what that one man’s ego has wrought upon the world – Trump’s.
He started his second term with the madcap caper of tariffs. These have now been declared illegal by the highest court of USA, but not before they created absolute mayhem across the world. Trade, commerce, business, normal living, even art, music and literature flourish under conditions of stability. This mad man has made life hell for every single person on earth.
He attacked Iran for no rhyme or reason. He has great difficulty acknowledging to himself that he made a monumental blunder. Now, the whole world is besieged with stagflation. Economies of all the countries including the United States have taken a severe hit. All prices are high; there’s severe scarcity of essentials; stock markets have tanked; travel and tourism have taken a nosedive – if by some remote chance, the guy calms down today, it’ll take at least a decade from now for the things to get back to normal.
His ego needs constant feeding. In his warped mind, he has been the best thing since sliced bread. Or probably even before that, since he posted a photo of himself as Jesus Christ after pooh poohing the Pope. He renamed the Kennedy Center, a national cultural center as Trump-Kennedy Center (now declared illegal). He has issued a Trump Gold Card for fast-tracking visa applications in exchange for USD 1 million. There’s now preparation to issue USD 250 notes with Trump’s face on them.
Till date, he has attacked or threatened to attack or hasn’t ruled out attacking at least 15 countries, i.e., one out of every 13 countries or one out of every 11 persons on the planet. He kidnapped the head of Venezuela – and his wife, for good measure. Every other day, he threatens to take over Cuba. He wants Canada as the 51st state of USA. He wants to “acquire” Greenland. It doesn’t occur to him that these are not mere real estate patches; flesh-and-blood human beings live there. There are reports that due to the U.S. sanctions, Cubans have got down to cooking with wood and charcoal. Much of Iran is without electricity. I have detailed in an earlier blog the impact in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc. which have no connection with Trump’s wars.
Back home too, see how much has been destroyed, thanks to another person. See what all have now become normalised. Every single thing, every single space is polarised now, whether it is every WhatsApp space, every family discourse, where one sits in the hostel mess, even the colour of a dress of Deepika Padukone in a movie.
Somehow, complete unaccountability of the Prime Minister and the Ministers has become completely normal. The Prime Minister visits so many countries with our hard-earned money but doesn’t bother to inform us through the Parliament or the Press as to why he visited and what was achieved to benefit us. The Prime Minister not talking to the Press is somehow normal. So is his barely attending Parliament, that too only for a performance. Apparently, it is a matter of pride that none of the Ministers ever resigns even despite serious security lapses like Pulwama; Manipur burning for years now; so many national examinations getting cancelled resulting in lakhs of students’ future being in jeopardy and 23 students having committed suicides; 90,000 govt schools closed in 10 years; a train accident (2023) leaving 296 dead and 1,200 injured.
Also normalised are vindictive arrests and blockades to squelch dissent or an alternative point of view. Thus, there are 32 criminal cases filed against the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha; Chief Ministers get arrested and later get acquitted by Courts conveniently after elections; Police even harasses small kids in school for acting in a play. News anchors are coerced into jumping up and down the moment anything critical is uttered against the government.
Apparently, the government and its troll army would decide what one would wear, what one would eat, even who one can or cannot love. Non-existent love-jihad gets made into films, promoted by the Prime Minister and the Ministers. Trolls, anti-Romeo squads, cow-vigilantes – all have absolute immunity from the long arm of the law. Being a member of a minority group is a sin and the ultimate crime, the status being somewhere between cockroaches and termites.
A journalist dares to ask a question. Take down her X account, her Instagram account; doxx her personal details, phone no. and email id; make her bikini pictures viral. A satirical website gets massive traction – take it down; threaten the founder and his family members with annihilation, with complete impunity. Democratic liberalism, religious freedom and institutional reliability are a thing of the past. India is absent from the high table making major international decisions and is irrelevant.
A Prime Minister plugging a commercial product from the front pages of newspapers or promoting trashy, polarising movies or going around the world soliciting business for a corporate house or promoting another Head of State from a political platform abroad does not raise any eyebrows. Any communal disturbance used to be considered the highest government failure. Now, the government encouraging and using communal disturbance as a policy tool to brutalise minorities is considered normal. Scientific temper is slowly getting eviscerated out from institutions devoted to science, to be replaced by everyday obscurantism like the existence and rampant use of internet, spacecraft, satellite communication and plastic surgery during Vedic times.
Democracy is not a natural order of things. It takes
decades and centuries to build and nurture. And, it can get blown away by one
single person. In seconds.
