The family and the fall guy

Okay. So we are done with burning Ravan’s effigies across India. And at least a few people in this country are in a celebratory mood knowing they earn more than `32 a day. As we prepare for the annual festival of lights (even a single, decorated diya costs more than those measly 32 bucks!) and discuss the victory of good over evil for the 900th time, we are fooling nobody. Least of all, ourselves.

Let’s face it, we are in a mess. A terrible mess. Chachu Chids and Bodo-da Pranab can hold hands in public, even kiss and pretend to make up. But sorry… their overstated bonhomie has come through as a patently false and very unconvincing patch-up. The kind one associates with high-profile, warring Bollywood couples who appear together on reality shows to promote a new film, but dash back to their vanity vans the moment the shoot ends, to continue snapping and snarling in private. This sort of a spat would have been unthinkable a couple of decades ago.
Politicos have always waged bitter battles against colleagues, but never in the public domain. Such incidents were shrewdly handled behind closed doors, much like joint family feuds. That two of the most astute and powerful men in the Cabinet decided to slug it out in such a khullam-khulla manner suggests just one thing — there’s nobody in charge at the top of the heap. Anarchy within families generally gets out of hand when the patriarch or the matriarch is too weak to arbitrate and restore order. It looks like the present scenario in Delhi is similar. The Patriarch (Manmohan Singh) looked and sounded bewildered, even overwhelmed by the sudden outbreak of hostilities within the fold. While the Matriarch (Sonia Gandhi) was recuperating overseas, and not in a position to intervene when required. By the time Mrs Gandhi came back and took control, the damage had already been done. That she asserted herself immediately on her return, says a lot about her complete and absolute control over the unwieldy party that has been bogged down by indiscipline and ego issues for quite a while. The two jhagda-jhagdi stalwarts eventually managed a small face (and party-) -saving photo-op, plus, issued loaded statements that required no decoding. By then, the chattering classes had drawn their own conclusions.
Dekho bhai, life is ajeeb. And has a gajab kahani. But when those who run the show start behaving like errant schoolboys squabbling in a football maidan, even the most loyal supporters realise that the bimari is far more widespread than it appears.
Since the tough and enduring fabric of India has remained consistently intact because of the reverence we possess for the Great Indian Family system, it is but natural that we should suffer from a case of instant disorientation and experience a deep sense of disillusionment when the head of the parivar is seen as a kamzhor individual — someone whose authority means not a thing.
At such crisis points, our belief in the maa-baap system (that has kept us together for centuries) gets rudely shaken. Without a wise, mature, caring, strong Pitaji and Mataji, the family structure becomes scarily dheela. Problems start. Tiffs happen. Family disintegrates. Nobody wants that. Not even Dr Singh’s detractors. He was India’s nominated Father Figure. A benign head of the family we believed in for the longest time. He just seemed better than the rest. Morally superior. Above and beyond corrupt practices, no, even corrupt thoughts. A man India could trust. Rely on. Not terribly ambitious. But sober, soft spoken and non-threatening. Someone capable of handling the many personalities and thin-skinned colleagues in the chaotic coalition that was clobbered together (and has miraculously survived so far). Let’s hand it to him — Dr Singh “managed”, where several others might have failed. His job description was never as sexy as Mr Chidambaram’s or Pranabda’s. And the poor man was willy-nilly reduced to playing the role of Mrs Gandhi’s chosen courtier. This couldn’t have been much fun for the celebrated economist, frequently credited with having turned India’s economy around. But such was the rather
unenviable image and positioning he was stuck with. Despite that, he acquitted himself reasonably well. Till the recent debacle.
It’s time for our favourite Patriarch to go back to being the man India loves to trust. It’s a pretty difficult expectation to live up to. But if anybody can pull it off, it’s our blue turbaned friend. We like the familiar. Dr Singh is the familiar… the familiar fall guy. We’d like him even more if he stopped playing the fall guy and started kicking butt. How about it, Sir-ji?

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