Politics in India was once a stern moral drama. Today, it has become a ribald vaudeville, full of scandal and pantomime. Politics was always a game. Now it has become an ugly game and a soap opera. Media constructs have become crucial for success. The barrier between gamers and politicians has collapsed.

As George Orwell had predicted, India has descended into an age in which two plus two makes five if the lider maximo so says. The delimitation gamble was a “paradigm dressed in epic”. The government thought it had the wind at its back and, hence, could get the bill passed. In the end, it turned out to be the pantomime of the absurd. Thanks to the adroit use of social media, the poison tree, the BJP government has honed the skill to distract, isolate, inveigle and anaesthetise the people on several of its controversial decisions, including demonetisation, its handling of Covid, and the abrogation of Article 370.

A large number of people have become victims of pious claptrap, lapping up loopy ideas. Citizens are seen as conscripted soldiers and petitioners, not partners. The government has sought to make a complete merger of the nation with the state. It seeks to win dazzled admiration through new-fangled PR stunts.

The curated reality creates a distorted view of things. Filters, editing, and selective sharing create an illusion, and the gap between appearance and reality grows wider. The Modi government sought to get the delimitation bill passed in Parliament clothed in women’s quota attire. It is only itself to blame for its failure to bulldoze........

© Free Press Journal