{"id":2665,"date":"2021-05-26T07:10:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T01:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/?p=2665"},"modified":"2021-05-26T07:10:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T01:25:05","slug":"where-is-vidur-today-vivekanand-jha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/where-is-vidur-today-vivekanand-jha.html","title":{"rendered":"Where is Vidur today ? : Vivekanand Jha"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inevitability of Vidurs’ in every age and era–Why the absence of Vidurs’ in today’s politics is so palpably felt.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vivekanand Jha, RNchi. As I watched the proceedings in the court of Dhritrashtra, in
\nHastinapur, on the ongoing repeat of serial Mahabharta, where the
\nepitome of wisdom, Vidurjee, the Prime Minister of the king
\nDhritrashtra, I could hardly help but marvel at the outspokenness of
\nthe man who, despite all the court members, many of whom were the Yug
\nPurush like Ganga Putra Bhisma, Acharya Dronacharya and Kripacharya,
\nmaintaining an enigmatic silence at the demoralising and morally
\ndegenerating spectacle of Duryodhana’s naked exhibition of
\nhegemonistic jingoism, when he had ordered his brother Dushashan to
\ndisrobe Draupadi, stood out as the flag bearer of the social values
\nthat a decent and civilised society would champion. But then I
\nwondered, why wouldn’t Vidur, like other wise members who deemed
\nsilence as their potent weapon to escape Duryodhana’s ire, would have
\nabstained from so strongly protesting the outraging of the modesty of
\nthe queen Draupadi, so as to continue to curry favour with the tyrant,
\nDuryodhana? After all, I wondered, what benefits did Vidur get, in the
\nwake of lashing out at notorious Duryodhana? But then the realisation soon dawned on
\nme: Those who are really enlightened, cannot simply be the
\ncheerleaders for an action that transgressed moral and ethical
\ncompass that society had already fixed as its Lakshman Rekha. Hence in
\nthe given backdrop, the action of Vidur, notwithstanding the enigmatic
\nsilence of others, was compatible with the behavioural conduct of an
\nenlightened man who speaks truth, irrespective of consequences. No
\nwonder Vidur’s outbursts, in the wake of breach of Lakshman Rekha, by
\nthe Kaurvas, warranted men of conscience, let alone those who held the
\nreputation of being Yug Purush, to rise in instant protests against
\nthe misdeeds that were unleashed in Dhritrastra’s Durbar. However,
\nanother question continued to trouble me: After all, what was the
\noutcome of Vidur’s strongly lodging his vehement protests against the
\nonslaughts unleashed against the weak woman who, given the
\ncircumstances encircling her, was far hapless to insulate herself from
\nthe humiliation that she was subjected to? On the other hand, if
\nBidur, suppressing his moral and ethical urge, had reconciled to act
\nin a docile manner, feigning not sighting the horrible sight of
\ndisrobing of Draupadi, as other novels present there did, would he not
\nthen, guided by sheer expediency, have remained mute and consequently
\nwould have earned the deluge of encomiums from Dhritrashtra as well as Duryodhana? However, Bidur chose to do otherwise, he, far from being
\npetrified into silence, reacted sharply against the ongoing crisis of
\nhuman values in the society and consequently set a precedent for the
\nhuman society that should learn to protest against the erosion of
\nmoral and ethical values.<\/p>\n

Chanakya was a Bidur to Chandragupta Maurya. He would stand as a
\nbulwark against any moral injunction placed for the welfare of the
\nsociety Many a times, Chanakya would simply prevail upon the killer
\ninstinct of Chandragupta Maurya, and even participated in perpetrating
\ncrimes that the civilised society would feel detestable and
\nabhorrent. It so happened that Chanakya, since Chandragupta’s boyhood
\ndays, would inject poison in him to make him stronger. Once, albeit by
\nmistake, Chandragupta’s queen, mother of Bindusar, had erroneously
\nconsumed the poison, resulting in her instant death. Incidentally, the
\nqueen then, was in advanced pregnancy, and Chankaya, rather in an
\ninordinate exercise of blunt cruelty or blatant insensitivity, ordered
\nthe piercing of the stomach of the queen to take out the foetus.
\nBindusar was born in that unconventional manner. Therefore, a version
\ngoes that Bindusar never forgave Acharya Chanakya for the same, and
\nwas reported to have him killed at the later stage. Also, Bindusar,
\nnever had a close affinity with his father Chandragupta and
\nconsequently never took any step in building a large monument for his
\nfather on his death spot–Chandragupta Maurya died while living a life
\nof a hermit in Karnataka, in a cave where he meditated. Barring this
\naberration, Chanakaya always acted as Vidur whenever it came to
\nprotecting the interest of Magdha. Even, while ordering for the taking
\nof foetus from the bosom of queen, Chankaya was overwhelmingly
\nconcerned with the legitimate heir to Chansragupta Maurya.<\/p>\n

India, in the wake of independence, chose Parliamentary democracy
\nwhere the Prime Minister was the head of the state( the ceremonial
\nrole of President as the constitutional head of the republic
\nnotwithstanding). Starting from Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru to Dr Manmohan
\nSingh, had appropriately comprehended and adequately appreciated the
\nrole of Vidurs’ in their midst. Interestingly, in a democracy too, the
\nauthoritarian streaks of leaders, if not kept in balance, degenerate
\ninto fascism in no time. Indira Gandhi, during emergency, intoxicated
\nby the feelings of her own indispensability, the very inevitability of
\nVidurs’ in politics, was kept in abeyance, if not swept aside.
\nNonetheless, Indira trusted her close lieutenants who breached her
\ntrust–Siddhartha Shankar Roy, her close confidante, who helped her in
\ndrafting of the Emergency proclamation–disowned her in no time when
\nMorarji government had started the witch hunting exercise. But even in
\ndistress, Indira had respectfully followed the advice and counsels of
\nher Private Secretary P.N.Haksar who, like Vidur, always stood between
\nher and the masses. he would even fight with the mighty Prime Minister
\nwhenever he thought Indira Gandhi was going in the wrong tracks.
\nIndira Gandhi, despite her well known hubris, could seldom ignore the
\ncounsels of Haksar. Indira had even trusted Pranab Mukherjee, who
\nclaimed to have graduated into politics only learning under her
\nleadership where he worked as India’s Finance Minister. No wonder
\nIndira Gandhi, despite her despotic attitude at times, suitably
\nrecognised and accommodated the role of Vdurs’ in presiding over the
\nstate of affairs of the nation.<\/p>\n

21st Century World, in bizarre uniformity, has produced the galaxy of
\nleaders who are omniscient themselves. Starting from Trump, the
\npresident of the most powerful nation—presently China is seeking its
\nown claim over the tag of being the most powerful nation on earth, in
\nthe post- Corona phase–thinks that Corona virus can be contained by
\ninjecting the bleech in the bodies of patients. Such is the audacity
\nof these jokers that they even do not consult their advisers before
\nuttering such nuisance. Back home, we have an omnipotent and
\nomnipresent Prime Minister whose access to infinite is barely on his
\nfinger tips—recall how our mighty Yogi, in the guise of Prime
\nMinister, with the full camera view, reconciles to go for meditation
\nin Kedarnath cave, just after the General Election. Alas, I wonder,
\nhad there been no cameras to click, would the mighty Yogi, wrapping
\nsaffron cloths around his body, would at all have made such a
\nfascinating spectacle for public consumption? Yes, Modi the magician,
\nloves to do all this stuffs to make his hordes of Bhaktas to go
\nberserk. Interestingly, our Prime Minister so much obsessed as he is
\nwith his omnipotent image that, he gave a clarion call to the nation
\nthat people should vote for all the 543 constituencies presuming that
\nhe alone was contesting from all these seats, in both 2014 and 2019.
\nWhy would Modi treat his 303 lampposts as equal to him when he knows
\nthat they are there in Parliament with all his blessings? Small
\nwonder then our omniscient and omnipresent Prime Minister has little
\nor no importance for Bidurs’ and, therefore, none ever dare to play
\nthe role of Vidur before him. None of his Cabinet Ministers can dare
\nconsider his colleagues; in fact they are nothing short of his
\nsubordinates who make an obsequious beeline for his favour.<\/p>\n

Significantly, when an omnipotent Prime Minister presides over the
\ndestiny of the nation, the importance of any expert, at best, becomes
\nthe things of the past. No wonder even such an important ministry like
\nthat of Finance, is not being assigned to a professional economist,
\nbut to a decent lady who enjoys close proximity with the omnipotent PM
\nand can be expected to obsequiously surrender her valued judgment to
\nhim. Nation too, is least concerned when it is assured that they have
\none man show–an omniscient Prime Minister whose magic will finally
\ncure the pandemic like Corona, not by the medical treatment, but by
\nbanging Thalis and lighting wicks, why would they be at all concerned
\nif the economy takes the nosedive? They have increasingly come to
\nbelieve in Modi the magician, who can do wonders, even though the
\nmagician is yet to pull the single rabbits from his hat, not the Prime
\nMinister Modi. Adding to the further drama, such economic wizards like
\nYashwant Sinha, Raghuram Rajan, are burning their midnight oil to
\noffer their wise counsels for bringing the economy back to rail, yet,
\nthe omnipotent Prime Minister is least affected by such words of
\nwisdom, for they hardly find acceptability from the man whose own
\nperception is the final truth, not what the experts say. Ironically,
\nthe nation stands bewildered by such omnipotence that finds its
\nmanifestation everywhere when millions of workers are dying in
\nstarvation when the million tones of corns are lying dumped in
\ngovernment godowns.<\/p>\n

Unequivocally then, this is the time and era of omniscient and
\nomnipresent leader dominating the polity. Significantly, when India is
\nin spell of a snake charmer whose charming the nation with his magical
\nspell of conspicuous presence in ‘Man ki Baat’, a monologue session
\nwhere he communicates with the nation —-he alone is the speaker
\nwhile 1.30 billion audience are the listeners–none has the
\nopportunity to question their omniscient leader. After all, why would
\nthey question when they know that they are taking sermons from a demi-
\ngod, not from the Prime Minister, why would they question; they can
\nonly cheer their leader while he takes the entire nation of 1.30
\nbillion of people to cloud nine, to the heaven, at least till the time
\nhis magic of Man ki Baat goes on in Doordarshan. They know they are
\nlistening to the magician of the century whose immense power lay in
\nvanishing Corona, not from any vaccine but by banging Thalis and
\nlighting wicks. They know that their leader’s immense power in
\nbanishing pandemic, Corona, was so plausibly followed by the other
\nparts of the world, why would they need to question their leader’s
\nbizarre moves to improve the condition of their people? Press
\nconferences, they know, were meant for lesser mortals, lesser Prime
\nMinisters and Presidents–after all, Modi’s predecessors were not
\nomnipotent and omniscient, they were lesser being and thus needed to
\nanswer the questions posed. In the era of their omnipotent leader,
\nwhat the people of India see never baffles them: those standing in
\nqueue for buying wines, can afford such luxury while millions of our
\nbrethren at the bottom of pyramid are dying out of starvation. Never
\never the gulf between the haves and have nots has been so starkly
\nvisible as it could be seen in the long queues for buying wines and
\nhooch. Therefore, when the voice of dissent and dissension, is
\ndismissed as anti- national, where even those, fighting against all
\nodds, underscore the growing disparities within the country, are being
\noutright dubbed as Urban-Naxals, the chances of Bidurs’ raising their
\nvoices against the omnipotent and omniscient leader is getting lower
\nand lower. No wonder then Twenty First Century India, prizes and
\ncovets the cheerleaders and not Bidurs’, Ironically, the inevitability
\nof Bidurs’ in every age and era, stands debunked in this era of
\nomnipotent and omniscient Prime Minister presiding over the destiny of
\nBharatvarsha. But, sooner than later, the realisation of the
\nconspicuous absence of Bidurs’ in Indian politics will be increasingly
\nfelt.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Vivekanand Jha, author of Delhi Beckons: RaGa for NaMo, 56 Inches and The Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vivekanand Jha is a well know author and a Public Intellectual. His
\nheart rends for every single Bharatvasi in distress during such times
\nas this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The inevitability of Vidurs’ in every age and era–Why the absence of Vidurs’ in today’s politics is so palpably felt.   Vivekanand Jha, RNchi. As I watched the proceedings in the court of Dhritrashtra, in Hastinapur, on the ongoing repeat of serial Mahabharta, where the epitome of wisdom, Vidurjee, the Prime Minister of the king […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-top-stories-of-madhesh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/1232.jpg?fit=750%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paS11m-GZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}