The Culture of Hypocrisy
“ We, The People Of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens:
- Justice, social, economic and political;
- Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
- Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
- Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation ”
This is the preamble to the constituition of India. Ironic, isn’t it? This is the preamble to the constitution of a country where women get raped every minute. Where people are still killed in the name of religion. Where politicians care more about their votes and less about the voters. Where leaders use their powers to mock the victims instead of using it to punish the criminals. Where women are worshipped in temples but beaten up at their own homes. Where those who refuse to be stereotryped are expatriated from the society. Where people, despite all this happening around them, keep quiet as if nothing really happened. Is this how we are going to ensure ‘social,economic and political justice’ for our citizens? Is this how we are going to secure ‘ equality of status and opportunity’ for everyone? Because if that is the mothod we are going to follow, then the constitution needs some serious amendments.
There’s a competition going on among our leaders as to who can crack the funniest jokes on victims of rape. And apparently, all parties are trying their best to win the trophy. And to humiliate the victims even more, these people come up with a perfunctory, halfhearted apologies. Until now, absolutely no action has been taken against any of these politicians. There are these people, and then there are people who, on every 14th feb, go on a rampage against those who have done the heinous crime of loving someone. Yes. You read that right. According to their analogy, ‘Loving someone’ is more outrageous than encouraging communal violence by giving hate-speeches and it’s totally against our ‘culture’. What perfectly fits in our culture is beating the hell out of people who spread or practice love in any form. Also, wearing saffron clothes and scaring the devil out of innocent people is an inseparable part of our ‘culture’ . These religious fanatics, who go on burning effigies and destroying public property on valentines day, sit and watch helplessly when the Duryodhanas from their own party publicly disrobe innumerable Draupadis with their words. Looks like this imcompetency is also an integral part of our ‘culture’.
And which culture are we talking about anyway? Our religious texts are full of sex and adultery, and yet, pre-marital sex or people with different sexualities are frowned upon. A person’s virginity is considered to be their virtue. In the country where Kama-sutra was born, pre-marital sex is still a taboo. Few days back, while surfing randomly on the net, I came across this sarcastic quote on our notions about sex- “ When scientists from other parts of the world were busy figuring out the position of Earth with respect to other planets, we were trying to figure out different permutations and combinations of men and women on each other”. How true! The ages-old erotic carvings at Khajuraho and Ajanta-Ellora are regarded as ‘cultural tourist spots’ but sex before marriage or even speaking about it is considered as abominable as committing a murder. In fact, the latter is often forgiven by our system. But the former is just not acceptable! Going by the way our government tackled the issue of sexual assaults, it is evident that in our country, indulging in consensual heterosexual/homosexual activities is a punishable offense whereas raping someone is completely justified. In fact, some people deserve to get raped. Maybe because they wear trendy clothes or because they hang out with their friends. The list goes on and on. Fascinating logic, isn’t it? Morover, to top this hypocrisy, it’s not at all acceptable to talk abot all this in public. As if not talking about it is miraculously going to change the situation!
Isn’t it shameful that we have such morons as our leaders? Definitely, it is! But let’s think about it for a while. Are these leaders the only people who have such sick mentalities? I don’t think so. In fact, they are just a reflection; A reflection of the deep-rooted patriarchal and orthodox beliefs that have been ingrained in the minds of people around us. Blaming the politicians every time is not goinjg to help. We all have seen people around us who proudly preach sexism and bigotry in the name of ‘culture’. And if we have allowed such mentalities to survive and grow, then what right do we have to blame our politicians? We ourselves have allowed such mentalities to suppress us for decades. We have voultarily decided not to overthrow such mentalities because somehow, it hurts our ‘culture’!
Seriously,where have we lost our ability to think rationally? Is our conscience dead? How can we not be disturbed by the hideous mentalities that people around us have? Have we ever tried to change them? Or are we convineiently ignoring them simply because we are forced to believe that talking about such issues doesn’t fit in the so-called civilized culture of our so-called civilized country? How many more centuries are we going to tolerate this illogical,irrational and insensitive mentalities that people around us proudly display? When did we become so insensitive,rigid and chauvinistic? How long is it going to take us to realize that sex is just a basic need of all human beings, and it has got nothing to do with a person’s ‘character’? How difficult is it to see that a person’s virtues lie in their heart and not in their genitals? Why haven’t we realized that a person’s religion is something they are born with and it cannot determine the way that person spends the rest of his/her life? Why don’t we teach our children that everyone deserves love and respect irrespective of their gender, religion or sexual orientation? How long are we going raise generations of narrow-mindedness and ignorance? And when are we going to find the answers for all these questions?
Let’s face it. We have kept quiet for years and blindly followed the path of ‘culture’ that had led us nowhere. In fact, the situation has worsened. Domestic violence, sexual assaults and riots, all have more than doubled in the past decade. Criminals don’t have any particular religion. But they do have a common mindset. This is the same mindset that is an inconspicuous but a major part of the irrational belief-system that our society has constantly pampered in the name of culture. It’s because of the same ignorant, illogical mindset that our country is still struggling to grant equal status to all it’s people. It is this mindset which is the biggest hindrance in India’s development. Are we still going to watch hopelessly while this hypocrisy cripples our society permanently? Let’s end it right here. Together. Let’s get rid of the burden of hypocrisy that has been thrust upon us in the name of ‘culture’. Let’s stop fighting over petty issues of caste,religion, language and sexuality. Let’s make it clear that it’s not necessary to be of a particular religion or sexuality in order to have moral values. Let’s teach our kids that being a decent human being is far more important than being religious. Let’s learn to distinguish between right and wrong. Let’s end this culture of suppression. Let’s do everything we can to prevent these disgusting mentalities from growing stronger. Let’s banish the demons of hypocrisy forever and try to be open-minded, secular and democratic in every possible way. Let’s start RIGHT NOW!
PS: If any view expressed in this article offends you, kindly let me know so that I can ‘withdraw’ my statements.
