Following
the award of Blogadda’s best political blog of the year (Win14) to VOXINDICA
Blogadda interviewed me. Here is the transcript of the interview:
Q: From
where did your interest in Politics generate?
A: As a
college student, I used to assist my father who was a ‘newspaperman’. In
those days, the dominant themes of newspapers were politics, followed by sports
and culture. For youngsters like me there was another attraction, of course:
‘wanted columns’. I could have probably followed in my father’s footsteps, but
circumstances determined I choose another career. But the urge to write was
there; it never dried up. A few years after I could find a firm foothold in the
chosen profession, I tried my hand at writing and began submitting pieces to
newspapers, but the pressures of work had a limiting effect. Writing remained
at a hobby level.
The
first pieces I tried my hand at were not political articles, but what in the
Indian newspaper parlance are called ‘middles’. The idea of the pieces
is to rib human foibles and tickle the funny bone. Emery Kelen and Art
Buchwald were masters of the genre also known as ‘loose sally’.
The genre is probably less read than political
opinion pieces, but writing them involved a lot of creativity. It appears,
today space is at a premium and you rarely come across a loose sally that has the quaint Kelen or Buchwald quality.
They
were probably an inspiration, but the inspiration was rather limited to the
format. My early pieces, which were in the loose
sally format, though, had
politics as an underlying theme. The editors of The City Tab, a
Bengaluru tabloid which published them gently reminded me to move away from
politics as it was not essentially a political paper. In that phase, I have also
contributed a piece or two to The
Indian Express. For a time I edited a house magazine for a local chapter of the Indian Junior Chamber (then known simply as JC or Jaycees).
I titled it Credo and it was a hit.
The
answer to your first question has probably become too long, but I must mention
about the next phase of my writing, which too had nothing to do with politics
at all. I came back to writing after I quit a regular job. This time I was into
academic writing. I wrote in various disciplines including sociology;
literature and language teaching; management and marketing. I have also for a
time edited AIDS-Bridge, a magazine for HIV-AIDS professionals. It
was a science magazine, published by a reputed pharmaceutical company for
medical doctors, paramedics and counselling staff.
Finally,
although a major part of VOXINDICA’s content is political, there are other
subjects in it including creative pieces and book reviews.
Q:
Presently, how would you summarize the political condition of India on the
whole?
A:
Today politics is at its lowest ebb. The independence struggle attracted the
cream of our society. People joined the struggle with an altruistic motive. For
them, politics was a noble pursuit. For leaders in
the post-independent India, power has become an end in itself. The high ideals
of the freedom fighters have evaporated.
Q: What
is it that inspired you to start a blog with politics as its backbone?
A: If
there is a monumental failure of the Indian polity – it includes the political
class, the intelligentsia and the media – it is its inability to bring about
national unity, forge a national spirit and inculcate a national pride. It is a
misfortune of this nation that even sixty years after independence, we still think
of ourselves as belonging to a caste, creed or linguistic group and not as
Indians.
A
nation that does not have pride in its ancestry and achievements will be doomed
to fall. During their 250-year rule, the British did their best not just to
downplay the splendour and grandeur of our civilisation, but to ridicule it and
negate it. The achievements of our ancient civilisation were portrayed as
external imports. The Aryan Invasion Theory was invented and all achievements are
credited to it. Only negatives – social ills – were credited to us.
First
the Brits and then the left-liberal social thinkers who came to dominate
opinion-making bodies were/are responsible for this. Other nations have
recognized the greatness of our civilisation, but it cannot be whispered here
in India. There is a concerted effort to transpose a fabricated construct
called the composite culture. All this is to placate one
section of our people who vote en
bloc. In the end, it is down to vote banks and electoral politics; the
pursuit of power. Nothing else matters! VOXINDICA is a small attempt to correct
the imbalance. See Why VOXINDICA and FirstPersonSingular: ‘Thank You!’ (The
latter was a thanks-giving piece written after winning the Blog Adda award.)
Q: You
have been blogging for almost a decade now. Tell us your whole experience and
let us know 5 things about blogging that are most beneficial according to you.
A: I am
aware of my limitations as a blogger. For one, I cannot compete with the
mainstream print medium. Therefore, I have to be choosy about what I write.
Then, I remember my father’s advice to writers: ‘read more; write less and
write only when the urge to write is overwhelming’.
There
would be no point in writing about a subject that is thrashed threadbare in
yesterday's newspapers. Your readers would be interested in what you write only
if you have something new to tell them. So I research and try to find evidence
that supports my viewpoint to present it to the reader in an angle he hasn't
already viewed elsewhere.
As an
example, please see my articles on the subject of ‘freedom of
expression’. I
critiqued both the issue of ‘freedom of expression’ and court
judgements in the M. F. Hussain case. When I researched the subject, I've found
a similar case that was adjudged by the Austrian courts and which went up to
the European Council of Human
Rights.
While
on the subject of ‘freedom of expression’, I haven’t seen any other
writer point out that while the American First
Amendment strengthened
freedom of speech the first amendment to the Indian Constitution did the opposite: placed
limitations on the ‘freedom of speech’. The amendment was piloted by
Jawaharlal Nehru just eighteen months after the Constitution was adopted.
Similarly,
while researching on some subject for an article I was writing for a newspaper,
I thought I would look up to find out, which article in the Constitution enabled the institution of the Planning Commission. To my
surprise, I found that it is not there in the Constitution at all. It is another of Jawaharlal
Nehru’s quirky imports from the erstwhile Soviet
Union, along with its Five Year Plans. Has anybody in
the mainstream media mentioned that the Planning
Commission is an
extra-constitutional body? I don’t mean to say that I am the first person to discover the fact, but just that nobody
mentioned it earlier. If Jawaharlal Nehru himself instituted an
extra-constitutional body that diminished
the stature of the Union Finance Minister, can anyone blame the present
political leaders for instituting the office of the Chairperson of the UPA and the NAC?
In my
various pieces on the Gujarat riots of 2002, on how the Gulmarg Society seize came to a head where there was
no turning back, on the Naroda Patiya case judgement et al., I have brought to
light details which were not discussed elsewhere in the mainstream media.
In my
latest piece, I have panned Congress party’s 2014 election manifesto. I felt
it my duty to point out to my readers that for a party that boasts of a 125
year history, terrorism was no issue at all!
Q: What
are three important changes that you wish to see in India's political scenario
at the earliest?
A: The Constituent Assembly which was responsible for writing
the Constitution envisaged reservations and Article
370 as temporary measures.
Similarly very few people today remember that ‘Uniform Civil Code’ is a part of
the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution. Addressing these
issues will go a long way in fostering national
integration. The UCC is unfortunately viewed as a religious issue, but
bringing it about will be in the interest of gender equality.
Minimum
government; maximum governance. The government should exit business and focus on
administering. The polity should work for the eradication of corruption and
crony capitalism. Parliamentary oversight committees should be appointed to
monitor the performance of industries.
Most important, we must find ways and means to do away with dynastic rule in politics. A family (the definition of HUF as clarified by the Supreme Court should be the unit for this) should not have more than one member at a time in public office. And limit the tenure of public office. No person should be allowed to more than two terms in public office.
Q: Tell
our readers 5 things that they can do on a personal level to improvise the
present situation in India.
A: Take
politics seriously; don’t fail to vote. Vote for the right candidate.
Don’t
tolerate corruption in public life.
Demand
accountability from governments and government servants. It is your right.
Remember Mahatma Gandhi’s dictum that you are not dependent on a business or
government; on the other hand, they depend on you. They exist to serve you.
Government servants are paid to serve you. They are your servants.
Express
your views as vigorously and often as possible. Writing letters to newspapers
is not enough. Even the most liberal newspapers screen them and publish them
only if they suit their political philosophy. Organise local committees to
voice public opinion.
The
only way we can make the media accountable is by withdrawing patronage. Social
media has done much to tame wayward, self-centred commerce-oriented media.
Q: For
all the wrongs happening in the nation, the blame is conveniently put on the
politicians. Is this right? What are your thoughts on this?
A: The
politicians are only a part – although a major part – of the problem. It is the
society that throws up the politicians. There is truth in the adage that a
‘people get a government they deserve’.
It is
for the society to reform itself. There must be an overhaul of our education
system.
Q: Do you
agree that Social Media would be able to play an important role in the change
that India requires since it gives freedom of speech a whole new meaning?
A: The
social media plays an important role in bringing social transformation. I have
written about it: Are Sonia & Rahul more venerable than Sita &Saraswathi?
Q: Do you
think newspapers and other media channels are becoming biased, vehicles for
advertising, etc. forgoing their main duty of providing credible
news? What is your take on this?
A:
Absolutely. This is VOXINDICA’s raison
d’etre!
Q: What
is the funniest thing or comment you have heard about politics and from whom?
A: The
left hemisphere of the brain helps us to think logically and the right brain
about the artistic/emotional parts of our thinking. I have heard this quip
about the leftists/communists: ‘For
the leftists there is nothing right in the left and nothing left in the right!’
Q: Do you
agree that blogging as an important communication tool should be used more
effectively by the political parties? Not many politicians are willing to come
out and talk to the common people. What do you have to say about this?
A: No.
I don’t want the blogosphere to become the propaganda arm of political parties.
Let blogs and bloggers be!
Q: What
other genres do you like to experiment writing about?
A: I
have experimented in the following genres: biographies, book reviews and
creative fiction. There is an indexed list of posts on the left of my blog. At
the moment I am writing two non-fiction books, one educational and another, a
biography.
Q: What
according to you is the future of politics based blogging in India?
A:
There will be politics based blogging as long as there are politics! J
Q: You
won the Best Blog Award for the Politics Category by BlogAdda at WIN. How did
you and your loved ones react to this?
A: It
was a very happy and proud moment to win the award. I have written about it, as
I have mentioned above.
Q: What
new and special can we expect from your blog in the near future?
A: I
strive to bring novelty in every post of mine.
Hey,
this is for us. We would love to have your feedback about BlogAdda.
Q. How
would you rate BlogAdda in terms of design, usability and features?
A: It
is quite reader-friendly and informative. It’s a great idea to bring bloggers
in various categories from across the country onto a common platform where they can
interact and improve their work.
Q. We are
not sure if you know that BlogAdda.com lists all blogs that update every hour.
What other features will make you visit BlogAdda often?
A: Yes.
I have seen that.
Q. Any
other suggestions/feedback/criticism or something good about BlogAdda?
A:
You may consider publishing a compilation of articles from various blogs.
Q. Your
feedback on the interviews we had till now, your interview and the format
of questions. We would love to have your suggestions on it and do let
us know if you would like us to interview any particular blogger(s). We do not
promise we will interview them, but will surely consider! :)
A: I
have read some of the interviews you have published and quite like them. They
are not only informative but educative.