In Blind Faith

We have been brought up with the understanding of a good and evil phenomenon. That there is a God and a Devil that exist and a Heaven and Hell. These were then branded into different religions of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, etc.

Over the years, we have got ourselves so entangled with religion that some of us wanted out of it and started sharing a common platform for all to exist. Slavery was abolished, caste and creed differentiation was stopped. There was a silver lining in the dark cloud.

Today, we have a new blind faith that is being created. The faith of the masses on a time bomb that we call Politics. The leaders of nations have understood that the masses follow what we feed them and allow them to believe anything they say. They can promise you the moon and the person will believe it. Education has nothing to do with the need to be associated with one or the other type of group we just need to have an association for the friends and family to make us feel higher than the rest.

Having lived in India for the last 2 decades, I have seen the rise of a small person from a nothing to being the Prime Minister of India. His growth is noteworthy and better yet, his marketing skills are worthy of praise and recognition. The most noteworthy part of his achievements is the ability to control media and the "Top of The Mind" advertising is the best yet.

The next part, this is something we all need to take heed of, is the "Bhakts". They cannot hear anything negative or derrogatory of their leader. They have such "Blind Faith" in his actions that no matter what happens, right or wrong, they will not hear a word that would be against their thinking. 

This isn't an isolated incident in this country, we have many stars and super stars who have the same or better fan following, to mention a few Rajnikanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and many more regional stars who have a cult based following.

The difference here is that the normal superstars and stars, do not try to manipulate their fans for more than their ticket sales or promotions of their work in a movie. We have a new super star who for the sake of a few is ravaging a country of more than a billion. And he is being praised for it.

History is witness to another leader who had a similar following and it took more than half a century for the country to get back to it's feet. But yet, they bear the brunt of having a bloody history and to live with the tarnish a single leader caused to their country and image of the country.

The need to be associated with a Brand is good, but how can you smell only one rose and think the garden would have many roses? Even a bouquet does not have all the roses perfect. The ruling party has many members and 98% of all political parties in India are based on the need to have power and money. The need to help the common man is maybe secondary or just a tertiary need of the party. How can the common man get the benefit from such leadership?

The recent demonetization drive has given us to believe that there is a leadership for the rich and nothing for the poor. The Robinhood has turned to robbing the hood, for the benefit of the few rich lads who run the major political parties with their commissions, the government had officially taken money from the middle and lower classes to fund the banks to wipe out the bad debts created by such industrialists. Major defaulters have welcome a move that will only benefit their need to wipe the slate clean and have the poor person die while standing in a queue to get the money that is rightfully his.

On this, the Bhakts are for the leader because they still believe that the hope of a brand new day is around the corner and things are only going to get better from here. There is no need to be in any rush to see people die or business close or people loosing their jobs due to the slow down in the economy. Better yet, money is flowing from the RBI and other venues to the ruling parties accounts in black or white. Money has been caught without prejudice in the West Bengal and Gujarat of the said party workers cars and houses.

What do we do when we have a leap of blind faith amongst the learned class? They either become followers who made Hitler Great or they become Terrorists who make India poor. Physically and Mentally!