Does the odium rests on the ordinary Citizen?

It goes without saying that truth is not readily visible to the naked eye in our day and age. There are times when what appears to be truth may in fact not be true at all.  Before we can arrive at any semblance of truth, we will have to read a dozen newspapers and listen to a half dozen channels and commentaries. Oh, the odium of this situation is on the ordinary citizen.

A situation like this reminds me of two quotes from different eras. The first quote is an old one. Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels once said, “Repeat a lie often enough and it will become true.” The other quote by Prashant Bhushan in the recent discourse on Father Stan Swami’s death anniversary, “Be vigilant. Do a constant audit of the way democratic institutions are being subverted in India. Speak up, even if you will be arrested. Build a truth army.”

In his speech, Prashant Bhushan spoke with context to the arrest and imprisonment of dozens of Human Rights activists. In addition, he noted that there has been an increase in hate speech campaigns by various groups in India over the past few years.

While that’s happening, what’s really scary is that spreading untruths has become a political strategy. Not just in India, but around the world, this is not just about those in power staying in power, but also about those out of power taking control.

Here is the challenge?

How do ordinary citizens, caught in the hardship of earning a living, raising a family, and finding time for simple relaxation, face this extremely perilous situation in the country and around the world when they have no time to search for truth, analyze facts, or reach a true conclusion? Can an average Indian tell whether what the powers are saying is true or whether the human rights defenders are right? The question is, how does he or she determine whether a development project is for the good of people or only for the benefit of corporate interests as alleged by those opposed to massive development projects?

If we take Kerala as an example, will the proposed K-Rail project destroy the state or will it lead it to new heights of development? Another example comes from Kerala, where some fishermen are on strike against the Adani port project. As another example, activists claim that the Government of India is planning to introduce Public Health Acts that will violate the privacy rights of ordinary citizens. It will pave the way for State officials to enter your home or work premises without any notice. In addition, you will have no recourse to a court of law.

The most critical thing to do in such situations is to study, reflect, and act together, and most importantly to find the time. Time is a luxury that nearly 75% of Indians lack. But can some of us find the time and energy to study issues from the poor man’s perspective, just like the Daridranaryan that Gandhiji talked about? This is the relevance of building a ‘Truth Army’ as called upon by Prashant Bhushan.

The perspective from which you examine an issue can make a huge world of difference. When a development project is analyzed solely from the point of view of profit and benefit for the investors, it will be a disaster for ordinary citizens, especially the poor. Ideally, there should be a balance or still better would be a preference for the poor and lower-middle-class which constitute the majority of Indians.

This is not something that can be accomplished from the top, from the government. Could some of us organize small study groups, discussion groups, dialogue groups, etc., and reach out to people nearby? It would mean that we find time to search for the truth and speak the truth.

Our very survival as a nation relies on some of us taking this initiative in our neighborhoods with detachment. The Bhagavad Gita mentions this kind of detachment, the kind that seeks truth around us. A detached approach means doing what needs to be done for its own sake, without worrying about success or failure. We need urgently some truth seekers and truth speakers. Can you and I be part of that team? An answer that will reach our immediate neighbors.

In this way we can dream of a nation that Tagore sang about,

‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by the narrow domestic wall;

Where words come out of the depth of truth….

Into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake…’