Anyone who had even a cursory view of the English romantic poetry of the nineteenth century would remember one of the most memorable poems of William Blake, written in 1794 in a collection of poems ‘Songs of Experience’, titled ‘The Tyger’, where he portrays two contrary natures of the ‘tiger’, the one which inspires awe and wonder (aesthetic beauty), and the other terrorizing anyone who dares to approach her (primal ferocity).

Our revered professor of English literature at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Rohington Kapadia of happy memory, many years ago helped us to understand the dual nature of all existing things, persons, by making us memorize one of the oft-quoted lines from Blake, this time from his book, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’: “Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate are necessary to Human existence.”

Thus, every reality has two sides, and we might swear by one reality, depending on which side of the spectrum we stand, and maybe quite unaware of how things are at the other side. In psychology, they talk about reality as it appears depends on the colour of the glasses we wear. For any ‘progress’ or true growth, we need to take into consideration of reality, as much as possible, as it truly is, deposing the coloured glasses away.

But there is a big danger if we are going to get rid of the coloured glasses, because the hitherto unseen reality could be quite shocking, even repulsive, and is just the opposite of what we had imagined reality to be. We may not only detest what we see on the other side of the fence, but might try vehemently to put an iron curtain before it, so that no one takes note of it. We might fight tooth and nail in order to prove that there is only one side to any reality, and any other view is just a myth or a pigment of imagination.

Recently the nation had seen prophetic voices being heard along the unforeseen corridors of conscience and consciousness, calling for an honest reality check in order to bridge the yawning gap between two ‘Indias’ we are forced to witness each day.

Danger of calling a spade a spade

One of the most articulate speeches of Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament on February 2, 2022, had touched the nerves of some of the most sensible and seasoned politicians, even from the camp of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress leader said:

“There are two Indias, one India is for the extremely rich people -- for those who have immense wealth, immense power, for those who don't need a job, those who don't need water connection, electricity connections, but for those who control the heartbeat of the country. And then another India for the poor. The gap between these two Indias is widening.”

He went on to elaborate how the present regiment in New Delhi is dividing the nation on the basis of the haves and the have-nots: "Poor people can see India's richest 100 have more wealth than 55 crore people. The Prime Minister should start uniting these two Indias at the earliest. You are giving everything to few people who put you on TV, WhatsApp."

Some of the top leaders of the BJP and its allies were quick to brush aside the attack on the present government saying that Gandhi was a confused man, and was attacking the very foundations of the nation, and that he should not be given attention to, since many of the allegations he levelled against the BJP-rule are not true. But there were also some among the BJP, who think that the Congress leader had a point to make, and the party cannot just ignore his remarks.

The fact is, what Gandhi had expressed so eloquently is nothing new; the notion of two Indias has already been in the air for quite some time now, though not in the way it caught the attention of not only the ruling party and the opposition unawares, but also the imagination of the people.

Biting the Truth

Vir Das, actor-comedian, had stoked controversy on November 15, 2021 when he put up a video of six minutes of his presentation at Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in the United States of America; he presented a honest picture of two Indias and he came to a conclusion that he was proud of one of the Indias, while none of the two Indias were proud of him.

The comedian gracefully removed all the masks which glorified this great nation, but was rotting beneath the glorious garb, and what he presented to the full house was a true picture of the nation, which was and is riddled with opposites. He said, “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night… I come from an India where we take pride in being vegetarian, and yet run over the farmers who grow our vegetables.”

No doubt what the satirist had presented is naked truth, too much to bear, especially who feel that it is their primary duty to safeguard the nation from any marauder, who might even accidentally disrobe the lady, and show the scars of shame she wears on her body. Thus, Aditya Jha, spokesperson for the BJP, was quick to act, and demanded immediate arrest of Das, so that “no one can malign the nation like this”.

If we are honest, then we would realize that every sentence that Das had presented in an alien soil had historical reminiscences, and one cannot brush them aside as figment of his imagination. True, the comedian had to struggle hard to salvage his image and personality after the right-wing jumped on him to seek an unconditional apology, and who would not want him to eat humble pie for hitting the nail on the head. The recent history of the plight of farmers in the pouring rain, sweltering heat and nail-biting cold on the outskirts of Delhi, demanding the withdrawal of three farm laws, is what Das had dared to speak out.

In his twitter note on the controversy, Das had stated, “The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate Indias that do different things. Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret.” Accepting only the light and detesting the shadow would be like accepting the soul and hating the body. 

Truth under the carpet

But it is not only Vir Das who had tried to present India as she truly is, without camouflaging her with multi-layered masquerades. Oxfam, a British-based non-governmental organization, too had come out with its ‘Inequality Report’, and in its India Supplement, titled ‘Inequality Kills’, Oxfam had stated some of the most astonishing facts about the extent of inequality in the country, which had seen a sudden spike under the Modi regime.

The study, which was released in the backdrop of the World Economic Forum in Davos, on January 16, 2022, revealed that “when 84 percent of households in the country suffered a decline in their income in a year marked by tremendous loss of life and livelihoods, the number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142”.

Oxfam India website summarised the state of affairs with regard to inequality in India in the following words: “In India, during the pandemic (from March 2020 to November 30, 2021) the wealth of billionaires increased from Rs 23.14 lakh crore (USD 313 billion) to Rs. 53.16 lakh crore (USD 719 billion). More than 4.6 crore Indians meanwhile are estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020 (nearly half of the global new poor according to the United Nations.) The stark wealth inequality in India is a result of an economic system rigged in favour of the super-rich over the poor and marginalised.”

Sure enough, there were saffron saviours who jumped out of their chairs on the release of the Oxfam study and claimed that they (the self-appointed custodians of the nation) could manage their affairs by themselves, and did not require a foreign organization to tell what could be done to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. There had also been frequent attacks on the organization for presenting bare truth. Instead of acknowledging the ‘reality check’, the virulent critics were on a rampage to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Of Scarves and Swords

The saffron brigade, under the leadership of the RSS, which in fact is a Regiment of Scarves and Swords, has been displaying the saffron scarves to protest against the use of hijab by girl students in Karnataka, and the ruling BJP in the state had been fuelling the fire by its inaction, and allegedly encouraging the student wing of its affiliates to heckle Muslim girls in and outside the college campus.

What we witness today is the hidden face of the communal forces, enjoying unlimited political patronage and administrative complacence. It is immaterial what the Muslim girls are demanding in certain schools and colleges of Karnataka is legitimate or not, what is more important is that what they are claiming to be their fundamental right has been learnt from the right-wing Hindutvawadis across the nation, who impose chanting of Saraswati Vandana in schools. If Saraswati vandana could be imposed on the schools, which are to promote the secular values of the Constitution, then wearing of hijab can be considered equally legitimate.

It is a matter of concern that most public offices in India display pictures of Hindu deities, which goes against the secular nature of the nation, and yet no leader of significance has dared to speak against it. But if a Christian private school displays pictures of Jesus or Mother Mary, then the local saffron goons deface the school building demanding removal of such images.

Sure, we have two Indias, one of the majority and another of the minority. While the majority can do whatever it wants and it is sure to go unscathed, whatever the minority indulges in could be branded as anti-national and anti-social.