Nobody likes to be criticised, but everybody likes to be praised. The salient features of our society seem to be praising somebody in their presence and criticising them the moment they leave the place. It means that we are guided basically by hypocrisy. And hypocrisy is the lifeblood of our politicians; if there is no hypocrisy, there will be no politicians, I presume.
A terrible manifestation of this political hypocrisy was seen in Kerala recently when an upright IAS official boldly led an encroachment drive in Munnar. The ruling and opposition politicians alike rallied behind the encroachers; the IAS official was transferred and the eviction drive aborted!
This reminded me of George Orwell’s political satire Animal Farm. After ousting the human owner of a farm, the animals under the leadership of the two pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, paint out its original name Manor Farm and rename it Animal Farm.
Then Snowball writes down the Seven Commandments in great white letters: 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy; 2. Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend; 3. No animal shall wear clothes; 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed; 5. No animal shall drink alcohol; 6. No animal shall kill any other animal; 7. All animals are equal.
Some time later, there arises a power struggle between Napoleon and Snowball, and Napoleon successfully makes the other animals believe that Snowball is a traitor; thus the second commandment is violated. Then Napoleon starts to wear the clothes left by the erstwhile owner of the farm and sleeps on his bed and starts drinking the alcohol left in the cellar. Thus the third, fourth and fifth commandments are violated. At last Snowball is killed, thus the sixth commandment is violated.
No animal has the guts to question Napoleon because those who dare to question him will be accused of treason by the ‘Animal State’. And when the horse becomes old, it is labelled as useless and Napoleon sells it to a human butcher with whom he has developed ‘diplomatic relations’, violating the first commandment. And the animals realise they were better off when they were under their human owner. Everyday they read the meaningless seven commandments and the seventh commandment seems to mock them.
But one day, they can’t believe their eyes. “On the wall there was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran: All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” How obedient followers of Animal Farm ‘principles’ are our politicians!