BENGALURU: As the day of Lok Sabha poll results draws closer, renowned theatre artiste Padma Shri Arundathi Nag is “worried”.
The award-winning actor believes that the political discourse in the run-up to the elections was petty, with real issues getting buried in the process. Her worry stems from the possibility that we, as a country, are heading towards oligarchy, which isn’t fair in a democracy.
“I am completely befuddled and blown this time. The party that I would have wanted in power does not have candidates, and the juggernaut rolls on. It is not fair in a democracy to have a unilateral win like BJP had the last time. There is a need globally, for temperance. Whether it is the United States, El Salvador, Venezuela, Russia or India, we are heading towards an oligarchy. It is worrisome,” she said.
The 62-year-old theatre pioneer thinks that now is the time for the world of theatre to step in and become the voice of society.
“To say that I am apolitical is political. As artistes, we have to take a stand for the right values. We have to speak for the voiceless, otherwise, what is the point of doing theatre? I think it is time that theatre started speaking the language of the people. For far too long, theatre has had blinkers on and been playing out personal living room dramas. I hope this will be a wake-up call,” she said.
Arundathi Nag is realistic in her expectation of what is to come on May 23. What she fears is the extent to
which political parties may go to cobble up numbers if they fall short. Her biggest disappointment this election is the misuse of soldiers for electoral gain.
“I won’t say that the current government has failed to ensure security but it is talking about the wrong things. We have gone to wars before and they were done gracefully. It was never at the cost of the soldier. I think putting the soldier up there in the forefront as the mascot for an election is not a fair deal,” she said.
With exit polls predicting a landslide once again for the BJP, Arundathi expressed hope that the government that comes to power will focus on issues that actually matter, like employment, water, food and security of its people.
“We don’t have to sell ourselves to just some ten families in the country. It is unfair,” she said.