Monumental deception and political blindness 

Monuments are consolation. And, the tag of legacy is coined to create dreams for hopeless masses that suddenly find a carrot hanging in front of them.

Monuments are consolation. And, the tag of legacy is coined to create dreams for hopeless masses that suddenly find a carrot hanging in front of them. Taj Mahal is playing this role to the perfection since the last 364 years when Mughal emperor Shah Jahan decided to advertise his love for Queen Mumtaj. It is part of our heritage, said the politicians, with a warning that a brutal king constructed it. The statement was bound to trigger controversy about India’s pride and heritage. There is at least one similarity between the Mughal emperor and present flock of politicians of different shades—both encouraged the people to live a fiction.

Politicians alleged that hidden underneath the opulence of Taj Mahal was a massive starving population. Basically, they highlighted that Shah Jahan and his descendants used this beautiful edifice like a fresh meal. Keep it very close to the masses, but don’t allow them to have it. The people would forget all about their pain and suffering as long as it is just hanging there.

The same politicians, however, are not bothered to ask why the largest state, which houses this monument, is also home to 60 million poor. Even if we believe that Shah Jahan allowed his praja to starve, questions must be asked to the political establishment what did exactly they do in the last 70 years to change this painful legacy, and ensured everyone had roti, kapda, makan before making a trip to Agra to admire this awe-inspiring architectural wonder. Poverty is the natural outcome of bad governance.

A World Bank report clearly said, the pace of poverty reduction in Uttar Pradesh has been slower than the rest of the country. The gap between Uttar Pradesh and the rest of India widened substantially during the 1990s. But, the decision-makers had no time for mundane issues such as power shortages, low rates of capital formation, setting up of industries, low productivity of irrigation systems, road networks and economic stagnation in the agriculture sector. They had discovered another monument, ‘Ram Temple’ in Ayodhya, to console the poor that at least they were blessed to have discovered the God’s abode. What more one can ask for?

Those who had food on their mind were considered sinners. In 2000s, the obsession for modern monuments, especially by a party of poor and downtrodden, decided to postpone the comprehensive development reforms in the state. People suffering from misery and anguish had beautiful statues to brighten up grim lives. Few years later, in 2014, a government report revealed that the pattern of growth in the state during 2004-2010 was not satisfactorily pro-poor and in absolute terms the number of poor in Uttar Pradesh did not decline.

According to ASSOCHAM report in June this year, the state tops in maximum migration in the country. ASSOCHAM recommended that the government must focus on creating more jobs as exodus of people in the age group 20-29 jumped to 58 lakh in 2011 from 29 lakh in 2001. It is true the jobless rate in the state is on the rise, but at least there are enough monuments to divert attention from the real issues haunting a large section of society.

A great poet, Sahir Ludhianvi had died the year BJP’s MLA Sangeet Som was born. Som’s contempt for Taj Mahal is now widely known. Sahir saab, too, had similar sentiments for this object of splendor, but it was more of a concern for poor, which politicians such as Som have always missed. “Ye chamanzaar, ye jamuna ka kinara, ye mahal, ye munaqqash dar-o-deewar, ye mehrab, ye taq, Ik shahanashah ne daulat ka sahara lekar, hum gareebon ki mohabbat ka udaya hai mazak.

Meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse (These gardens, the banks of river Yamuna, this palace, and wonderfully-carved walls, doors are but an emperor’s display of wealth that mocks the love of the poor. My love, meet me elsewhere).”Monument in the present state of poverty is turning monumental, just like it had in the past. Between the debate of past and promise for better future, the poverty is waiting to be crushed and destroyed.

yatish@newindianexpress.com

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