Colleague 1: What India requires is a dictatorship.
Colleague 2: Oh absolutely! We have too much freedom anyway.
Colleague 3: A few years under a leader who works like a dictator, and India will soar to a position in the world where it should be.
Me: *awkwardly staring at my instant noodles*
This was not the first time I had come across such a bizarre conversation. I guess I really should not be surprised hearing such ridiculous arguments anymore. India is a country where a lot of right wingers have openly endorsed and almost looked up to dictators like Hitler and Stalin. Stalin in fact being quite a popular name in some parts of India where communism holds strong. I am certain that those longing for dictatorship have little to no clue about what dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, The Kim family and more did to these respective countries or the people of their countries.
The answer, I think, lies in the way most Indians are brought up in a majorly patriarchal family system. There is always the strict father/grandfather who controls everything the family does, makes all the important decisions and decide how each member of the family is going to conduct himself/herself. A young man/woman who grows up in such a household will almost always look to such a strong, almost dictatorial figure to guide them throughout their lives. Is it really a surprise that these people look for similar figures to lead their nations as well? They look at the mess around them, the corruption, the hunger, the injustice and they immediately start looking for a saviour, same as when they would have expected their fathers to protect them when they were children.
The problem with people wishing a similar figure to lead them out of darkness and into the light, as far as the nation is concerned is that they will always consider their problems, their insecurities, their worldview and their hatred of what they do not comprehend to be the only vices that they need to get rid of. The fact that these people consider freedom as some sort of a privilege, and not the basic human right is what fascinates me to no end. To most conservative families, and most families in India are indeed conservative, anyone who does not toe the line and tries to do anything out of the ordinary, or say something that makes them uncomfortable needs to be dealt with in a disciplinary fashion. Hence, when they see a fellow countryman "stepping out of line" and not adhering to their standards of righteousness, they look up to a figure to bring them in line, a person who can be strict and dictatorial in the way he functions and has the ability to "get things done". The dictator then becomes an extension of their evil intentions, their tool to get things done the way they want them to be done, to take those decisions that they themselves long to take but would rather have someone else take them.
India is a country with feverishly religious people, who also happen to be extremely nationalist. It is a result of years of indoctrination at home and school. Children, from the beginning is taught to bow heads for God and Country(In India's case, Gods, since majority is Hindu). It is among these people one can find those who long for dictatorships, and no prizes for guessing what sort of a dictator they wish for. Someone who upholds, preserves and propagates India's ancient religious values(however archaic they be with no place in a modern society) and someone who keeps the rabid nationalist sentiments always burning.
An Indian dictator would be an embodiment of everything that this country does not need, not that any country needs dictators at any point of time. Its time the educational institutes in India teach about dictators and dictatorships, so people know exactly what they wish for and what damage it can cause. But Alas, I guess we have more important things to learn in schools, like reviving a dead language in which our epic mythologies were written.
Colleague 2: Oh absolutely! We have too much freedom anyway.
Colleague 3: A few years under a leader who works like a dictator, and India will soar to a position in the world where it should be.
Me: *awkwardly staring at my instant noodles*
This was not the first time I had come across such a bizarre conversation. I guess I really should not be surprised hearing such ridiculous arguments anymore. India is a country where a lot of right wingers have openly endorsed and almost looked up to dictators like Hitler and Stalin. Stalin in fact being quite a popular name in some parts of India where communism holds strong. I am certain that those longing for dictatorship have little to no clue about what dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, The Kim family and more did to these respective countries or the people of their countries.
The answer, I think, lies in the way most Indians are brought up in a majorly patriarchal family system. There is always the strict father/grandfather who controls everything the family does, makes all the important decisions and decide how each member of the family is going to conduct himself/herself. A young man/woman who grows up in such a household will almost always look to such a strong, almost dictatorial figure to guide them throughout their lives. Is it really a surprise that these people look for similar figures to lead their nations as well? They look at the mess around them, the corruption, the hunger, the injustice and they immediately start looking for a saviour, same as when they would have expected their fathers to protect them when they were children.
The problem with people wishing a similar figure to lead them out of darkness and into the light, as far as the nation is concerned is that they will always consider their problems, their insecurities, their worldview and their hatred of what they do not comprehend to be the only vices that they need to get rid of. The fact that these people consider freedom as some sort of a privilege, and not the basic human right is what fascinates me to no end. To most conservative families, and most families in India are indeed conservative, anyone who does not toe the line and tries to do anything out of the ordinary, or say something that makes them uncomfortable needs to be dealt with in a disciplinary fashion. Hence, when they see a fellow countryman "stepping out of line" and not adhering to their standards of righteousness, they look up to a figure to bring them in line, a person who can be strict and dictatorial in the way he functions and has the ability to "get things done". The dictator then becomes an extension of their evil intentions, their tool to get things done the way they want them to be done, to take those decisions that they themselves long to take but would rather have someone else take them.
India is a country with feverishly religious people, who also happen to be extremely nationalist. It is a result of years of indoctrination at home and school. Children, from the beginning is taught to bow heads for God and Country(In India's case, Gods, since majority is Hindu). It is among these people one can find those who long for dictatorships, and no prizes for guessing what sort of a dictator they wish for. Someone who upholds, preserves and propagates India's ancient religious values(however archaic they be with no place in a modern society) and someone who keeps the rabid nationalist sentiments always burning.
An Indian dictator would be an embodiment of everything that this country does not need, not that any country needs dictators at any point of time. Its time the educational institutes in India teach about dictators and dictatorships, so people know exactly what they wish for and what damage it can cause. But Alas, I guess we have more important things to learn in schools, like reviving a dead language in which our epic mythologies were written.
