Suited Booted Modi is an attack on my freedom; A poor man explains
Dear Sagarika Ghose,
As an ordinary, unwashed, illiterate, unrefined, non suit
wearing Indian, I am thankful to you for taking up the issue of PM Modi’s suits
& boots and implications of this sartorial attack on my fundamental freedom via your article here.
I explain in next few paragraphs. .
A Suit or even a sherwani
for that matter, is a symbol of prosperity as it indicates the wearer’s ability
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Our poverty brings food to many other tables. Our political
leaders love our poverty, make careers out of it, showcase it to foreign dignitaries,
our film makers win awards by making a spectacle out of it, and social workers are
able to build homes by getting photographed with us.
When the leaders curtail their vacation and come to India it
is a sacrifice in the honour of the poor. Then it is followed by another
sacrifice of shedding their Guccis & Louis Vuittons (Only two foreign brands
I have heard of, with your help), and buy khadi kurta pajamas for visiting the
villages of their constituencies, They know that we, the poor like them dressed
like us, even if it is for a few hours, staring thru thick bullet proof windscreens
of their Landrovers, though naturally scared of coming in contact with our
filth or catching some disease from us, but they do come, making us proud of
our poverty. As they negotiate our dark and dingy lanes, we revel at their
dedication towards us and the underlying reason which makes such dedication
possible i.e. our poverty.
When another leader orchestrates a suicide drama, a
political activist acts as a distressed farmer, our importance is emphasized
again. Would be still remain important if we wore suits?
Now, suddenly, PM Modi want us to believe that poverty is
not next to Godliness, abandon our established, time honoured way of life, aspire
for prosperity thru higher economic status using the routes of education and skill development and be able to
afford & wear suits?
It is as if, PM Modi wants to do our Gharwapsi to prosperity,
by provoking us to adopt to suits and boots!
He also wants to deprive poor politicians, social workers
and film makers of their career & positions, bread & butter, cheese
& wine, foreign jaunts and exotic seminars? How Cruel!
We must fight this invasion of our economic freedom, way of
life and culture. We must fight this attack on their rights to livelihood, with
your help, off course.
PS : I had half expected your piece to be on the religion
wise break up of Indians stranded in Nepal. I would need to wait for one more
day, probably.
