In Fool’s Paradise

By abhay mokashi

If William Shakespeare was to write Romeo and Juliet today, he would have been forced to change a line in his writing to meet the current situation in the world, especially India.

The nurse said in Romeo Juliet, penned by Shakespeare, “…..what she bade me say, I will keep to myself: but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say:…”  The phrase fool’s paradise, would have been replaced by Modi’s paradise, though that would not be synonymous.

You do not need Shakespeare to change the phrase, as any sensible person, with even reasonable level of intelligence would know that Modi’s paradise is a fool’s paradise and he has skilfully, led millions into his paradise. These millions follow him blindly, without questioning him or his extremely low IQ and his ability of making foolish statements on every subject under the sun, without having basic knowledge of the subjects.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party and his ideological organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have cast a spell on their followers, who are like the soldiers in Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. The famous couplet in the poem, ‘Theirs is not to reason why, Theirs is to do and die, is followed in part by those mesmerised by Modi. They believe in ‘Theirs is not to reason why’ and the latter part is left for others to implement, by spreading hatred against sections of the society and creating situation that could lead to violence against those sections of the society. On that count, they emulate General George Patton of the US Army, who played a major role for his country during the Second World War. General Patton has been quoted as having stated, “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making some other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”

The followers do not reason why, about whatever Modi says or does, they believe that he is the most intelligent leader India has had till date.

As regards the second line of Tennyson’s couplet in the poem, no leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is willing to die either for the party or the nation, but expect others to do so.

If all the foolish statements of Modi are to be listed and analysed, it could be as good as research work leading to a doctoral degree; the topic could be Analysis of Narendra Modi’s Mental State and his Foolish Statements.

There is a limit to the extent that sensible minds can accept nonsensical statements, even if they are by the head of a government. There have been some reactions to Modi’s repeated idiotic and often unscientific statements, made at different platforms, some attended by intelligent people and many by his party members, including elected representatives and ministers at the centre and in states ruled by his party. But by and large, his idiosyncrasies are ignored. The time has come to comment on at least some of them.

The BJP and its social media team has been calling Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi as pappu (literally meaning a small boy) for his statements, many of which question Modi on his decisions. As regards the term Pappu, Rahul Gandhi is far too junior to Modi in age, but Modi’s numerous statements exposes his intelligence to be less than that of a school child. Yet, people think no end of Modi’s intelligence, that is because they have mortgaged their sensibilities.

The latest idiotic statement by Modi is that Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace, was not known to the world before Richard Attenborough made Gandhi, the biographical film on the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Given his limited knowledge and probably in the absence of a teleprompter, Modi did not mention Richard Attenborough’s name and merely stated that a foreigner made the film. Modi contradicted himself, when he added that before that film was made, only Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King were known to the world! Modi does not know that both the personalities mentioned by him, were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

This statement by Modi was made before his party’s elected representatives and needless to say, they appreciated Modi for his ‘research’. May they continue to live in Fool’s, oops Modi’s Paradise, but let that not damage the nation and the nation’s reputation at the international level.