The problem is us...

There have been so many discussions around what happened recently in JNU that I have lost track. One thing is for certain, everyone has a different perspective to the whole issue and from that person's standpoint his/her perspective is THE perspective and the only one possible. That is my biggest worry. We are not looking at things objectively but just as how we would like to see them.

The most irksome behaviour is to target and malign parties and individuals and not offices of responsibility. Similarly, people have developed loyalties to parties and politicians that blinds them from an objective and unbiased analysis of the work those parties and politicians do. The result is catastrophe. Detractors will continue to see the wrong and blame the person/institution. There will always be detractors for everyone. In the end, everyone will be wrong and bad.

We need to learn be objective in our evaluation. Recognise and laud good 'efforts' and criticise the not so good 'efforts' – not the person/institution, but the work he/the institution does. If there is something wrong that the person does, criticise, as vehemently as you can. If that same person does something good, recognise that as well. Most of us fail miserably at that.

For instance, I have many friends on Facebook who are anti Kejriwal. They attack him for the slightest wrong. None of them laud something good that he or AAP does. Ask people of Delhi about the odd-even formula and most will say it was a great initiative. Yet, the anti-Kejriwal camp would find flaws in it. More so, those who have no link with Delhi at all, would also comment on the initiative and try and rubbish it. The vice versa is also true. Everything not so right that Kejriwal did, people who like him as a person or those who stand by his ideology, kept silent about it or found logical explanations to prove that it wasn’t actually so bad. They used the Red Herring method to divert the discussion.

Similarly, there are haters of Modi and ‘worshippers’ of Modi. Even when Modi does something right, his detractors start with finding flaws in it. When he does something not so right, his admirers adopt red herring and divert the discussion. They try to protect his image and his honour even if it is by insulting or maligning others.

It isn’t and must not be about Modi vs Kejriwal or any other person against another one. It is and must be about India and people who live in this country. Anything that goes against it, we must all stand together and condemn it. Anything that works in favour, we must all stand and applaud.

We need to learn to become fans and haters of acts and not the people behind those acts. It is easier said than done, but it is the need of the hour. In the past few months, I have witnessed so much hatred in this country, it just makes me sad. Hatred for the sake of hating people; not looking at the bigger picture.

When with the people we love most - spouse, parents, children - we can be so objective in our evaluation (“What you did was not right”, “I don’t agree with you”, “This could have been done better”, “Let me help you improve this”), why not with people and institutions who run our city, state, country? Only when we applaud the good and condemn the bad will they also become more accountable and get to know what is right and what is wrong. Till such time, they will be right for their lovers and wrong for their haters. And in such a case, who would you listen to more? In the end, it is a stalemate and a cause of huge concern for the country!