The dominating politics
Syed Mustafa Ahmad
In today’s world, politics has assumed greater importance. Every nook and corner of the world is reverberating with the loud slogans or faint whisperings of politics. It has its origin in Greek. Greek was the amalgamation of different small nation-states, called ‘polis. It is defined accordingly, depending up on the nature of government. It is generally defined as the study of government. It can also be defined as who owns power and how.
Apart from these, it is defined as the distribution of power among different organs of the government. Politics in negative sense is taken as a dirty game where loyalties often shift from one place to another or from one party to another. Moreover, it can be called as the art of possible.
So, it has many dimensions. It is a broad concept that encompasses many things in it. But in the present circumstances, politics has assumed a miserable shape. It only means bloodshed, hysteria, frustration, hate speech, hot and cold wars. If we talk of Jammu and Kashmir, the situation is no different. Every issue is seen in political domain. In politics, we call it ‘politics is found in non-political domains’. Every part of Jammu and Kashmir is caught in the quagmire of dirty politics. Yes, when the main motive of politics is fan following and earning money by hook or by crook, there are cent percent chances of trampling of political ethics that refrain a leader from opting that very path that brings development. In this write up, I will try to identify how politics has surrounded us.
First is social. Our social life is subordinate to politics. Everyone from a child to an elderly person is busy in politics. Children are well aware not only about the Prime Minister of the country and the Chief Minister of the state or union territory but they also know their biographies minutely. They know how an incident of minute nature can result in a nuclear war. They are well aware of the persons who are hell-bent upon to disturb peace and harmony. They criticize them by making videos over them. They test their knowledge by their ingenuity. Old people in Kashmir, more or less have been under the charming influence of Sheikh Abdullah and Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad. They know only these two persons. In short, our all social institutions have become the platforms for politics.
Second is economic. Whenever any shopkeeper opens his shop, first thing he says is that politics has ruined us. He knows that his stay at his shop is short. There will be a political upheaval and he will be left at the mercy of God to fulfill his basic needs. I often go to Lalchowk. Generally, I come across many shops where there is a discussion about politics going on. Illiterate and so-called enlightened are busy in putting their views forth and trying to assert their dominance. Once a person told that there was no Article 370 in reality. It was a hollow structure without any life. In this way, economic life is under the supervision of politics.
Third and last are educational institutions. Students often discuss politics if they come to school after a long break. They, in advance, bade goodbye for another year because they know that either schools or colleges or universities won’t open or we won’t be alive to go to school again. The new textbooks discuss about Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Students are drawn back to those days when, in the guise of security, something nice was snatched away from us. They vividly remember that it was Monday, August 5, when all the communication channels were barred. Happiness of the previous day i.e., Sunday was lost. They talk of School life where they are only promoted and studied. So, here politics has fixed its roots firm.
In short, we can say that the Universe has become the soft target of politics. Hard politics as well as soft politics is seen everywhere. It is quite difficult to come out of its intoxication until and unless politics don’t become source of security and development. If it persists as it is, there are cent percent chances that politics will devour everyone and everything. Let us hope for the best.
(The author is a teacher)
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