Remaining sane and sober amidst the growing political insanity in this country has become a challenge for the common man. The shameless and treacherous behaviour of politicians experienced by the people, which gets described in street parlance with terms such as ‘U-turn’, ‘Fotting’ and ‘Chor’, are probably nothing more than signs of a leadership personality disorder known as ‘Hubris syndrome’, which according to psychologists is a job hazard for those holding positions of power and authority. This explains how a pro-people politician before getting elected becomes anti-people after tasting power and time and again leaves the voters kicking themselves for getting cheated.
The news these days is full of bizarre and sick rhetoric from politicians in government. It’s more like drunken behaviour without even sipping beer, leave aside the harder chemicals. The Governments these days seem to have contempt for any expression of ‘love’ and immense fascination for ‘hate’. A woman Parliamentarian who laughs loudly is likened by the Prime Minister to Soorpnhaka, the mythical demon-woman from Ramayana, and a Chief Minister does not lag behind when he voices his concern about ‘girls drinking beer’. A Union Tourism Minister advises foreign tourists not to wear a mini skirt as it offends the local culture and to eat beef before coming to India to survive the beef ban, while a State minister labels domestic tourists as ‘scums of the earth’. If clarifications about being misinterpreted or claims of an opposition conspiracy fails to quell the public outrage against such rhetoric, then a reluctant apology follows and all is soon back to normal for the politics of ‘scummery’.
Unfortunately, as research and investigations in this country are solely obsessed with unearthing black-money of the political opponents and blocking of minority fundings to weaken them economically, and with interpreting history in a way that will fuel a Nehru V/S Patel conflict, there is hardly any investment and energy left for psychological research to analyse the political behaviour of political representatives from top to the bottom. The politician firmly believes that public memory is short and a few schemes and statues just before elections can win over the electorate after kicking them around for four years. The victims of political abuse are equally shameless and are more likely to embrace their political oppressors. This is how a Chief Minister, who touts the idea of making beer available at roadside kiosks to generate additional revenue for the State has no inhibitions now in voicing concern over the increased incidence of girls consuming alcohol. These are the very same politicians who ridicule the public for opposing a greed driven and profit at any cost model of economy which justifies its market aggression by provoking girls with enticing slogans such as, “why should boys have all the fun?”
As a parent, it sometimes disturbs one to see newly married tourist couples sipping beer or other canned spirits on the footpaths in Goa. No one has the definite answer as to whose first social drink could be the trigger for a life destroying addiction. Those who extol the booze culture, as a mark of Goykarponn, need to visit some ‘vaddos’ in Goa which are left with young widows in the age group of 25 years after their husbands perished due to alcoholism. The defenders of a booze culture need to speak to women and children scarred for life by the addiction of their spouse or parent. Alcohol flows during social gatherings with children around exposed to such boozing role models and then the youngstersar expected to remain sober. Some of the EDMs and night life which the government blesses cannot be enjoyed without the consumption of drugs or alcohol and in the same breath the politicians lament the scourge of drug abuse being prevalent amongst the youth. The drivers of public transport vehicles chewing tobacco and ghutka does not seem to worry the politicians. And what about the wine escapades organised by the government? Is it acceptable for a CM if girls choose to drink grape wine instead of beer?
Goykarponn deserves some level of political sobriety in order to survive. Health Care or Modi Care can be of no help to the hordes of jobless poor people surviving on pavements or the labour living in inhumane conditions at construction sites in our cities, with ultimately no option but to contribute to the government treasury by consuming legalised intoxicating substances to numb their feelings of hunger, isolation and pain. As reported, around four persons die daily at the Goa medical College due to liver cirrhosis caused by alcohol consumption. A consumer driven economy and lifestyle coupled with increased displacement of a work force due to mass digitalisation and robotisation in industry, resulting in an army of unemployed youth in a 1.25 billion population, cannot become the answer to tackle substance abuse and other addictions. An emphasis merely on child rights without simultaneous stress on duties can only become a cause for licentiousness. And worse still is the discriminatory mentality based on gender and religion when it comes to dealing with addictions. Just as it is said that “those who live by the sword, perish by it”, so should a society which promotes alcohol also expect that its generations will perish by it.
Substance abuse and addiction cannot be narrowed down to selectively demonising some substances, but needs to be handled from a much wider perspective. The government and the elders in society have a responsibility to provide for a healthy and sober environment to the younger generation. In Goa, alcohol abuse is as serious a problem as the abuse of psychotropic substances, if not more. But Goa’s tourism is thriving by indiscriminately promoting vices like alcohol, drugs, sex and gambling, all of which are interconnected and cannot be tackled in isolation. Nowadays, religious fanatics also abuse alcohol to cover up their attacks on minorities and to play down their criminal intent, if at all the law catches up, by claiming it to be an act done under the influence of alcohol. The type of substance which gets abused does not matter in addiction, the resulting behaviour and social consequences are what is important. The CM should also be aware that the obsessive-compulsive disorder related to religion and culture is an even far more serious addiction with huge social consequences on the nation and Goa, than girls sipping beer.
https://www.heraldgoa.in/Review/Voice-Of-Opinion/The-high-from-Power-not-Beer-is-more-destructive/127067.html
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