An application for the post of jt secy, culture

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

This open letter is as much about an application for a job by other means as an observation on truth as a function of a political camp. By this, I mean, how the liberal Left, for instance, will find what your government does as false because your government is doing it; just as your party and its affiliates will find every thing that the Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, does is foolish. In short, the fairness of a speech or an act is judged a priori. Which is why a mild anarchist like me may be of use to you — and to the nation.

Let me explain.

Your government recently advertised for senior vacancies (Joint Secretary level) in various departments. A kind of lateral entry that might cause some needed disruption to the IAS Raj. I am of course hoping that you are open to the idea of a gentle anarchist as joint secretary, culture. The little culture we do have in our discourse is characterised by stridency of speech, oracular role playing and self-styled martyrdom.

My comments are whetted by the light of my experience.

In 2014, when I was editing a newspaper, I wrote two articles on you. The first was precipitated by an unscheduled meeting with you at your Gandhinagar office, late in the night. You were the chief minister of Gujarat then, and had just come back from UP, where you had gone on election work. The article was called “Narendra Modi has a missionary zeal to improve things”, and it concluded with a light warning to the reader:

“As you travel towards Gandhinagar from Ahmedabad city, you will see the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project. A few years ago, the canal was a sluggish drain that cut through slums on either side. Today, it is a beautiful place to spend your evenings. In the face of activist resistance, Modi had the water diverted from the Narmada river 200 km away. Clearly, this is a man who altered the flow of a river like the mythical King Bhagiratha. Modi may change India’s course yet. No man in recent times has directed his steps to Delhi with such steely ambition. All beware.”

The second article came on the eve of your swearing in as PM. It was called, “Narendra Modi’s Moment”, and said : “That India has voted Modi to power is a measure of both its hope and despair. It will take a true hero to honor that trust. He is not likely to take that role lightly. What Modi wants from history is nothing short of acknowledgement as the architect of modern India. So, is Narenda Modi India? Yes, if this summer is anything to go by. There are more seasons to follow. If he falls short, or and the weather turns inclement, well, there is always your finger.”

An interesting thing happened immediately after I wrote the two articles. I was suddenly no longer even a tenuous part of the liberal camp. I was trolled and abused in the social media, which is perfectly all right, because social media is essentially anti-social in character. We have come to know that the world is filled with intense and hostile binarisms as just about everyone on FB and Twitter testifies to it.

What has continued to trouble me though is how little tolerance informs the liberals in the their private lives, contrary to their public stance. For instance, I know men and women who defend to their last breath freedom of speech in their posts and tweets, and scream and shout in private in unilateral decibel exercises. Liberalism as practised now, for most part is a display-emotion of righteousness, demonstrative; it is an ideology hard to internalise in personal interactions.

Well, the two articles I wrote were subject to heavy trolling by the liberals. But it was not just that. I was actively boycotted. I was no longer welcome to social gatherings. I found my space for writing shrinking. I wish I could play the martyr here. Except that it is the preserve of a few.

On its part, the Right wing left me alone. Maybe they didn’t understand where I came from, a shadowy, overlapping ideological area where not much is certain but a sense of fair play easily mistaken for compulsive contrariness. I am aware there are others like me in a similar situation.

Which brings me to the point. Mr Prime Minister, your government would afford itself a great opportunity to prove that it is fair in its sensibility and choice by appointing me as joint secretary in the culture department. Till now, your government has been filling up posts in cultural, academic and literary institutions mostly with people of a certain bent of mind. I see things going a little off kilter with me around.

Because I see that as the true liberal mission. To sow seeds of doubt in a soil known to nourish only a few plants, left leaning or right. Imagine a hardy shoot growing straight and centered in the sun. Imagine me queering culture, raking up the garden.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,