Nation in anger’s grip

Consequences of not controlling oneself in circumstances marked by anger, for whatever provocation, is succinctly presented in just a couple of lines, understandable to even illiterates, in Bhagavadgita, considered by scholars as an unparalleled manual with guidelines for leading a life of fulfilment and satisfaction. The lines connect anger to its fallout in an unbroken chain— passion, confusion, loss of thinking power and finally perishing. The catch is that even the land’s great sages of yore, figuring in episodes found in epics as well as leading lights of society in different times, have become victims of their anger, not to speak of ordinary people who may also be conversant with the message in Gita. Justifying one’s action in the wake of anger that disrupts tranquillity pointing the accusing finger at others doesn’t bail out anybody, particularly when one resorts to violence. That is exactly the current scene across the country, Mysuru not exempted.

Not guarding against one’s emotions, generated by verbal exchanges to start with, resulting in fisticuffs first and then hurtful violence, often leading to loss of life and limbs, portrays the land’s diaspora in the columns of dailies nowadays, the mass of readers taking the reports in their strides. Anger scaled up to the point of countries settling issues through war amounts to the greatest human frailty.

Let us take a close look at the current happenings in every nook and corner of the country triggered by anger for a plethora of reasons, as reported in the media, lest this column be dismissed as an essay in philosophy. Even infants react in anger that gets blown up through childhood, boyhood, youth, adulthood and old age in both nature and extent. Now, the discussion on anger has to be taken to the obvious case of government on one side and people in different walks of life and diverse identities on the other. Students, farmers, industry workforce, government employees, citizen groups pursuing various causes, unemployed youth and what have you, are all up in unbounded angst against the government. Organising bandhs, burning buses, staging strikes, shouting slogans, pelting stones, assaulting law-keepers, killing others, committing suicide are the commonly favoured weapons to twist the arms of the government.

An academic from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat, in an article published in a business-oriented daily has rightly opined that the anger of farmers has its roots in political instigation for short-term gains of the politicos.