The Lead Hook of Babu Singh

The world has been running under the rubrics of truth and falsity. This does not mean that there should be two aspects of the world – truth and falsity. If attempts are being made to diagnose things in terms of truth and falsity, then there is also the possibility of an accidental war or conflict. Truth and falsity should naturally be the nature of things, phenomena, ideas, or events.

Recent events in Manipur have reminded us of the tale Babu Singh gi Oinaa which is famous among the Gen-Xs and Gen-Ys. This is the story of a boxer Babu Singh who was famous for his lead hook. I cannot confirm whether the story was historical or a fiction, but it was a popular tale in local musings. The tale goes on like this; once an audience, more appropriately the fans of Babu Singh, gather up to witness his famous lead hook in a match. But to everyone’s surprise, Babu Singh never got the opportunity to keep up his reputation, and he finally fell. When Babu Singh fell, the entire fans’ hopes and expectations were assassinated. If it is viewed from the perspective of sportsmanship, then it was a fair play acknowledging the contingency of life and its situations. However, from political perspective, we can poke the discourse by using the term assassination.

The question is, whether politics is essentially teleological, in the sense that it must necessarily implies the consequences that directly or indirectly affect the public – favorably or unfavorably? Or does it mean to enact deontic pressure upon the public for the sake of some higher purpose, and act accordingly?  These are the two conditions that founded the political theories from the very dawn of human civilization. These are the parameters that inspired Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Mill, Kautilya, Upanishads, and even Marx. Bold claims were made, and challenges were faced by the practitioners, by the men of politics, while implementing the thoughts in public domain for the sake of eudaemonia, for the sake of peace, and other desired ends that is characterized by the ambition of establishing a sublime bond between the ruler and the ruled.

Following the trend of ideological evolution which can be further interpreted as a case of development – in all aspects of form and matter of the world – recent politics has been incarnated into something we never dreamt of. Without expanding the territory, we can confine ourselves with the regional political scenario. What we witness here is the strange, what I intend called as, submissive politics. This submission is neither to a profound, reputed, and rational ideology, nor it is a wild submission towards the public sentiment. To our astonishment, it is not even the, popular, strong craving for the throne. The popular notion of the game of throne is, to certain extent, seduce by the providence of the throne, or other reason that suits themselves. But, most of the justifications are superficial, and it can be resolve easily if people work out with some moral determination. The submission that we are witnessing here is towards a magic ring whose power transcend the duty and responsibilities of a throne. Eyes are always fixed on the ring. What differentiates it from Tolkien’s Ring is that, in Tolkien’s world, or in Middle Earth, people raced for the ring for the power it possesses, but here, people simply submit themselves to the magic ring in advance. This enigmatic submission is strongly inclined to the possible acknowledgement of the unseen power that might have dwell within the ring. All we can infer out of the situation is that their conviction lies not with the throne, but with the power that can destabilize the throne. The strong assumption that has been indulged here, must prove itself hard for the public to endure. But, on the contrary, the people have suffered the consequences of such irrational assumption, and hence the submission (people’s submission to the submissive politics itself), and they also have learnt to endure it for some unknown reason. Had the submission been done post perception and realization of the true nature of the things, then the rationale of the event could at least be logical and acceptable.

The emerging political disaster is a product of unpolitical ambitions of the people who are engaged in politics. A regular politician whose ambition lies within the grasp of the general notion of politics, is more or less bound by the responsibilities burdened upon the self; responsibilities of the public/subject/citizens. But these pseudo politicians who are ingrained with the dark and sinister craving of the magic ring ultimately dissociate themselves from the general meaning of politics, and the notions like responsibility, integrity, etc. are being casted down into the hopeless abyss. This casting away of the principles of politics also make their immediate followers blind to the true essence of politics, and thus the trend; the evil trend of submissive politics.

My kids, in their free time, watch the famous show Mr. Bean. As a result, there were times when they imitate Bean’s act, and there were also times when they learn from the mistakes committed by Mr. Bean. And I don’t think my kids will ever question the invalidity of the submissive politics in their times.

DAVID KHOMDRAM

The writer is Assistant Professor, Imphal College