SWADESHI MONKEYS

Animal instincts in human beings keep surfacing from time to time.  Be it Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’, or R.K Narayanan’s ‘The Tiger from Malgudi’, animals have always been a convenient vehicle for expressing human emotions and sentiments.  Hence, similies with animals are very often resorted to.

The recent statement by the self-proclaimed ‘Tiger’ of Indian politics that the Swadeshi slogan of a particular party was only for monkeys, therefore, came as no big surprise.  However, the statement reeks of an utter disregard, amounting to contempt for the species, who are supposed to be our ancestors.  Poor Charles Darwin must be ruing his all hard-work and about labour that went in proving the affinity of the apes with humans, for he must never have imagined in the wildest of his dreams that the species would be ridiculed one day like this.

Having read the statement in the newspapers, I really did some honest soul-searching to ascertain the veracity of the proposition.  After all, one’s conscience is always supposed to speak the truth.  Trying to delve into the history of the concept, I discovered that it had been used for the first time by Dadabhai Naoroji.  Extending the logic of the above statement therefore, the venerable Naoroji can be said to be the first monkey!  But then wasn’t Hanuman ji supposed to be the first greatest monkey?  Was he Swadeshi by nature?  Must have been, I mused.  Moreover, even in the run up to the freedom struggle, many organisations were named with Swadeshi as the first word.  All these organisations then, must naturally have been run by monkeys, logically speaking.

 The slogan – ‘Be Indian, buy Indian’ (having no doubt swadeshi connotations) in the light of latest facts should read – ‘Be monkey….’ After all, swadeshi is now a time-worn concept and in the age of liberalisation one should not be so old (read swadeshi) fashioned and ape anything just for the heck of it!  But then, one wonders why on Earth do our beloved leaders sport Khadi dresses and Gandhian caps?  Either they have no hassles in becoming monkeys, if it is just once in every five years, or else they ‘monkey’ around practising one thing and saying just the opposite, or vice-versa.  At times, some monkey instincts (barring swadeshi instinct) does seem to creep into our beloved politicians.  Often they put their foot down (on the throne) and refuse to lift it – a la Angad!!!!

On the other hand, if viewed objectively, the statement that ‘Swadeshi is for monkeys’ is not that ridiculous either.   Just as beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, humour lies in the sense of the beholder – it may be non-sense after all.  The statement only pre-supposes the fact that swadeshi is meant for human beings.   After all, weren’t monkeys supposed to be our ancestors.  So if we say swadeshi…….it only means that we are swadeshi as humans or monkeys.  But then, on second thoughts, the breed of politicians who utter things out of which we cannot make out the head or tail, are not really monkeys.  They belong to an altogether different breed.   So I gave up thinking on the issue.  Why should I make a baboon of myself?  The Swadeshi aspect moreover, has been seen only from our angle – that of the humans.  Who knows the monkeys might resent the same?  Given the utter disregard they have for us, the monkeys might implore Lord Hanuman to re-enact the scene of ‘Lanka Dahan’ (burning of Lanka.   Of course, I do not mean the modern-day Lanka, though it is troubled by the “Tigers” of the other variety).  

I for one, would be a ‘native’ monkey, rather than swing from one country to another.  “Garv se kaho hum Swadeshi hain” (say proudly – we are swadeshi) even if it amounts to becoming a Swadeshi monkey.

***