Intellectuals' role in the fight against evil

The very essence of the two most important festivals—Dasara or VijayaDasami and Deepavali or Naraka Chaturdhi—in October is nothing but the celebration of the victory of good over evil. At a time when good takes a backseat and evil thoroughly triumphs over it in every sphere, what should we do? How should we protect good when evil is going from strength to strength and growing with hundred faces and thousands of arms with each passing day? By the way, who should kill the devil evil? -is the Moot Point.

KCR's tryst with intellectuals

All these years, I was under the impression that Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has utter disregard for intellectual and he doesn't care two hoots about them and their role in the society. He stopped entertaining intellectuals, let alone consulting them before taking crucial decision, in the last eight years. A group of intellectuals and academicians, who played a vital role in creating frenzy among masses during the Telangana movement, felt slighted by KCR's changed perception against them. They are unable to digest the fact that KCR totally ignored them after taking the reins. Two of the three intellectuals KCR had counted on intensely during the agitation-ProfK.Jayashankar and R.Vidyasagar Rao-passed away and the third one, Prof M.Kodandaram, has turned out to be his bitter critique. Most of the intellectuals KCR mingled with were academics, writers, subject experts and singers and many of them don't have any voice in this government affairs today. I have found an anti-intellectual tirade in the propaganda tools of the government giving credence to KCR's former private secretary and MLC K.DilipKumar, author of highly popular book 'Aparichitudu.' He, in an interview, said that KCR asked him to display a board at TRS Bhavan to make it very clear that there is 'No Entry for Intellectuals.'

Now in BJP, Dilip must be exaggerating the episode only to lampoon his former boss, but a group of so-called intellectuals, a miniscule minority, was lucky enough to have fallen in the good books of KCR. They were accommodated in government institutes, but KCR reportedly shut the doors for them for unknown reasons. I don't think intellectuals like Allam Narayana, GoretiVenkanna or Ayachitam Sridhar can reach out the leadership at their will to make it understand the public sentiment. Realising the limitationsin the present highly centralised atmosphere and the professional hazards involved in agitation time kind of pro-active zeal, they are fully immersed in the jobs entrusted to them for a hefty pay packs. Why should they antagonize the leader, who is notorious in taking capricious decisions? Many of the ex-intellectuals are tight-lipped over anti-people policies of the TRS government.To be precise, the intellectuals of Telangana lost the sense of right and wrong over a period of time.

In this backdrop, KCR started talking about intellectuals and their role in protecting the countryfollowing his decision to launch a national party to fight against the Modi government. Speaking at the concluding ceremony of India's 75th Independence Day celebrations in August, KCR, perhaps for the first time, gave a clarion call to intellectuals 'not to keep quiet but must speak up against divisive forces trying to crate a rift in the society.' KCR, at the inaugural of a hospital in Warangalon October 1, said that society will move forward when intellectuals are in the forefront and mobilize people. The next day, he urged intellectuals and academicians to oppose any attempts made to criticise the philosophy and value of Mahatma Gandhi after unveling the 16-foot-tall bronze statue of the Father of the Nation at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. He further stated that it was the duty of intellectuals to denounce such attempts and advance positive work.It's a different story whether KCR, whose zero tolerance to dissent or defiance is well known, can take intelligentsia's take on his rule lightly but I am happy that he realized the need and role of intellectuals in our society.

Who is an intellectual?

It is not easy to define intellectuals. 'Intellectual' per se is not a degree to obtain from a university. An extremely rational person or those who have an ability to think and to understand ideas and information may be called as an intellectual. Those who spent considerable time understanding the contemporary developments from various historical perspectives and basic political and economic theories can be called an intellectual.According to Antonio Gramsci, an early 20th century Italian Marxist philosopher, all of us are intellectuals in the most basic and banal sense because we are endowed with a mind. However, only few among us are called intellectuals. The role of the intellectuals, for Gramsci, is to create a new consciousness for a social strata that can bring meaning and understanding to one's position in society and their role in life. A society bereft of intellectuals and thinkers can't go in right direction and the silence of these intellectuals is danger to any society. As per Foucault, French philosopher, universal intellectuals manifested themselves in a very bright way from the 19thto the middle of 20th centuries and theygradually lost the role that he expected from them, that is to recognize and transfer universal understandings for truth and justice. He points out that the most important thing in performing political role for the intellectuals should be fulfilling political duties and calls this "the politics of truth" and "the regime of truth".The US linguist Noam Chomsky, in a brilliant essay, puts it in plain words: "It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies."

Sadly, I guess, Telangana intelligentsia is in grate inertia right now. A sense of betrayal silenced a section of agitation-time intellectuals while the government reined in another section that tried to raise its voice. The hubs of intellectuals are universities but these institutes, due to lack of funds and faculty, are struggling for survival. A platform of the intellectuals is media but there is no much space for a deep analysis or quiet intense debate for them. On the other hand, very serious discussions are diluted in the deluge of information, misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms. We used to have a good number of Marxist intellectuals but the Nationalist intellectuals are dominating them. There are full of self-styled (pseudo) intellectuals, who can change their stand for the sake of a government position or an award. Highly committed intellectuals like Prof Balagopal, who stood by people all the time, are rarity now.

Since ordinary public can't read the situation or development well due to various reasons, the onus of connecting dots and presenting a big picture is on with educated persons. Empowered by the social media, the most powerful free tool for expression, every person can make a constructive criticism of the government policies or administrative issues. However, due to embarrassment, fear, pain, shame or ostracization, educated persons and intellectuals exhibit conspiracy of silence. That is the saddest part.

The most important topic that needs the attention of intellectuals, thinkers and every concerned citizen right now is the ever-growing cost of politics. Indian politics has become the game of rich and unscrupulous elements. Telangana byelections are posing a great danger to our democracy. Politicians are spending hundreds of crores to woo voters during the elections and the cost of each vote has gone somewhere between Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000. As the Election Commission sounded the poll bugle at Munugode in Nalgonda district, money and liquor are flowing. Much before the announcement of the election schedule, political leaderships had pumped money to win the prestigious election. If intellectuals don't speak up against such maladies time and again on every available platform, money power will continue to rule the roost. The first and foremost duty of every intellectual in Telangana is to educated masses against freebies and electoral dole outs, if they really care about democracy. They need not hit the streets, torch buildings and dare police battalion to pump bullets in them, but society needs their crystalized uncontaminated message in the form of debates, discussions and writings.

The author, a Ph.D. in Communication and Journalism, is a senior journalist, journalism educator, and communication consultant)