The Curious Case of Arundhati Roy

In the modern Indian society, the upper middle class holds the intellectual person in very high regard and there is a feeling of great respect towards Indians achieving success in the creative fields. Such is the trend of following these great minds that everyone has a say about Salman Rushdie’s quirks, M F Husain’s plight or even a Nandita Das’s movie. Aravind Adiga’s novels can be found listed as favorite books in many orkut profiles and creative works of an Anurag Kashyap in the movies section. People like to know about these people, follow them on twitter and read their blogs. If the later part of 20th century was about the sportspersons, the movie stars then the the early 21st is about the intellectuals. Have no doubts, a Dhoni or a Katrina Kaif would still be most googled person and appear in almost every advertisement but knowing about Bishakha Dutta as the new face of Wikipedia India is considered cooler.

All this brings us to Arundhati Roy who was probably one of the first people who began this shift in mindset of the Indian middle class. The fact that she won Booker Prize suddenly made her book a classic as Indian readers found out that they had liked the book all along. As plaudits floated in from NY Times and The Newyorker, the desi readers realized that they had never read anything like it before and the book became an instant bestseller in 25 countries ranging from India to Germany. This made Arundhati Roy a celebrity in India and her actions and words were followed by thousands of people.

There has always been an argument as to whether the celebrities are responsible for the impacts their deeds or words can have on their followers of which the celebrities themselves are unaware. Living in the media glare sounds glamorous but also has its drawbacks. When every word you say can be held against you and can take your popularity higher or lower by a million people, you have to think 10 times before uttering a word. But then, the general accepted norms are, that since these people, the celebs, are ambassadors of people, they should conduct themselves in similar accord i.e. that expected of an ambassador of people. A Sachin Tendulkar should always be humble, while Shah Rukh Khan should not speak anything politically contentious.

Coming back to Arundhati Roy, she has become a social activist of sorts since her glory days when “The god of small things” brought her all the big things in life. While, earlier causes supported by her like environmental issues and rehabilitation of people displaced due to Dams earned her a lot of fanfare, she seems to have hit the Achilles Heel with the Maoist issue.  There is more than a little merit in the arguments with which the Naxalism began, and there are some hard truths about the state of tribal people in our country which the government seems unwilling to accept. But surely, one cannot justify killing innocent people because of one’s suffering. We are not living in ancient barbaric times and any such tendencies among the general population would lead us all into anarchy. The Maoists have the right cause but their methods are all wrong. In fact the original issue of upliftment of tribal people has gone into oblivion while the extremist leaders discover new ways to torture the police and CRPF. I sometimes wonder how these people who claim to be very poor manage to find state of the art weapons for their raids. Arundhati Roy has taken an unexpected stance regarding the issue and has even justified killings, bombing of schools and even the recent grotesque incident of 76 CRPF personnel dying in an ambush has not perturbed her. There are times when remaining in news for a long period of time makes you yearn for more. It becomes something like an addiction where you just want to be in media spotlight without bothering about even analyzing what you are saying.

Mrs. Roy probably thinks she would be next in the line to join the likes of Syu Kyi or even a Nelson Mandela for supporting the cause of the poor people in what she calls a “war-torn country” and a “failing democracy”. According to her, “our society is increasingly becoming a platform for rich people to exploit the poor”. Sometimes her words make you wonder if you are living in the same part of the world as her. There is no doubting the fact that our democracy is not an ideal system and our society is far from being a utopian dreamland.

We need to change the system and change it fast but surely the condition is not as bad as projected in some of her essays. At times her words make one feel that all this is directed towards the western media so that they will see this “war-torn” country and embrace her as the only person daring to stand against it.

 The fact that such views of celebrities are at least respected, if not accepted, by the middle class worsens the situation. We need our ambassadors to speak the truth about the country, even if it is a tad discomforting to hear. What we do not need them to do is to send everyone to chase demons that do not exist. The more important thing is to look for the solutions to our problems rather than glorifying them into some sort of a giant monster.

Most Indians respect Mrs. Roy and her views are respected, revered and considered of great consequence else this article wouldn’t have seen the light of day. It is time for her to see the damage she may be causing. She is definitely one of those who do not need to be told what is right and what is not. We hope she will choose the right path rather than those which would keep her in news.