The worst sight in the world is when you see hell on earth…the worst sound in the world is when you hear the screams of the slained…and the worst feeling in the world is to not be able to feel anything. And that is what has become the root cause of India’s plethora of problems, especially when it comes to…petty politicians, their partisan policies and their polemic politics. This is because, when it comes to politics, no price is ever high enough…not even your life or mine…after all, we are all just a breed of sacrificial lambs, born to bear the brunt of the battle-axe.
Image courtesy : TheHindu
Whether it was (the-once-upon-a-time-poster-boy-of-anticorruption) Arvind Kejriwal getting in bed with the (very-party-they-had-been-campaigning-against) Congress or a (CM-Aspiring-To-Be-PM) Nitish Kumar pledging obedience to (his-supposed-big-brother-Fodder-Scam-tainted) Lalu Yadav and of course (the-currently-embroiled-in-Augusta Westland-Scam-Case) Congress…these alliances have proved time and again…that…when it comes to politics — nothing is permanent. Neither friendship, nor friction. For when it comes to politics, a friend today may be a foe tomorrow…or vice versa. Of course, these affiliations are not based on any actual alignments in thoughts or actual sharing of vision and goals, these political alliances are more often that not just the coming together of two or more opportunists, for a common goal…and this goal is reaped for self-promotion, profits, and plunder.
The concept of political opportunism is, of course, not a new-age concept. This particular political philosophy — i.e. the philosophy of political opportunism — was actually theorized by Niccolo Machiavelli in his legendary work, The Prince. Machiavelli, who is often dubbed as the theorist of political opportunism, defines ‘political opportunism’ as “an attempt to increase political influence or maintain political support through means that often disregard the basic elements of ethical principles. Maybe, that explains why the word ‘Machiavellianism’, which is often used to denote and describe politicians, actually means just that – “master manipulators” or a person who is immoral, cunning, and opportunistic. A befitting description, don’t you think?
But the sad part is the people who have to bear the brunt of these brutes are commoners like Aditya Sachdeva — the Class XIIth student who was brutally murdered by yet another brute, Rocky Yadav, who was high on power and couldn’t bear to think that someone could overtake his crore-car – a shiny Land Rover. In fact, truth be told, Aditya Sachdeva’s death has become a cautionary tale that when political alliances are formed for selfish ulterior motives, it is the ordinary citizenry that pays the price. Or in the words of Saul Alinsky, the author of the famous book Rules for Radicals: “In this world, laws are written for the lofty aim of “the common good”, and then acted out in life on the basis of common greed”.
Thus the philosophy of political opportunism is an immoral political philosophy, which not only harms the citizenry but the country as well, be it a weakened economy to a weakened state.
