Kolaveri

In the last two days, I’ve heard the Kolaveri song come up twice in very different conversations. It’s a big deal, one of these overnight sensations that comes up out of nowhere and is suddenly everywhere. It will likely be gone just as quickly, but at the moment, it has had over 80 lakh views on YouTube and I counted at least seventeen Facebook groups.

I’ll admit I haven’t watched the video, but I did find something very interesting when I Googled it. Not only is there the main Kolaveri song on YouTube; there is also a spoof with 5 lakh views mocking Sharad Pawar and praising his attacker, Harvinder Singh. I did watch that.

The video is bad. Not only that, but it glorifies the actions of a man who physically assaulted a government minister. Such behavior is inappropriate, juvenile, and criminal. I do not support Harvinder Singh’s actions. However, the support he’s been shown and the popularity of the video mocking Sharad Pawar strikes me as very interesting. I think it reveals something important about the state of Indian democracy.

“Kolaveri” is Tamil for “murderous rage,” which is not something I normally expect to find directed at political figures. Yes, people get angry about politics and frustrated with those in power. They may protest or vote leaders out of power. But murderous rage? Surely that’s a bit strong.

And yet Harvinder Singh certainly seemed enraged. Maybe not murderous, but rage that drove him to criminal assault. And over what? Corruption. It’s not that something terrible had happened to his family or that he’d been directly, personally hurt by Sharad Pawar. It was just that the general state of everything around him had gotten so bad that became he finally lashed out. Of course, there are questions of his mental state and any number of other things may come out as he’s investigated further, but clearly a lot of anger over general corruption was an important element in his assault of Sharad Pawar.

If he were an isolated madman, it would be different, but Harvinder Singh expressed what many in India feel. Thus the 5 lakh views on YouTube and the popularity of the story on news sites. People understand why he did it. That doesn’t mean they approve, but they’re not baffled, either. We all feel frustration. We all know that the corruption is rampant. And we all feel powerless to bring about change. Thus, an act as futile as slapping a minister resonates, in part because it seems to reflect the futility that we all feel.

There are, however, things that can be done — things likely to be far more constructive than a slap. One such is the Draft Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill currently making its way through parliament. There have been similar bills popping up in state governments over the past year and they’re encouraging. I wrote about them some months back and explained why they’re such a good idea. This bill seeks to do the same thing, but from the centre. I am hopeful that it will prove as positive as the state bills seem to be.