‘Indians, don’t be reduced to just Aadhaar numbers’

Silence fell over 400-odd spectators as television anchor Ravish Kumar narrated an incident to highlight the fraying of the country’s social fabric during Friday’s LitFest session. A schoolboy came home and said during a quarrel, his friend had accused him of “belonging to the community that cooks biryani at home”.
The subject of his talk was Kalyug or the “dark age” of mankind when human values are at their lowest ebb.“I am pro-Kalyug since it allows each living being his unique, individual identity rather than homogenize us all into one uniform mass,” he said.
He then launched a speech warning Indians to avoid being reduced to an Aadhaar number. He said it is time to speak up. “Numbers are intended to convert thinking, feeling human beings into a herd of sheep who blindly follow one leader, one ideology.”
He said, “If we still choose to keep silent, this vitriol over the Hindu-Muslim divide being engineered by politicians and media can turn our own children into killing machines. We are living in dangerous times when people are actually contributing money for the family of the brutal killer of Rajsamand because he claimed to do it for the community. You may think this malaise is limited to small towns but mark my words, this will engulf children of public schools in metro cities,” he said.
“But the silver lining is that at least their silence is being called out. Fingers are being pointed at those who should speak but are silent,” he added.
During the question and answer session that followed, a Mumbaikar asked about the outcome of the Gujarat election. “Let people vote for whoever they wish,” Kumar replied. “Only don’t stop the questioning once the party returns to power. Winners—more than losers—are afraid of questions because they fear your questions will dislodge them from power.”
Spectators rose to their feet to award him a standing ovation after his closing comment.