I feel sorry for the Marathi manoos. It seems there is only one hero worth celebrating in the entire history of Maharashtra—Shivaji. So after CS terminus and airport, we are now to have a CS Statue of Liberty at the cost of several crores. Neither Tukaram nor Dnyaneshwar—or Ramdas, Bajirao/Mastani, Tilak, Gokhale, or any writer or poet—is good enough for a statue. No Marathi heroes since 1680!

Mayawati is also running out of heroes. After Ambedkar and Kanshiram, she could only find herself as a subject for statues, there being no more heroes among the Dalits. The BJP is in an even worse position since it has only one hero—Sardar Patel—and he died in 1950 before the founding of the party. It does have a great anti-hero which it shares with RSS. This is Jinnah. But then, only if he is unredeemably evil. A hint of goodness and there would be no raison d’etre for him.

Actually I don’t see the point of RSS at all; not in the 21st century. When it was founded, fascism was in fashion and the notion of marching around in khaki half-pants was appealing to some. But a quasi-militaristic, authoritarian, macho organisation is so 1920s that there is no chance anyone born since 1975 (that is, 75 per cent of the voters) could have any use for it. The idea that RSS will sort out the BJP is a laughable one. It should start by disbanding itself, since everything it wanted to do is pointless now, with India as forward as it is.

... contd.