Colour of Democracy – VI
Colour me Red (!)(?)

Amid all the noise and cacophony of the Election Test Match, I found one promotional exercise quite interesting. This is being done by a private Bengali news channel under a title that translates in English as ‘The Fight for the Red House’. This is in reference to the seat of power in Kolkata that is occupied by a group that identifies itself with the red colour. Coincidence? Irony? Or, just the right symbol of power? Difficult to answer. But, interesting nonetheless. For 29 years (and till who knows when,maybe), a machine of unthinkable proportions has been evolving, thanks to the painstaking efforts of the ‘comrades’. Today, this machine stands very well-oiled and renders almost flawless service. Well, almost (barring a few KJ Raos here and there).

This machine and its accessories control all the vital aspects of this state’s survival. Read: who teaches in which school, who learns English when, who does what not (sic). And, this is the phenomenon that has landed the state in the red(sad and ironic, this time). In a democracy, no democratic opposition has been able to develop against the machine. Instead, it is an armed opposition that has taken this place. Yet again, the colour of this opposition is red – not just because of common (distantly) ideological antecedents but due to the blood that it spills. Blood of whom? Of those who represent its ‘enemy’ i.e the state, as well as the innocent whom it seeks to ‘protect’. And, the blood of the innocent ones is spilt anyway if they dare to disobey the orders of the machine. Caught in the crossfire, trapped in the unbalance – the innocent ones.

So instead of a rainbow – the horizon of the future has only one colour – red. That means, we are in the red, brothers and sisters! (pun intended) Still, we want Americans to hire us for designing their software and repairing their toasters via satellite. Such is the irony of design – deep red in colour. When shall we become………a little bit wise?