A democracy takes time to fall apart. It gradually erodes when people are pushed to feel rather than ask questions, when outrage is used selectively, and when spectacle starts to matter more than substance.
India is currently in a situation where political communication has perfected the art of emotive mobilisation while governance shortcomings are minimised, sidestepped, or completely forgotten.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling class have mastered a symbolic language. Slogans, lofty cultural allusions, and continual identity reinforcement are all vital components of this language.
Emotional triggers, such as "batenge toh katenge," are not policy declarations. They create moral divisions among voters while diverting attention from the state's main duty, which is to safeguard fundamental rights.
This is not only an ideological issue. It comes down to priorities.
The Power's Selective Urgency
There are many actual, quantifiable issues facing India today. Delhi's air quality continues to be dangerous for much of the year, silently and unfairly taking lives.
Uncomfortable questions concerning municipal oversight, deteriorating infrastructure, and regulatory failure are raised by water contamination instances, such as the well publicised deaths connected to contaminated water in Indore. These are not problems that are abstract. They are immediate, deadly, and avoidable.
However, when such crises arise, the highest offices' response frequently seems subdued, delayed, or replaced by something else entirely: a visit to a temple, a broadcast prayer, or a symbolic action intended to reassure feeling rather than address a problem.
The problem is not faith per se. The problem occurs when public relations campaigns take the place of administrative urgency and when religious optics take the place of government.
A prime minister is not a clergyman. A chief minister is not a healer. However, rather than viewing politicians as responsible managers, the public is being pushed to view them as moral saviours.
Governance via Narrative, Not Data
The simultaneous use of polarising rhetoric and social justice terminology is one of the most glaring inconsistencies in recent years.
On the one hand, the government presents itself as inclusive and forward-thinking by announcing extensions or reclassifications inside the SC/ST framework. However, instead of tackling structural inequalities, it uses slogans that subtly caution against social dispersion and frequently pit communities against one another.
Headline announcements are not the only way to achieve true social justice. It necessitates steady investment in jobs, safety, sanitation, healthcare, and education. It calls for the protection of marginalised populations throughout crises, whether they be infrastructural, economic, or environmental, in addition to their acknowledgement during elections.
Without meaningful delivery, symbolic inclusion runs the risk of turning into yet another type of political theatre.
When the Story Fades and the State Fails
The failure itself may not be the most unsettling feature of this political moment, but rather the speed with which it fades from the public consciousness.
Think of the well-publicized story of a young IT professional who died in Delhi, where coordination failed and rescue efforts were delayed. Emergency response, institutional readiness, and urban planning were all questioned.
However, those enquiries did not go very far. Fresher diversions, bigger slogans, and more recent headlines quickly took their place.
The reaction that ensued, not from the government, but from society was even more disturbing.
Something really concerning was uncovered when the victim's distraught father stated that he would find peace if he met "Yogi Adityanath Ji" the current sitting CM of Uttar Pradesh. It's about the culture we are building, not the individual.
Democracy has already been undermined when people start looking to politicians for emotional solace instead of institutions for accountability.
The Messiah Politician
The transformation of elected leaders into spiritual reassuring characters is the true accomplishment of contemporary political public relations. Failures are accepted as fate, queries are disrespectful, and criticism is seen as sacrilegious in such a system.
People's faith is not the issue. The issue is that scrutiny has been substituted with faith.
Scepticism is essential to a functioning republic. It endures because people pose difficult queries, such as: Why was this avoidable death permitted to occur? What caused the system to malfunction? Who has the blame? What has changed since then?
The system learns that it doesn't need to be improved when commitment, whether political or religious, drowns out those questions. All it has to do is function.
Geneva, the Theatre of Development, and Maharashtra
Beyond the central leadership, there is a culture of optics. State leaders' recent international travels, including as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra's trip to Geneva, were hailed as significant advances in investment.
Headlines were dominated by announcements of transactions worth lakhs of crores, which gave the impression that India was a leader in the world economy.
However, a more thorough examination raises valid concerns. The distinction between legitimate international investment and domestic consolidation gets hazy when contracts are signed with businesses that are already located in India or when political relationships between developers and ruling parties are widely recognised.
By default, none of this is unlawful. However, it necessitates openness.
Citizens have a right to know what is new when public monies are utilised for foreign travel. What does transformational mean? And what does it mean to simply repackage current connections as worldwide victories?
A press release is not development. Its effects on employment, infrastructure, affordability, and quality of life are quantifiable.
The Cost of Distraction
Distraction rather than governance is the current political apparatus's main asset. Structural flaws are pushed to the periphery while the national discourse is continuously shifted towards identity, pride, grievance, and spectacle.
Ideological indignation is more popular than polluted air. Cultural conflict elicits a greater level of engagement than contaminated water. When a temple visit or catchphrase is ready to take its place, administrative incompetence seldom makes it through the news cycle.
However, bodies do not vanish along with headlines. Families don't get better because the story has moved on.
Regaining the Citizen's Role
This serves as a cautionary tale concerning the course of political culture in general. Blind allegiance is not necessary for democracy.
Resistance must be well-informed. It calls for citizens who, in the face of material peril, refuse to be emotionally appeased. The media must be prepared to stick with a story even when it gets problematic. Voters must also realise that no leader, no matter how charismatic, is immune to criticism.
Healers are not politicians. They work as administrators. Their role is to prevent grief rather than to absorb it. The cycle of tragedy, spectacle, and forgetting will continue until we all remember that.
Furthermore, governance will continue to be a performance rather than an obligation.
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