FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Victor Ferrao
The Morbi Bridge collapse was tragic and painful. The pain of loss of innocent lives is still hauntingly lingering in our minds and hearts. It appears to be a criminal act of negligence and corruption of the highest order. We seem to be not learning our lessons from the past. The loss does not seem to be enough for our authorities to bring to book the big fish that is really responsible for the tragedy. Several voices have expressed dissatisfaction about the preliminary investigation. Others have questioned the need of giving an overnight face lift to the hospital that was treating the survivors. Still others have questioned the opening of the bridge without its safety being certified. Some others questioned the contract being given to a manufacturer of clocks who apparently seemed to have no expertise and who then subcontracted it to a welding unit. Hence, there are several questions that remain unanswered. The line of culpability is very long. But it does not seem to be reflected in the preliminary investigation.
The situation has become murky as Gujarat also has gone for election and its results are knocking at its doors.
There several lessons to learn. It appeared that the ruling benches converted the tragic event into a photo-event with none-other than the visit of our Prime Minister. The tears of the people seem to have become the fears of the ruling BJP in a poll bound Gujarat. Hence, its leaders of every rank and file switched to what we may call as a damage control mode. Politics on all sides seemed to have become fast and quick to convert the tragedy of the people into political capital though Rahul Gandhi rightly refused to politicise the same. Politicians across parties did try to muddle in the deadly waters of the tragedy. This habit of trying to make political capital out of the lives and deaths of the innocent does not seem to be dying in our living present and coming future.
While we are still coming to terms with the tragic event, an 1983 movie, Jaane bhi do Yaaro, seems to offer us a profound insight (hindsight as well as foresight) to understand the unfortunate incident. It is a satirical black comedy. Even after four decades of its release, the film seems to be perfectly picturing the state of our society. It clearly depicts the nexus between Big Business, Media, and Politics. Today this nexus has grown to the heights of monstrosity and we are haunted by its axis of deception that is hiding behind what we may call cultural nationalism. The Media has lost its critical voice and has put on the role of being the cheer leader of the Government. Wealth is fast concentrating in the hands of few and we are still haunted by unemployment and different sets of rules for different people (discrimination).
We can see that the film is marvellously relevant for us today. The main characters Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra are hit by the tides of the plot that are similar to our precarious conditions. We can also identify a sold-out media house as the plot unfolds while still putting up an appearance (mask) of fighting against corruption trying to expose the scandalous life of the rich and the powerful. The Movie centres around corrupt deals between unscrupulous builder, Tarneja and Municipal Commissioner D’Mello as well as the business rival Ahuja.
The Movie, Jaane bhi do Yaaro has all the masala of a Hindi film which also involves a murder and collapse of a flyover. This is why one can draw a parallel between the movie and the tragic incident of the fall Morbi bridge. The way the movie ends by putting all the blame on innocent Vinod and Sudhir sends shivers down our spine because it triggers a fear that we may also not have the real culprits punished in the case of the man-made tragedy that hit us in Gujarat. As the FIR so far has only named only those who seemed to be remotely connected with the incident and the real culprits who had the power of making decision and who apparently seemed to have criminally abused it are let scot free. While the noise and the glow of Gujarat election has kept our mind engaged (distracted), the Morbi tragedy seems to be ending the way the movie Jaane bhi do Yaaro ends.
The final scene in the movie is heart recoiling. It shows that innocent Vinod and Sudhir are released after facing the punishment for the crime that they did not commit for several years inside the jail. They still roamed in the streets in their prison dress manifesting not just abortion of justice and truth but are proclaiming an important plain truth that even though we think that we are free, we still are our bound to several chains in our society. What we think as freedom is actually unfreedom. We are in a maya that we are free. Maybe we have to ask: are we really free? What Rosseau had taught: ‘man is born free but is in chains everywhere’ is our truth. We have another movie that also opens our eyes to our precarious condition. Kissa Kursi Ka, is the 1977 political satire. It is thought to be about the politics of India Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi. Ironically, we can still say that our lives are represented by the conditions creatively depicted by the film. Our politics is still looking for ‘rats’ who can be scapegoated for all the ills that we face. Moreover, we still seem to need a strong doze of the tonic of ‘nationalism’ to be a strong nation. Although, this dose of nationalism is not national enough and is producing hate, violence and fear while providing cover to corruption and monopolisation of the wealth in our society, we are still to come to terms with its deadly consequences. The Barat Jodo yatra of Rahul Gandhi, therefore, appears to be in the right direction. Hence, it is time that we open our eyes and come to a wakeful awareness and resist this politics of unfreedom that enslaves us.
(Fr Victor Ferrao is an independent researcher attached to St. Francis Xavier Church, Borim, Ponda)
