Diwali, festival of lights and a festival of hope is here, celebrating the victory of righteousness over evil and of virtues over vices.
The five-day festivities began with Dhantrayodashi, also known as Dhanteras on Saturday. A day when usually people are seen shopping valuables or stepping into new business ventures. This auspicious day is also celebrated as the day of Dhanvantari, the God of Medicine. As epics have it, Dhanvantari emerged from the ocean as a result of the churning, popularly known as ‘samudra manthan’.
The second day is celebrated as Narak Chaturdashi. The demon king Narkasur, who reigned over large parts of North-Eastern India, had over a period of time abducted more than 16,000 women. Shri Krishna defeated the demon king and released the women from his clutches. However, when the families of these women refused them ‘ghar wapsi’ for having lived with Narkasur, Shri Krishna provided them an honourable status in the society by marrying them.
The third day, the day in common parlance celebrated as Diwali, marking the conquest of Shri Krishna over Narkasur, is the day of Lakshmi Pujan. It marks the day when Shri Ram, Lakshman and Sita returned to Ayodha after a 14-year exile. However, on this day Sita is celebrated as the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi marking the return of wealth to Ayodhya.
The fourth day is Bali Pratipada or more popularly known as Govardhan Puja and the fifth day is Bhai Dooj, celebrating the bond between brother and sister.
Moving away from the epics, while one celebrates the grandeur victory, it’s time to introspect. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the head of the State and as a loyal believer in Ram Rajya, should lead all the faithful, especially his partymen, into soul-searching the present state of the nation vis-à-vis the ideals laid out by the deities that are worshipped.
Beginning with ‘dhan’, the Prime Minister who had urged the nation to give him 50 days as he had declared the cruellest economic reform, demonetisation, on November 8, 2016, should stand before the nation and explain the monetary and financial benefits his extra-ordinary move had for the citizens of the country. Even after nearly six years, those who had suffered the economic catastrophe have not been able to recover and it would not be untruth to say that it hit them more than the ‘recession’.
The ‘sabka saath sabka vikas sabka vishwas’ provided the much needed political dividends for the proclaimants and those who paved the way for an overwhelming majority in Parliament, still have their doors opening to gloomy nights as a large population in the country is suffering from the lack of even two-square meals.
Our heads hang in shame, when one recalls the premature celebration over COVID-19 which followed the second wave and unfolded a disaster for the entire nation. The lack of every possible medical facility, the most striking of them, the shortage of oxygen and the black marketing of oxygen cylinders led to deaths of thousands who could have lived to celebrate another Diwali with their loved ones.
Shri Krishna elevated the status of more than 16,000 women by rescuing them from the demon and evil king. He left an act of virtue which should have resonated throughout the nation whenever a female is being targeted, let alone molested or gang raped. However, to much of dismay the country has witnessed exactly the opposite with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reporting that in the year 2021 alone, 31,677 cases of rape were registered, making it the fourth most common crime. This does not include other crimes against the women in our society.
Ahead of Diwali, when numerous sections of society have not received either their salaries for months or the monthly pension benefits under the social security schemes, the ‘double engine’ sarkar in the State led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should ponder upon the cries of these families for ‘Lakshmi’.
The desire to live in a ‘Ram Rajya’ is farfetched when the head of the State and the leader of the day does not believe he is accountable to the people he is serving. It is one ‘jumla’ to claim to reach the person at the last mile but an act of virtue to know the plight of the downtrodden who are suffering.
Neither Shri Ram nor Shri Krishna would have heralded to a heroic welcome had they not only seemed to have justly reigned over their subjects but in truism had reached the men and women, old and children, when their citizens looked up to them for their social and economic well being.
Let this Diwali usher our political leaders into self-introspection and public accountability. HAPPY DIWALI!
