Victim Speak

Just recently I was reading about Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Rajastan where he has referred  to the assassinations of his grandmother and father, and also the possibility of his being killed in the same manner.  First of all, let me clarify that I am not a political critic, but being a person who is still able to empathize, I certainly feel sorry for the person who definitely would have undergone a lot of trauma from a young age.

In no way am I referring to his oratorical or management skills or his credibility or financial assets or love affairs or even his current job as a Congress leader. Like a lot of my fellow Indians, I agree that there is much more he needs to do to prove his mettle politically, and win the trust of the people. But seeing him verbally assaulted in this manner and brought down to the level of a ‘buddhu’ or ‘pappu’, I certainly feel sorry for the person that is Rahul Gandhi , who seems to be a victim of circumstances. True, he has lived in the lap of luxury lifelong and is part of a political dynasty that may not be digested by many, but all that comes to my mind when I think of him is the phrase, ‘poor little rich boy’.

Speaking about victims, my dears, it certainly looks like we Indians are a sadistic lot when it comes to victimizing victims.  Mind you, I am not just talking about those unfortunate people who are victims of major physical crimes. I am also referring to people like you and me who may be victimized emotionally and psychologically for a word or action taken unwittingly.  We could be victims at school, at the work place, in the bus, at a public gathering, or even in our own houses.

But irrespective of the degree of victimization, what I feel is that we belong to a peculiar culture that has generated our own effective ways of dealing with the sufferings of victims.  We believe in taunting, demoralizing and demeaning them thoroughly mostly using weapons of words which force them to remain victims throughout their lives.  Never mind the age, gender, or sex of a victim; never mind the magnitude of their sorrows or troubles; never mind their circumstances or reasons as to why they were victimized; we are proficient in offering them not just our generous sympathies, but we also make sure to judge, criticize, condemn, warn, taunt, moralize, sermonize, and watch over them all their lives just to make sure that they never ever forget the fact that they are victims.

Coming back to Rahul Gandhi, as a young politician, he may or may not be able to survive this massive onslaught by over eager Indians belonging to various political categories and idealism, but as an individual who i feel is ‘more sinned against than sinning’, i hope he finds his peace sometime in life...