Anybody who has seen the Vidhana Soudha cannot possibly miss the grossly vulgar line that shouts at you:
GOVERNMENT’S WORK IS GOD’S WORK. Yes, all in caps, using the boldest of bold Type.

This line, simple as it looks, contains an enormous, almost sinister, implication. If government’s work is God’s work, can we reasonably conclude that Government=God? If the answer is yes, read along. If no, please state your reasons for the same When we talk about God, we generally mean someone–person/entity/force/whatchamacallit–who knows all, sees/hears all, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient… the whole drag. It is also not uncommon to associate fear when we talk about God; you know, on the lines of, “say the truth or God will cut off your tongue,” “do and be good, or God will make you a cripple,” etc. On the subject of fear, it is also not uncommon to read in religious and other literature, and hear in sermons about the “wrath of the Lord.” To stray slightly, one of the best ironies that I’ve read about the fear of God is found in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. The wastrel inheritor of a decaying but once-prosperous family thinks along the following lines. The context is when this wastrel, upset with his Negro servant Dilsey, uses God to avoid responsibility.

Well, like a flash I knew what was up, but just to make sure I went and got the slipper and brought it back, and just like I thought, when he saw it you’d thought we were killing him. So I made Dilsey own up, then I told Mother. We had to take her up to bed then, and after things got quieted down a little I put the fear of God into Dilsey. As much as you can into a nigger, that is.

Okay, coming back on track, I hope I’ve given a fair idea of speaking about fear in the context of God. When we equate government with God, do we automatically ascribe to the Government, all these aspects that we ascribe to God? Is the government omni-everything? Is it an object/entity to be feared?

Now, when we substitute the common fear factors associated with god and apply it in the government’s context, we get the following:

Speak the truth, or the government will cut off your tongue! In this case however, truth happens to be–and always almost–what the government has decreed it to be.
Be good, or the government will make you a cripple! In this case, the good is often determined by how favourable your actions are towards the government in power.
…. and so on.

So, ladies and gentlemen, given the facts above, it is only proper to conclude that the line embossed on the Vidhana Soudha reeks of Statism. In a democracy, the only proper God, according to the principles of free speech, thought and action, happens to be the people. Methinks, the words should be rewritten as Government’s Work is People’s Work. That way it will at least have some meaning. How? Read on.

When you involve God, you also involve the priests, the shamans, and other intermediaries who help you reach Him/Her. This is more true in the case of India than perhaps, any other country (forgive me if this is a gross generalization. I’m not fully aware how this phenomenon enacts itself in other, more mature democracies). This also explains why our politicians and babus behave the way they do. Because government’s work is God’s work, the politicians in power seem to assume they are Gods, and the elaborate system of Governmental Priesthood babudom has been designed to serve the Gods, not the devotees citizens.

This is the reason I say, change those grotesque words if only to remind the government that it is possible because the people willed it.

The building that houses the Legislature of the state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore. Here’s a picture.

Tags: Commentary, Indian Politics, Society & Culture