By Valson Thampu
I do not know if the BJP is rattled at having to cope with Priyanka. Vinay Katiyar clearly is. But we should understand him, and not rush into condemning him. Poor Vinay!
He is entitled to the margin of courtesy that we extent to all men in respect of the bewilderment they experience vis-à-vis women. I am a man. I should know!
Why were women kept under bit and bridle, through the centuries, in the man-dominated scheme of thing, which is fighting its last ditch battle through desperate soldiers of orthodoxy like Katiyar?
The fact is that woman has always been a riddle to man. He could neither understand her nor match up to her powers. In respect of her, he has always been not only powerless but also fragile and helpless. But, oh the cruel joke, he has had to live with her. And that too in close proximity!
Proximity and mystery are a terrible combination. It breeds fear. If what you don’t understand, and so cannot master, is at a distance, it can be endured. But if it is breathing down upon you, what will you do? Especially, given how limited your human powers are.
Man mastered the art of hunting animals. Hunting is child’s play compared to relating. To hunt, all you need are muscles and weapons. To relate, you need to be human. And that’s a tall order. Especially if, most of time all you have done is hunting in its diverse idioms and expressions.
It was out of compassion for ‘men’ like Katiyar that George Eliot said, “There is no denying that women are stupid; for they were, after all, meant to live with men.”
It is not a bad thing to afford a little compassion for those who are struggling to emerge above the mud of the mundane. Compassion requires that we step into the shoes of the person concerned. You have to Katiyar to know the trauma that underlies his innocent words.
Man has not been altogether idiotic. He has had just enough brain to invent desperate remedies. He shielded himself with fables, folklore and myths in order to tame woman and keep her in subjugation. So, she was portrayed as a seductress, a piece of burning charcoal to be handled with fear and caution.
The stereotype of the seductress has its nuances, foremost of which is that she is as stupid as she is beautiful. Beauty and brains do not go together. So man assigned, arbitrarily, beauty to woman and appropriated brain for himself.
That has not proved a wise thing; for brain, being hidden, has to be proved to exist. That is where people like me and my friends like Katiyar have problems. Beauty is there for all to see. It does not have to be proved.
You can prove that you have brains, shall we say, by convincing others that you “keep your wits about you”. That cause is greatly served by keeping your mouth shut. Hence the old adage, “silence is golden”. Or, as a wise man said, “I have never regretted my silence.”
Silence is golden because it serves as an iron curtain in public life. Or, like a helmet that keeps your brain, such as it is, well guarded and protected from public contact and scrutiny.
That too is a problem. Remember, the Greeks believed that ‘speaking’ is the quintessential political activity. If you are a politicians–never mind how you got in- you have to speak. But, you can speak only like who you are. Style, after all, is the man. Especially when one speaks in style, as Katiyar always does.
So, all of us together have landed this blunt and forthright politician in a quandary. He has to speak, being a politician; a powerful one at that. And when he speaks, which he can do only as he is, we pounce on him. This is unfair. I am with Katiyar. Sir, I offer my full sympathies.
I blame Priyanka. What business does she have to rattle a senior politician to this extent? Doesn’t she know that he could have reacted only in this fashion? Wasn’t it wholly predictable?
So, I am beginning even to suspect that she decided to get into the UP fray only to discompose the likes of Katiyar. That smacks of malice, which as Katiyar says, and right too, is not very beautiful.
I disapprove, in particular, of the abruptness with which she broke into the scene. It is manifestly unfair to take people, who are likely to be nervous, by surprise. It is like hollering into the ears of a nervous wreck. Charity demands that such people be given time to come terms to with the unmanning trauma involved.
So, when he says that Priyanka is not beautiful enough, he is also betraying his anxiety that she might have some brains! A woman with brains! Now, how do you solve a problem like that?
So, read aright, it is a compliment. Rather, it is an anthology of compliments.
Spare the man. Thank him for his goodness.
(Valson Thampu is former principal of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi)