The Boot Lickers

In contemporary India, a loud, self-righteous tribe parades itself as nationalists, pledging blind allegiance to the present dispensation. Their defining characteristic bordering on ideological lobotomy is an utter incapacity for self-reflection. For them, the regime can do no wrong, despite having governed for over a decade, with a further stretch likely to take its uninterrupted rule close to fifteen years. If, after such an extended monopoly on power, accountability is still deflected elsewhere, then the problem is no longer political it is moral and intellectual.

This echo chamber survives by incessant whining. Every failure, every rot, every institutional collapse is conveniently traced back to 1947, the Congress party, or if desperation peaks the British Raj. The sheer audacity of blaming colonialism three generations after independence, while simultaneously presiding over absolute power, would be comical if it were not so tragic. Nations that were colonized alongside India South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia have surged ahead in manufacturing, exports, and human development. South Korea’s per capita income today exceeds USD 35,000; India’s hovers around USD 2,500. Colonization did not permanently cripple ambition mis-governance did.

The more insidious argument peddled by these loyalists is cultural self-loathing masquerading as nationalism: that Indians are servile, mentally colonized, obsessed with white skin, and incapable of shedding a slave mindset. This is not patriotism; it is projection. If after 75 years of self rule, a nation of 1.4 billion people with demographic advantage, technological capability, and democratic legitimacy still struggles with unemployment, inequality, and social fragmentation, the blame lies not with long dead British officers or bygone governments, but squarely with the incumbents who have enjoyed unprecedented control over Parliament, states, institutions, and narrative.

Let us speak in numbers, not slogans.

Unemployment remains chronically high, with youth unemployment estimates frequently crossing 20%.

Real wages have stagnated for years, while inflation particularly food inflation has eroded household purchasing power.

Private investment, the lifeblood of sustainable growth, has lagged despite repeated headline-grabbing reforms.

Inequality has worsened dramatically: the top 1% now commands over 40% of the nation’s wealth, levels unseen since the colonial era.

Public expenditure on health and education remains stubbornly low compared to comparable emerging economies.

Yet none of this is discussed with honesty. Why would it be, when scapegoating the Congress and minorities is so much easier? When appeasement politics ironically denounced yet zealously practiced provides a convenient smokescreen for administrative incompetence? The present regime has not merely stumbled into extremism; it has methodically curated an extreme right wing narrative, refined its playbook, and deployed it with ruthless efficiency.

History is weaponized selectively. Congress regimes at the Centre and in the states are flogged endlessly, not to learn from past mistakes, but to permanently absolve the present of responsibility. Minorities are demonized to keep society polarized. Institutions are weakened so that dissent appears treasonous. This is not governance; it is spectacle and all too familiar Indian  tamasha.

The objective is simple and brutally effective: keep the citizen perpetually enraged, permanently distracted, and emotionally intoxicated. A population busy fighting imagined enemies does not ask inconvenient questions about job creation, collapsing education standards, crony capitalism, environmental degradation, or the steady hollowing out of democratic institutions. Critical thinking is the real casualty perhaps the only one that truly frightens those in power.

After a decade plus of absolute authority, excuses have expired. Historical alibis have lost credibility. Colonial ghosts no longer convince. If progress remains elusive, the fault lies not in the past, not in minorities, and not in some mythical slave mentality but in the abject failure of those who promised transformation and delivered division.

That is the truth the loyalists cannot tolerate. And that is precisely why it must be stated without restraint.

My humble appeal to such self anointed crusaders is that if they want leave their mark on the sands of time, and be remembered in posterity for their knowledge, do a rethink at the altar of empirical evidence and the truth and reform✍🏽