Book Review: 'After Messiah' By Aakar Patel

After Messiah by Aakar Patel

Published by Penguin Random House India, 2023

MRP: Rs Rs 399.00

The year 2023 has been a year of huge hustle and bustle. First, it is the year preceding the great Indian elections of 2024 and India, as a political experiment, has been watched by the entire globe as claims of the ascendency of India are being thumped nationally and internationally. Most importantly, India's reassertions under the self-proclaimed 'dedicated and disciplined leadership' are being made. The one-man leadership is being hailed as a rags-to-riches story, the man who claims to witness and participate in all the historic events. Thus, the mission and vision, the saga of making India great again and the spin stories of India on the way to reclaiming its natural destiny of being a Jagadguru are being circulated. 

The entire Idea of India has been reduced to the idea of single leadership. Rather than facts of the economic sectors, the size of the chest of the leadership is being flaunted. Thus, for every doubt or suspicion raised, a counter-argument is put forth by a dedicated band of bhakts having a physical and digital presence. These events in the times of post-post-truth point to the quandary that a pragmatic, rational, and scientific-tempered citizen of India is facing. While trying to make sense of things, one realises how deeply enmeshed we are in this game of thrones, irrespective of our interest in politics. Questions start arising about whether we are again moving towards mobocracy or whether we are moving back towards the divine kingship or kinship era. Is it evil or lesser evil? Grandeur is evident everywhere, but somewhere deep down, our hearts are hesitant to accept that all is well. Something seems adrift, something seems missing; there is an unavoidable void. The more the pomps orchestrated by the state, the more there's a feeling of melancholy and tornado spiralling down towards disenchantment. In light of these contemporary political processes and destructive rhetorics, a timely intervention has been made in the public sphere - a fiction (yet non-fiction) book by Human Rights activist Aakar Patel. The book is titled "After Messiah".

I have been following Aakar Patel's work for a long time, especially his columns in newspapers. His works have shed light on the degradation of India's moral and social fabric. His works have touched and shaped the political aesthetics of civil society and throw light upon the fact as to what it means to be a citizen of a Sovereign, Democratic, Republic India. His works, like the translation of Manto's writings, convey the ideals and need for Social Democracy, navigating beyond the contours of political events of elections, and tracing the etymology and epistemology of Hindu Rashtra. Last but not least, he analyses the Idea of India using quantitative and qualitative analysis. Precisely, my personal yet historical engagement with the author's work has helped me decode and understand the between the lines of his writings. Thus, having an intimate earlier connection with Aakar's writings and knowing his constructive critical line of thinking makes me put forth this review. Aakar's current text, After Messiah is a new and raw fictional work written in very simple yet terse language. The text invoked and made me ponder over the following lines,

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.
- Albert Camus.

Indeed, a macro, as well as micro view of the Political and Economic processes in today's times can't be more aptly foregrounded than a fiction describing the hermeneutics of the State assuming Hegelian and Hobbesian traits. This book starts with the lines by Emily Dickinson and Jacinta Kerketta, portraying the idea of resistance against the Leviathan monster as well as deceit practised in the name of development in neoliberal times. These two broader themes run through the entire book, making it a compelling read.

The Messiah

The initial chapters start with the Machiavellian choreographed event by the dubious, self-centred yet charismatic great leader aka Big Man aka Messiah. The chapter starts on a very interesting note as a sane person can immediately recognise that the described messiah is a representation of the xenophobic, bhakti-loving leaders of our current times. All the descriptions of the leader – the manufactured and fabricated truths, hegemonic power, neo-fascism, the majority media dancing on his whims and fancies, leader’s taste, a quest for publicity, making of myths, militarisation of state, opposition being branded as anti-national, wearing patriotism on sleeves, made me think of the times of Mussolini and Hitler. In fact, the leader seems to be a replica of Plato's Philosopher King demanding unquestionable obedience and Nietzche's conception of Super'man'. The messiah stands for creative destruction, which is counter-enlightenment and creation of a mythical past, as George Sorel had talked about, prioritising passion over reason-Bergson's dictum.

The State

The messiah distorts the democratic credentials of the state. The entire state and its various arms coalesce around the cult of the 'Big Man'. The paradox is that the majority populace, hypnotised by his charisma, celebrates him. With the people's consent, the Rousseau General Will is manufactured - staging of performances, using state and non-state actors, following the dictum of the end justifying the means. Thus, not substantive but majoritarian democracy, crony capitalism, and the State as God, which crushes any dissent, is the new normal. Thus, Evil becomes Banal. The messiah changes the very texture of the State, which was earlier built on conscientious Constitutional Ethics.

Post-Messiah

With the passing of Messiah accidentally, the question of succession and the course of events shows the state of intra and inter-political party affairs. The behavioural, opportunistic tendencies of politicians, their tactics of unleashing the state institutions illegally on the people's representatives in the game of numbers, and the criminalisation of politics are very well highlighted. But the void created by the absence of Big Man also gives the other political actors a fillip to assert and reassert themselves, pointing to the difference between ought to be and the current scenario. The characters of permanent as well as political executives are knitted so well that it seems one is watching a fictional movie on Politics in India.

Means vs Ends

The author points to the dilemma of the State, which has moulded itself on the lines of Salazarism. In fact, the persons with integrity who now occupy the highest office of the state have to resort to going the Big Man's way, such is the damage done to the fabric of state institutions. The Kantian categorical imperative of prioritising means over ends remains just a mirage. The use of law with misused authority coupled with immoral legitimacy seen in the events of land acquisition, the bulldozering justice paradigms, are shown with apt coldness as if their lives don't matter in the schema of power politics. The text also raises philosophical questions that make a reader ponder the questions of ethics, the ontology of democracy, the construct of the idea of development, dissecting the nature of growth and many more issues.

Womanity

The author very interestingly brings women to the foreground, being appointed as the caretaker Prime Minister and the independent assertion by a woman President who is deemed and expected to act as a puppet. It shows what difference it can bring when the women run the show. The brutal politics which always prioritises machismo over due diligence is now challenged by the state of affairs and improved governance delivery when phallocentric views are sidelined and 'rajdharm' is exercised as the way it should be. How brilliant the state looks when an empowered, de-gendered being turns the Leviathan state using pragmatism, legitimacy and proper authority can make it an agency of change!

Last but not least

The text has a pace which makes it apt to grasp the sudden happenings post the Messiah's death. The pace seems somewhat staggered in the middle and later parts, making it seem slower. The character of Du Bois, the diplomat, is beautifully written, but it assumes importance when seen in a dialectical process occurring between the diplomat and the head of government. This also proves the dictum of 'Personal is International', the power of love, the liberation of women's sexuality, and most importantly, the agency of choice exercised by women rather than the normal crybaby characters and always being shown as oppressed. Here, the women live on their terms in a world where they can insulate themselves from biases of class, patrilineal succession, and nation-state masculine dictums.

Aakar Patel gives readers a new chance to understand the multiple narratives and complexities that go into making the State, the chance to understand the tenets of legitimacy, authority, and power in layperson terms to make sense of the contemporary scenario surrounding us. He presents a new ought-to-be, a new idea of utopia and hopes to achieve it. Who knows, maybe thinking out loud on this text, we can draw parallels with Indian Politics too!