Mann Ki Baat – The One Sided Talk You Just Listen to

Yes, every Sunday, you need to be ready to forcefully open your ears and listen to whatever sir says. It is almost similar to kids who are never interested in parent’s advice but have to listen because then they will not get a mobile phone for the whole day. There, they are children and, here, these are adults. In fact, now children are also dragged into this as listening to sirji is made compulsory many times in schools and even in colleges!

Sirji loves to be heard. That is a different story that you cannot speak anything. Even in certain rare cases you can, you cannot certainly ask anything. If you ask, the motabhai will take care of you! It all started when sirji wanted to connect to the people of India – so what if the connection is one sided! It all started with radio where all the channels had to mandatorily broadcast that long speech.

At first, it sounded interesting to many, but then, just like a school teacher babbles all the time, people started losing interest. For radios and TV channels, the story started getting dull and outdated. Today, many, though with all panic, asked the government to opt out of it! Some were granted the ‘freedom’ whereas others were strictly told ‘no’. And, they continued to broadcast.

The new change noticed in Mann Ki Baat was that citizens or people of India were then asked to share their ideas or provide suggestions. They can send all this to an email or even as a message on social media. Well, obviously, the final questions or suggestions will be chosen by their ‘own’ officials, so obviously, hard questions are opted out. Real suggestions are opted out! Only soft questions or praising (!) is selected and broadcasted.

It is true that if you connect with people regularly, the nation or the country improves. There is no doubt about it. Indeed, it is a great step taken in India and this had never happened before. Nevertheless, there is always a monologue; instead, if dialogue happens that too with great think tanks of India, the things could have been much better.

We only hope for the best –our country to lead the world but then for that the leaders should show their neutrality, accept criticism, and work with all honesty. While some of the leaders in the country have started walking in that direction like Mann Ki Baat , others are still into their comfort zone, as always.