Is there an underdog psychology prevailing in society? The ongoing conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan was firstly interpreted by many foreign journalists writing on the subjects as Hindu aggression against a weaker Muslim minority. Never mind India had repeatedly said that Article 370 was a temporary provision in the Indian Constitution and more so, that Kashmir is legally part of India. Mind you, the major powers-USA, UK, France—have acknowledged Kashmir as an internal matter for India to settle bilaterally with Pakistan.
Who are these underdogs? They are not only mongrels; many are high-bred species that consume the best nourishments that are available in the planet. One breed is the so called LIBERALS. They live in the suburbs; their children attend the finest educational institutions; and their wives shop at high-end brands’ stores. These liberals are usually high income owners employed in academia, research and the entertainment industry but wants to “feel good” identifying with the underdogs.
Another breed are the LEFTISTS; the finest examples being Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela and Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, India. These underdogs are in power and certainly making a disaster of things. The world is aware of the sufferings of the people of Venezuela and the backwardness of West Bengal. While Bangladesh, once the most impoverished nation on earth, is experiencing a growth rate of 8.8 %, West Bengal has been stuck in an archaic Marxist rhetoric that has hindered and stifled development, a legacy of the Indian left.
Underdogs, when given power, behave like glorified house slaves who gladly make themselves available to the beck and call of massa while being contemptuous of their kith and kin. And, like the days of slavery, they spend more time in the Great House caring for massa and his family while neglecting their own.
Underdogs have a psychology of low self-esteem. They forever believe that the world is standing on their heads and they have to fight back. The last thing underdogs can do is to treat all as equal, not looking up or down at anyone. It is not about who is right or who is wrong; the evidence available should be weighed to separate the innocent from the guilty. But this is not the underdogs’ way; their way is one of entitlement. They must claim right to have whatever they see others are enjoying. They fail to understand concepts such as hard work, sacrifice, saving and investment.
Social players like the missionaries have exploited this underdog psychology. History is replete with the promise of heaven in the midst of exploitation and other injustices. Archbishop Desmond Tutu remarked: “When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. And they said,’ Let us pray’. But when the pray was over, and we opened our eyes, we found that we had the Bible and they had the lands.”
Hindus must abhor identifying as underdogs. We must develop the psychology that we have the intelligence and resources to reach our goals. To adopt an underdogs posturing is only to surrender to the current social scenario with an occasional street protest…a display of hopelessness.
The Christian missionaries have not ended their game. They claim to be working for the uplift of the backward classes but have failed to empower the poor. Instead, they have armored them with an underdog psychology of dependency and an incapacitation to think independently. And the few that benefitted from this missionary education became mimic men-dressing and dining like the West, travelling to civilization in New York, Toronto and London, escaping the native setting of Piparo and Sisters’ Road. Table manners and eating with knife and fork is more a topic of conversion than attending a PTA meeting!
The unsuspecting converts do not know that conversion has more to do with economic dominance and little with the Jesus and the Gospel. The desperation of the underdogs to ease hunger would always push them to the missionaries with the hope that their social condition would miraculously rise. Unfortunately, this is not happening to the frustration of many converts.
Underdog psychology had sunk into the minds of too many. It is the most-heavy burden that the poor carried on his shoulder. The underdog must accept that if he does not like his current social status, the onus is on him to engineer the necessary changes.
