‘Cockroach stir stripped Modi’s carefully confected image’: Arundhati Roy as reflected on by Venerable Thich Minh An
Early this morning, a brisk fog drifted off the coast. It lingered among the plum trees in our valley orchard. I walked slowly along the damp dirt rows. I listened to our community gathering windfall fruit. In silence, one notices how fragile every surface is. A web spun in the dark breaks easily. First light touches it, and it gives way. A report from across the sea reached us later. It carried the sharp words of Arundhati Roy. She spoke of public unrest, contested ballots, and the sudden unraveling of Modi’s confected image. Roy described how simple, persistent cries from the young have shaken an edifice once presented as invincible.
Our tradition recognizes power often expends great energy. It attempts to sustain an illusion. Leaders and institutions construct monumental personas. They polish them to reflect certainty, strength, and unbroken authority. Yet in the teachings of interbeing, nothing exists as a solid, permanent self. A political figure invests heavily in confecting an untouchable persona. They thus build upon sand. They must constantly deny suffering. They dismiss dissent. Furthermore, they hide foundation cracks. Reality, however, cannot remain locked away indefinitely. Truth does not require fanfare; it merely waits. It acts like a small seed pushing through hardened soil.
Unraveling Modi’s Confected Image
The youth took to the streets. Those in power dismissively labeled them. Still, they refused to disperse. They embody an ancient truth about human longing. Governance becomes performance. Moreover, the ballot itself is suspected of manipulation. Consequently, the basic trust binding society begins to fray. Trust is not a gift rulers bestow. It is the mutual breath of a living community. Young people gather to demand honesty. Their noise is not mere rebellion. Instead, it is the friction of conscience. It rubs against an imposed falsehood. It insists real human needs cannot be fed by curated spectacle.
Engaged Buddhism calls us to look deeply at both sides of any rupture. It is tempting to celebrate a haughty image’s puncture with derision. Vengeance also seems appealing. However, contempt only feeds division’s fire. The craft of image-making arises from fear. It stems from the fear of insignificance. It includes the terror of impermanence. It also comes from the grasping desire for control. We see the collapse of a leader’s fabricated facade. We should not gaze with triumph. We must look with clear-eyed compassion. Ultimately, whoever clings desperately to power is already imprisoned. They remain constantly anxious about the next revelation.
Truth, Trust, and Lasting Transformation
True authority needs no guards. It does not guard itself against citizens’ voices. It welcomes election scrutiny. A just steward of society listens most closely. They hear the whisper of the discontented. They know their pain reveals where the collective body is bruised. A state resorts to suppressing inquiry. It masks its own errors. Consequently, it harms its own well-being. A tree refuses to bend with the prevailing wind. It does not prove its strength. It merely guarantees the eventual gale will snap its trunk.
Here, the mist burns away beneath the midday sun. The fruit trees stand plain and bare of pretense. They drop their leaves without shame. They trust the earth to receive them when the season turns. May those who hold immense worldly power discover courage. May they lay down perfection’s exhausting burden. Furthermore, may the young people demanding transparency remain rooted in peaceful determination. They must remember enduring transformation comes not from tearing down another out of hatred. It comes from walking together in the luminous, unadorned light of truth.
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