Kirtey Parchas

Editorial:
Pamphlets have played a significant role as mediums of political activism throughout history [at least in times when enough people could read]. These cheaply produced treatises were used extensively in the times before mass-media to convey ideologies and infiltrate public opinion. In all its political manifestations though, pamphlets were always about propaganda - communicating essentially one-sided arguments and foisting a one-sided world-views. As mentioned, this was before the mass-media industry became what it has now become - more effective planks to hold forth and get heard. In its earlier avatar, pamphlets at least had an ideological grounding, and even though biased, attempted to at least make a point. This space is now offered by the contemporary forms of media, essentially newspapers in Sikkim’s case. Even if consumers have reservations over individual claims of being unbiased carriers of information, what no one cannot deny anymore in Sikkim is that every hue of the political landscape here now has access to presenting its version of the situation and communicate its allegations and defences.

When this release is now available, why then are there still so many anonymous pamphlets, the ubiquitous ‘kirtey parchas’, in circulation? The answer is obvious; because their contents are unsubstantiated, unverified and libellous. Its creators and circulators, even if they have mediums through which they can address their respective constituencies, do not want to come on record with such offensive drivel. Of course, the Kirtey Parchas do not proclaim their anonymity, and invariably appropriate an identity, almost always claiming to be ‘concerned citizens’. What is obvious though is that they are ‘motivated’ citizens, the motivation instigated by personal stakes and ambitions. The cover of anonymity allows them room to vent their frustrations in acerbic tones and repugnant simulation that offend all recipients of their vitriol, save those who relish voyeuristic muck-raking. Even while agreeing that many fall in the latter bracket, fact also remains that even though they might see these pamphlets as ‘entertaining’, they do not ascribe any authenticity to its contents. The problem sets in when people start circulating the contents of such anonymous contentions by word of mouth. Sikkim has consistently proven its weakness for rumours and whispers. The ease with which con-artists have cheated Sikkimese with clumsily-designed promises, solely on the strength of word-of-mouth promotion presents itself as an apt example what damage the grapevine can wreck on the society. It is in this light that the proliferation of such drivel needs to be roundly condemned. In an unhealthy development, these tools of anonymous instigation, which had remained largely confined to politics and its players, have now started slithering around to run down even achievers and politically unattached persons, lashing out at them for perceived denials and suspected favouritism. More than the targets of the kirtey barbs, the continued circulation of such rubbish reflects on the society itself which, with its distrusting inclinations, encourages the imagined conspiracies of pernicious mindsets by providing them an audience which carries their rambles to a larger audience.