No politics is the biggest politics

-santosh kumar

Sometimes I like to introspect. Introspection makes you more aware about yourself and allows
you to see yourself objectively. I often stay clear of political ideologies. I clearly state this fact to
my friends- I am apolitical, I dont follow any particular political ideology as such. And I often
try to not get involved in political debates. I am scared of politics in some sense. Perhaps I have
imbibed certain stereotypes, generalizations and a sense of delusion regarding politics at the back
of my mind, or perhaps I wish to demarcate intellectuals and politically active people
(though I know no such demarcation exist) and I am happy including myself in the former
category and excluding in the latter.
So my introspective trance led me to this realization that my no politics stance is in itself an act
of politics. I realized that by interacting with all sorts of people with all sorts of ideology and not
playing allegiance to any group, I am, consciously or unconsciously placing myself in a situation
where I can take support from all sides, can influence and in a different connotation, manipulate
them. Being diplomatic is also a politics of representation where I project myself as an
unbiased, neutral, all encompassing figure who is subjective, positive or indifferent to all,
depending upon the situation. I am trying to project myself in a particular light (everyone does
actually, and we should question whether there is something called a real personality and
whether our inner personality is really something inert and natural). By committing myself as
apolitical I may be actually trying to get a license to make a political comment, without people
judging my political leanings according to my views (as people often do). I may also be looking
for an excuse for not getting involved in an agitation, any protest perhaps because my
understanding of the issue is fairly inadequate or perhaps I am confused over which side to take.
Perhaps I dont get involved in a political debate because my ideas are scattered and I fear that
the other person will sway me to his or her side by arguments to which I dont have any counterargument. Maybe the very idea that I will be overpowered gives me a feeling of intellectual
inferiority and thats why I try to exclude myself from the political gatherings. Maybe my nonalignment to politics is a fulcrum to my fugitive mind. Or maybe my ego acts as a resistance
from channelizing my voltage of ideas and judgments in anything political because my ego hates
and feels hurt when overpowered or when it lags behind. Another reason could be my laziness to
involve in something as active and dynamic as politics. Maybe I am way too lazy to even wish to
carry a political idea on my head and express it verbally, symbolically and physically. I am happy
being an armchair intellectual

I keep on explaining to people that I detest politics wherever it is not necessary. Kitchen
politics is that form of politics that we all outwardly abhor but we only are the most avid
practitioners of that pseudo-skill. So I use terms like human nature, subjectivity,
historical consciousness to assert the view that there can be various ideologies and all correct
at the same time, so I find it better to amalgamate different ideologies, different viewpoints rather
than juxtaposing them one against the other. I am not unbiased, in fact I carry my own baggage
of biases and prejudices, and its just that I dont wish to label them. But somehow I realize that
in this whole rhetoric of being apolitical I am actually offering an alternative, I am using
language not just to convey but to influence, I am not doing away with leanings, I am just not
allowing my influences to limit me or force me down to a set of beliefs. Thus, my rhetoric of
being apolitical is in itself a political act. Language cant be neutral, nor can be human nature.
Thus my rhetoric of apolitical maybe well an apology for a lack of coherent ideology or a
name given to a mish-mash of beliefs. So see how conveniently I have used a label (apolitical) to
detest labels.
Politics is politics
Little politics is more politics
And no politics is the biggest politics
There is simply no escape!!