Over the last twelve years, we have been governed by a majoritarian coalition that claims to be nostalgic about Ram Rajya in Treta Yug, but in reality has been steadily steering the state towards the feudal 18th century India. The problem is not the feudal structure that was expected to mesh seamlessly with a revisionist Hindu worldview and bury our secular Constitution and rights as equal under the law .It now seems that the steady saffron indoctrination about the decadent feudalism of the 18th century, contained information that has, ironically, made a return to a vision unacceptable to most supporters of the ruling group.The only supporters of high claims about Bharat emerging as a super power in the next two decades are a limited number of ‘oligarch billionaires’ who, according to ex-Trump negotiator Robert Lightheizer, number just 15, and who, according to Lightheizer, ‘ran the country’.Main among them are just 5 families whom the remaining 10 support. This seems believable because it has been years since our Parliament heard lively discussions on subjects that matter to the majority of Indians who voted for them based on promises of the fabled ‘Achhe Din’.As anyone who knows India, children matter the most to our people. And for ensuring a safe future for them, most families starve themselves willingly. But here is where things have gone horribly wrong. From the primary level to the highest, we see parents running like headless chickens to admit their children to decent schools and universities. The universities, even after admitting the best, deny them accommodation. So, they must pack up their bags only to move from one overpriced flea pit into another while the children of most powerful ministers, chief ministers and bureaucrats graduate from ivy league universities abroad.Such inequalities have a ripple effect on culture shared by urban middle classes and farming communities, who are forced to adapt to rapid urbanisation. Health and education have remained low priority subjects. Instead, we have erected some of the biggest statues of our deemed heroes, poshed up ancient temple cities and suddenly opened them to merciless commercialisation of the Hindu religion. And now the public is expected to pay for all that in the name of national pride.Internationally, our fabled Hinduisation of culture that first drew sniggers has now moved on to angry protests from several countries. Most recent being the case of the Gujarat based Hindu organisation Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), whose celibate monks wished to visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris after the inauguration of their latest temple abroad.According to media reports based on staff members’ version, the female employees working at the Eiffel tower were asked to remain ‘invisible’ during the visit of the delegation of monks from BAPS. The workers, enraged at the ‘sidelining’ of their female colleagues, went on a strike and the famous tower had to be closed down temporarily. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told the media that they were aware of this but it remained an issue between “the two entities (the BAPS and the Eiffel Tower management) concerned .”The BAPS authorities apologised, but the harm had been done to India’s reputation as the world’s largest secular democracy.Ironically, while the honourable PM was congratulating Hindus for the opening of (another) grand Swaminarayan temple in Paris, an illegally built five storied hostel for university students in Delhi collapsed after torrential rains. According to reports, it killed seven students and seriously injured many more.One dimensional media images of VIPs rushing to the site and hugging the weeping families and yelling at officers, cannot undo a multi dimensional wrong. People have eyes. People have children whom they love. Scores of parents are telling the media how they are paying exorbitant rents for one room hovels housing their children in congested alleys with electric wires hanging dangerously in clusters all over.The torrential rains have also unveiled other shoddy administrative lapses. From Uttarakhand to Rajasthan and MP, the lake bursts and floods have washed away major highways and bridges recently inaugurated with much media hoopla. The hills from Himachal to Arunachal also have eyes. Environmental degradation by men for monetary gains have ensured all Himalayan states being reduced to pulpy endangered areas the slightest flooding can wash away. Of them, Uttarakhand is headed for elections soon but despite over a hundred broken roads, the local (double engine) government is promoting Char Dham Yatras and winter tourism. The environment agenda is off entirely from gatherings televised with colourful images of rituals.The joint vote banks of mahila and youthOnce upon a time, MY used to be an acronym for joint vote banks of Muslims and Yadavs that the Samajwadi Party controlled. Today it means the joint vote banks of mahila (women) and youth the political parties are wooing. But how much do MY believe them when the government promises a deeper connect with the youth (whose lingo it comically inserts in their Shuddh Hindi invocations to yuva children of Ma Bharati)? Also, why do they insist on labelling women not as one gender but as mothers and sisters and daughters?The present-day MY has eyes and those Navya Bhavya temples to Sanatani Gods abroad that our NRI children can be proud of, that renaming of cities, railway stations and streets named after Mughals, those promises for ‘decongesting’ the Banke Bihari temple next and beautifying it like the Ram mandir in Ayodhya and the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Benaras, no longer wash away the shameful thefts of temple coffers.Even the vegetable vendors rolling their carts realise the cost of these Jumlas . “Bibi ji we are ashamed to quote the price for onions, tomatoes even greens, but we also have families to bring up”, they say sadly. The Gurudwaras, may they be blessed, opened their portals to hungry homeless hostellers evicted from unsafe hostels, but what is the government doing to redress the young students’ real troubles?It is no consolation to hear about “big differences” now like “unravelling and regrouping” of global economies and mass migrations of ‘unwanted persons’. What the average Indian realises is, that the last years have deepened communal divide and promoted misogyny in the name of religious codes like Manusmriti. Of course, no one has a silver bullet to the thorny questions of recent years, but before India can deal properly with them, will it not need a government that agrees its main aim must be to locate and serve the last man on the socio economic ladder?When a BAPS monk stands on a carpet posing for a selfie against the Eiffel Tower, a Ganga arti is held on Thames and Gorakhpur is described by a Bhojpuri star as another Spain, how long can a willing suspension of disbelief last?Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.