[Reader-list] UID: The ultimate Kitsch of 21st Century India

[Taha Mehmood]

Kitsch, says Kundera, is marked by a denial of shit. Kitsch is
eternal. It is endless. Unlike shit. Which makes us acutely aware of
the everyday need of consume digest and take out that which is
undigested. Shit is a mark of everyday pleasure. While kitsch
represents the eternal, the endless. Kitsch in that sense represents
paradise. A place where pleasure is banished and happiness reigns
supreme. UID to me appears like an ultimate Kitsch of our time.
Identity with its inchoate, nebulous, indeterminate, irregular,
embryonic, immature, imperfect, inceptive, incipient, uncontinuous,
uncoordinated, unintelligible, mixed-up, muddled and rambling
character is more like shit.

The boys of Nehru-Gandhi family are boys with toys. Just like
grand-dad used to play around with big dams. Dad had a crush on
telecommunications. In Rahul’s time we are asked to consume this
shitless fetish in UID. A number that will last for centuries. A
number that will be with us from birth till death and beyond. UID
represent an ideal projection of a utopia. The prefectly rational
state. The problem of knowledge is solved for all times to come. The
ideal ruler finally know who are his ideal subjects. An ultimate Ram
Rajya.