Editor,
On the psychology of fascism and how people are drawn into fascism, Carl Jung in his famous interview titled, ‘Will the souls find peace?’ said, “Germans are profoundly troubled with a national inferiority complex, which they try to compensate by megalomania.”
Now, we are witnessing a similar situation. Giving priority to building big statues, going to the moon instead of fulfilling the basic needs of the people like food, health, education and social security; pumping money into laying separate tracks for bullet trains while depriving senior citizens of concessions in railway fares and without improving the basic infrastructure of the Indian Railways are signs of megalomania to camouflage the inferiority complex.
This needs to be treated by getting the priorities right. The existence of poverty must be accepted and addressed. Unfortunately, the existence of poverty has created an inferiority complex that insists on covering slum areas during international events and denying the United Nations report on hunger.
Sujit De,
Kolkata