Blame it on Xi Jinping. In 2012 he urged his people to look to a great future and called it the ‘China Dream’. A decade later Narendra Modi promised a bright future for India with his Amrit Kaal and Viksit Bharat slogans. Donald Trump said he would ‘Make America Great Again’. Not to be left behind in this celebratory futurism, Vladimir Putin promised his people to repair Russia’s wounded pride through conquest. Closer home, Revanth Reddy promises a Future City.
It’s all about tomorrow. Forget Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat — “Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday, why fret about them if today be sweet?” Today ain’t sweet. So, think tomorrow. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in fact wants us to dream both about an unborn tomorrow and the dead yesterday. The distant past was glorious, damaged by the nearer past. The future is ours to take, so why obsess about our unhappy todays?