Relevant Mohan and Irrelevant Jawahar

Indians in twenty first century India are realising the irrelevance of Nehru and the increasing relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in their everyday lives. Despite the best efforts of Nehru dynasty to highlight and keep alive the allegations about the remote association of Godse with the rightist forces that have come to power with an overwhelming majority, every sensible Indian have come to recognise the importance of having a Right government to lead the nation with the Gandhian vision of Ramarajya. The complete neglect of rural India by the Nehruvian craze for pseudo-secularism is the single element that has kept India down so far.

Mahatma Gandhi realised early in his political career that the only way to get the Indian nation back into its glory is through transforming its rural people and agrarian economy in a righteous path. Throughout his career he kept on highlighting his real feel for the poor farmers and the downtrodden much more than the importance for power and parliament. It was the tussle between the power mongers like Jinnah and Nehru that resulted in partition and the subsequent efforts of Nehru to establish his own dynasty overlooking the real needs and aspirations of a great nation eager to regain its lost glory once again. Power hungry Nehru and his progeny was interested only in their ‘secular’ image by creating vote banks in line with their colonial masters.

It took almost half a century for the right mix of people, ideology and attitude to come to power in India. It is a strange coincidence that the real successor to Gandhian ideology in the form of an ordinary tea vendor who rose to become the undisputed leader in world’s largest democracy has come from the same background as Mahatma Gandhi. While the well-wishers of this great nation are eagerly waiting for the great turn-around, the selfish supporters of the dynasty and the entire spectrum of anti-national forces are working overtime to derail Modi’s strategies, programmes and efforts to leap ahead. Mahatma’s wishes will blossom through Modi’s efforts only if he can effectively neutralise the machinations of an irrelevant Nehruvian opposition. 

Gandhian Mantle

Anna Hazare’s fast has achieved some consideration from our political masters and the parliament. The parliamentarians have spoken and a resolution has been passed. But we can never be sure of a Lokpal law in place until and unless the bill is passed by the same parliament. Whether it would be the Jan Lokpal Bill or some other bill remains to be seen. Politicians, especially the Indian variety, cannot be trusted and they will have no qualms in breaking their promises. Barring a miniscule few, the entire Indian political fraternity is neck deep in corruption and a sudden turn around to show statesmanship is very doubtful. If everything goes well and the very first Lokpal is someone like T.N. Seshan, the future of the institution is great. Otherwise, it would be one more white elephant and Frankenstein monster, both rolled into one.

But much more important than the Lokpal bill, a majority of the right thinking patriotic Indians feel highly relieved on another point – that a true Gandhian has taken over the mantle of Mahatma Gandhi. The Gandhian mantle has been under threat for almost half a century. Many of the new generation children have began to consider Mahatma Gandhi as the grand father of some ex-PMs and would-be-PMs. Just like our national flag and national symbols, one single political party had almost succeeded in ‘hijacking’ the Gandhian legacy and the entire credit for our outstanding freedom struggle, when Anna Hazare came up from nowhere to claim it. Nothing could have been better for Bharat and its citizens. And its implications will be much more in the days to come than the mere passage of a Lokpal bill.

National Spirit

Anna Hazare has rekindled the national spirit of India once again. Bharat Mata and Vande Mataram have become acceptable slogans once again. All the ‘organised’ groups who refused to join the team stand completely exposed of their real loyalty and intentions. Two generations (atleast one) of Indians have forgotten the glorious elements of our national spirit that forced the British out of India. Indian is such a diverse land that only extra strong elements of national spirit can unite us for a common cause. Mahatma Gandhi could read this peculiar aspect of Indians much more than others and that is why he became the tallest Indian leader though a late entrant. He knew very well that only the most salient features of our common heritage can unite all Indians to fight the British. From time immemorial Indians have always revered their Motherland on equal par with their Mothers. Anna has shown that even in this 21st century, Bharat Mata can inspire the most techno-saavy Indian to the uneducated farmers in our hinterlands.

The Vande Madaram spirit that was in bountiful display at Ramlila grounds and all over the country has given us much more hope than the hope of a Lokpal. Anna Hazare has touched the soul of millions of Indians as some one who can be trusted. He has stirred the national conscience once again following the same path as Mahatma Gandhi. There can be several counts on which the strategy, decision and obstinacy of Mahatma Gandhi had cost India dear, but no one could question his sincerity and dedication to the cause of India and Indians. Anna Hazare has climbed on to the same saddle as the Mahatma. His continued presence in the national scene would definitely give sleepless nights to so many politicians who are looting our nation day-in and day-out.

Silent Revolution

Apart from all around corruption, there are so many other aspects of our national outlook that require corrections. Nothing short of a revolution (preferably silent) can help us achieve this. Pseudo-secularism, vote bank politics, income disparity, lack of food, clothing & shelter, religious & caste discriminations, reservations etc., are some of the areas that require immediate attention and corrections. India is already under the rule of Indians for the last 65 years and we cannot wait any further to make our administration objective, scientific and sensible. Land mafia is in full control and millions of Indians do not have even one cent of land in their name. All Indians must necessarily have minimum food, clothing, education, healthcare and shelter assured throughout their lifetime. If an inherently rich country like India cannot take minimum care of its citizens, what is our greatness in being called the world’s largest democracy, an emerging superpower and the future world leader?

Black money, population growth and terrorism are the three other areas that would require our utmost attention. Experts in the field have already suggested methods to tackle black money. It is very simple and can easily be tackled if there is political will. All that is required is a simple ordinance making it mandatory to declare all foreign accounts held by Indian citizens within a month’s time or be prepared to lose it. However the other two issues would require much more efforts on the part of our rulers to convince, coerce and discipline all citizens for common good and national cause. Our citizens must be Indians first and everything else next. Both population explosion and terrorist explosion are hurting our nation and holding it back.

The rekindled national spirit of Indian masses and the emergence of a true Gandhian leader can work wonders for India. Of course there will be ‘asuric’ forces in full force working against all that Anna stands for. But the spirit of India that has been let loose once again cannot be easily contained by a few evil political leaders. Team Anna must use all the resources and technology that is available in abundance in India to continue the offense against loot of India. All those foreign elements who are hell bent on bringing India down with the aid of some unpatriotic, sycophant and spineless crowd of politicians must be brought to book. That is the only way to take Bharat Mata to the place she deserves among the world nations.

Dharmic Republic of India

Cynicism is the natural culmination of anyone who attempts to study and analyse India’s problems. Unlike Japan and China, India’s problems are overwhelmingly man-made. It is utter lack of patriotism, national pride and discipline that is churning out most of India’s problems. Our practice of democracy is not an ideal one and it has been hijacked by a select few families. Its current trend will only lead to India’s decay and decadence sooner or later. The incumbent democratic structure is corrupt inside out and the very few Gandhians (Mahatma Gandhi variety) left in our midst can do very little to set things right. The newly advocated Lok Pal will be at best an unsuccessful David against the Goliath of corruption. And what is the guarantee that another Balakrishnan or Kalmadi or Raja will not incarnate as the next Lok Pal? In a society that looks upon money and power as the quintessence of virtue, no amount of whistle-blowing, watch-dogging and judicial-remands can bring about improvement.

There are many Indians, especially the youth, who got excited about the ‘victory’ of Anna Hazare. But their excitement can be short lived. Some clippings from the drama are indicative enough. Anna Hazare has spent his entire life for others and he has been completely apolitical so far. Imagine the plight of such a hard core Indian pleading to ‘Indian’ leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to set things right in India. What is the urgency for them to end corruption in India? It may be the inherent thirst for a virtuous environment that drives true Gandhians like Anna Hazare. But what is the basic motivation factor for people like Pranab, Chidambaram, Sibal etc., to put an end to corruption? It is foolish for any Indian to expect a committee of such people to draft any sensible legislation for ending all scopes for corruption. It would be like expecting Vatican or Saudi setting in motion an exercise to end religious conversion in the entire world.

Worthless Politicians

Politicians of the worthless variety are the cause of all problems in India. We usually hear about the four pillars (and the extended pillar of media) of democracy. But the most important supports for any democracy are the politicians and political culture in the country. No democracy can function without politicians and in India too we need them. The world’s largest democracy of more than one billion people will require at least one hundred political parties and one million politicians to make it function. We have the numbers but what we lack is the political culture that will attract talented people and develop them to seek power to rule over us. Pre-1947 era had produced so many talented and worthy leaders in India. But in post-1947 we are coming across mainly those who have taken up politics because they are not good for anything else. Career politicians are the biggest threat to any democracy and India is a victim of this.

The other main problem that is in many ways unique to India is growth of political clans or family politicians. There need be no better reason to get worthless and unwanted elements into politics than this. Anyone who does not study well or jobless or idiotic in a political family is automatically inducted into politics during the lifetime of the ruling patriarch. Even if the patriarch is unwilling, scores of his or her sycophants will urge and edge such candidates into the political arena. Their idea is to ensure lifelong gratitude of such empty politicians on those who brought them into politics, but the damage to the political culture of the country is unlimited. Many of them learn the nuisances of governance at the cost of our misery and just one such leader in power is enough to retard the entire nation by years if not decades. Imagine the combined damage to the nation if a dozen of such worthless politicians from political families come to power throughout the country. This is exactly what is happening in India today.

Worthy Politicians

It is the nature of politics in India that is making most of its politicians worthless. Things will definitely change if the rules of political game change. Many of the current worthless politicians are innately good and they can become assets rather than liabilities to the nation. India’s post-1947 power elite were living in euphoria in a make-believe world of their own. Having achieved independence quite unexpectedly, some of the most significant leaders wanted to become world leaders in the short span left for them. It would be ungrateful to ridicule their contributions but they should have done much more for setting a better framework for the future politicians. As an example, if state funding and modest campaigns for elections were introduced in 1947 itself, India would have been literally a welfare state by now. Instead, our dirty competitive electoral politics have forced our politicians to become corrupt to earn a livelihood and amaze wealth for the next elections.

It is too late now to think of quick solutions to cleanse Indian politics of worthless politicians. Speedy trial and severe punishments are the only signals that can bring about quick results now. If a dozen of the confirmed corrupt can be thrown into the jail the spin-off results will be tremendous. Assured retribution is the best key to instill the most wanted fear in the minds of those who err knowingly. Investigations must start as soon as there are first reports in the media about corruption and such investigations must be automatic without any sanction. It will be very much in the national interest even if 75% of such investigations result in acquittals. If such a determined action is initiated now, it can be safely concluded that Indian politicians 25 years from now will be a worthy lot. And only a worthy lot of politicians can deliver as rulers in a vast democracy.

An exaggerated version of secularism in India has also undermined our traditions and traditional values. Concepts like dharma and karma have no religious connotations, and it should have been part and parcel of our primary school education. If our children are brought up knowing the correct meaning of their dharma in each phase of their life, profession and karma, the picture would have been entirely different. Despite few aberrations in our history, India still remains one of the few nations in the world where people enjoy true freedom. There is equality in front of the state, at least on paper. This has been possible only because of the accumulated wisdom of our civilizations and the eternal values of our Sanatana Dharma. Rekindling the true dharmic spirit enunciated in our scriptures is the only way to usher in a just and fair society. Only such a dharmic Indian as Lok Pal can help us in building a Dharmic Republic of India.