What the hell? There’s something wrong in the spelling of the title. It should be spelt HAIL the Republic, considering that it was on this day 54 years ago that we Indians constituted ourselves into a Sovereign, Secular, Socialist Republic. The Constitution of India begins with the solemn intonation, “WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA.”
How can WE THE PEOPLE hail the Republic, when we the public don’t know what is going on in the Republic? Nor do we have much say in forming the policies of the Republic, let alone implementing them. During the “oppressive rule” of the British Raj, Mahatma Gandhi coined the word, “Swaraj”. It is often interpreted today as meaning “Home rule”. However, veteran Gandhians, with whom I am associated, insist that what Gandhiji really meant was “self-rule”, with the people being their own rulers. To be more precise, it meant that the people of India were to be the harbingers of their own destiny, to have their “bhagyadoor” in their own hands.
You could quite literally fly your own kite in the “Neele Gagan”. Ask the average Indian if one is flying one’s own kite, and you will probably get an answer, “I am more like a Kati Patang”! Narendra Modi has organised his Patang Utsav in Gujarat, with crores of corporate sponsorship. The Utsav is over. But are the kites of Sovereignty, Secularism and Socialism still fluttering over the Gujarat skyline?
The Central Government, buoyed by electoral victories in three States, and a booming stock market, has now come out with a new version of media viagra called “India Shining”. Indeed one must appreciate the rapid economic growth that began with the liberalisation of the economy by Manmohan Singh in 1991. Though I daresay that the process began when VP Singh was Finance Minister in 1985, and taxes were rationalised. We must appreciate the rapid strides in Information Technology and its Enabled Services, the automobile and pharmaceutical sectors, and the bulging forex reserves that we have amassed. Looking at the brighter side of the economic boom one is bound to concur that India is shining.
But that is only the glossy cover page, for which the credit should go more to the captains of Indian industry, rather than to the political establishment. What about the inner pages – Stinking India? Government involvement has collapsed in the areas of education, health and social security. It has abdicated its responsibility. In all these sectors private enterprise has jumped in to fill the yawning chasm. Infrastructure development and maintenance is pathetic. The new BSP is supposed to be bijli, sarak, aur pani, all conspicuous by their absence. We have to use our own generators for bijli; buy bottled water for drinking, as municipal supplies are unavailable or unsafe; and the roads are like a cratered lunar landscape.
India stinks of insanitation and corruption. The stink is caused by industrial waste, polluting effluents, mountains of municipal garbage, and the defecation parade. Even tourists to Agra’s Taj Mahal, which should be part of Shining India, are welcomed with a hundred-bum salute along the railway tracks at Agra Fort station! Corruption is the second cancer that is eating our innards. In the 1960’s, when Eight Lakh Rupees were withdrawn from a Delhi bank, allegedly on a phone call from Indira Gandhi, it made banner headlines. The 64 crores Bofors scam brought her son Rajiv crashing down. Today the scams run into thousands of crores. But they grab the headlines for just a day. We are inured to scams. The CBI files charge sheets, but gets no convictions. The big shots get “clean chits”. Maybe the Government should introduce a “Shining India Clean Chit Fund” in the next budget! Can the shine remove the stink?
We boast of our ancient ethos, and deride decadent western culture (read skimpy clothes and free sex). But that is only the outer garment. While “moral India” is ranked among the most corrupt nations in the world, the Scandinavian countries that were in the forefront for sexual freedom, are ranked as the most corruption free societies. Sexuality is certainly not the barometer for ascertaining a nation’s progress or decadence. Ironically, in so-called capitalist countries, disadvantaged sections of society like the unemployed, aged and disabled have far more social security than we have in India.
I do not seek to enter into a development vs. displacement; shining vs. stinking; or capitalist vs. socialism debate. There are pros and cons everywhere. What I am concerned about is the general apathy that we Indians seem to suffer from. This apathy will make us pathetic. We need empathy – a genuine concern for social, economic, political and environmental affairs. We cannot sit back and wait for somebody else to do things. Who “else” but me?
Each one of us can make a difference. Look at the Father of the Nation. He did not fight might with might. He fought it with right, rights and righteousness (ahimsa and satyagrah). Look at T.N. Sheshan, and later James Lyngdoh. They didn’t buckle under pressure. They used the very “system” to purge it of its endemic evils. Arundhati Roy didn’t fight shy even of the Supreme Court, and got away with it. Medha Patkar did not use dynamite or terror tactics to blow up the Narmada Dam. She offered Jal Samadhi instead. Dr. Verghese Kurien ushered in the White Revolution, with India being the biggest producer of milk in the world. He did it through co-operatives; people’s power and participation. Mumbai has just witnessed over one lakh social activists gathering together for the World Social Forum. While challenging the unilateralism of a unipolar world and globalisation, they proclaimed that the world was not for sale, and “Another World Is Possible”.
The public of India will go to the polls three months from now. The average vote is hardly 55%. A vast majority is silent. After polling day I check people’s index fingers. If they are unmarked I tell them, “You have forfeited your right to speak for the next five years. So don’t crib about what the hell is going on in the Republic”. So this Republic Day please resolve to exercise your franchise in an involved and enlightened manner. It could make all the difference to a Shining or Stinking India. HAIL the Republic.
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