Crisis in our backyard : Emergence of new social world order ?

By Abhishek Joshi :

Let’s keep this simple for a reading mind. Gordon Gekko euphemized it in 1980’s in the famous movie, Wall Street “Greed for lack of a better word, is good”. The gospel which over rode every fundamental ethical business principle for practitioners and the new generation with wide eyed bated dreams to join them someday, took over the ambitions scaling them beyond the idealistic propounded theories of capital. The spoof on corporate, as perhaps it was a mirror of aspiring conditions prevalent, were in know of this all the time.  The slumber ever to be broken, an unwritten law and game of engagement where the winner claims all leaving no consolation for the one’s following them in competition. Greed indeed has never been so good.

Adbusters Media Foundation, a not for profit entity based in Vancouver Canada, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in 1989 with a few band of pranksters and absorbed convoluted ideology of pitting socialism against accumulation of capital, aka anti capitalism and its by product, consumerism, begin their movement against rich corporate media institutions through “Media Carta”. They challenged the hegemony of these corporate media institutions by not providing a free access on information and mediums of communications. Through a law suit, they took on almost single handedly the Big 6 of Canadian broadcasting corporations.  They partially won their point following years but their share of glory was to come in year 2011 and some few hundred miles away in geography but within the same conducive business turf. Moving from the back yard of Canada to the front lawn of United States of America “busting” more than the myths they had imagined they would and igniting more corporations on a debate, which the bosses and barons, had conveniently scuttled under the billion dollars dividends paid to the institutional investors and shareholders and the governments in process.

The Central business district of New York known for grandiose offices and head quarters of almost all of the major financial & security market behemoths and the coliseum where these gladiators slug fest to get the bounty, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and NY Mercantile Exchange are all located on a eight block long street, called the Wall Street, a metonym of principle US financial interests, the term which has ever influenced the security exchanges the world over. Zuccoti Park, a private property in this financial district is where the Adbusters emerged and further chose to hold their historic protest, to “Occupy wall street”.

September 17^th, the several hundred protestors emerged with intent to picket the street against the growing share of social and economic inequality which has plagued the US economy for years. Protesting against the harrowing class divide of under subsistence and more than over disposal by  select large corporations driven by corporate greed, unethical accumulation of profits through control of policy institutions, financial markets and influence of this generated capital over the government representatives, as “we are the 99%” calling out for the difference in wealth as against 1% of the top corporations and other citizens of the United States. This ongoing protest has ever then spread across to some 70 major cities and 600 communities in the US alone, with almost 100,000 protestors rallying around on October 15^th on  Wall Street  and yet continues to reverberate across some 900 cities worldwide including Spain, UK, Japan, all major countries in Europe and parts of Australia and South East Asia.

An unprecedented and unimaginative event coming from the nerve center of the largest consumerist society of the world, a renewed social anthropologist of a reputed Indian University commented, when the first innocuous news of protests broke out in September. He added that this perhaps might bear seed to an emerging new social order the world could have ever witnessed since the “Great depression” of 1930’s” and simply cannot be ignored as an internal state problem of the US. Prophetic words indeed.

As the protest gathers steam, whilst one reads, we need not to spend efforts to understand the root of the issue which vents itself in frustration on the streets. The glazed melting pot of civilization has been developing chinks for a longtime however was more evidentially seen in the autumn of 2007, especially after the subprime crisis.  The housing bubble precipitated the crisis to an all out free fall of financial corporations as worldwide phenomena and the smaller nations with over exposure in these economies begun to catch cold with their first sneeze. In US alone between the June of 2007 and November 2008 the Americans lost a quarter of their net worth in US securities and other instruments.  With consumption pattern of 110% over long years on over all income and no recourse other than to depend on an impetus by the US government, the long haul of recovery was fraught with challenges. Coupled with an added responsibility to bail out near bankrupt companies to avoid a near financial meltdown of and collapse of the economy, a plan was brokered by the Treasury department and the 3 largest US banks, Citibank, Bank of America decide to plough back beyond US $ 100 billion to avoid a complete wash out of the markets. Not restricted to US, the world economies got together and the precipice of this entire initiative was to save the large corporations without having a stimulus plan in place to augment social security measures including health, pensions and retirement, reviving domestic jobs opportunities for bringing the focus back on home economy.

What accentuates the matters most is the historic background of these large corporations which have been a regular beneficiary of government dole outs, regained their million dollar bonuses to their executives, where the job unemployment rate numbers on a general average basis kept on steadily increasing. The overall cut on tax expenditures linked and no signs of recovery the general wages across employment sector saw complete erosion with dwindling hours per week. This added with further announcements of cut down of workforce and large sackout announcements to cover up for losses and exposure.

The presidential campaign of 1932 run by Franklin Delano Roosevelt was run against the backdrop of a global recession on a platform of brining the attention back on “the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid”, situations similar though not yet matching with its severity.

These protests are also similar in background with over 9% unemployment rate, high raise in overall consumer prices and an equally high GDP ratio of 400% across all western world economies, the artificial inseminated economic bail outs have miserably failed and the intent of the governments and have come under serious questioning to have sustained it artificially ever since. The people are rallying around asserting what they think has been a rip off by governments in cahoots with the corporate greedy corporations, protecting their interest first rather than of the citizens. This has lead closer to the class struggle between the more than have’s to less than have not’s - 99% versus the 1%.

As the protests have taken global proportions uniting the suffered against what they think is a government sponsored tyranny and continues, the voices remain ever shrill on social inequality, taxing the rich and bridging the income divide across nations. The world’s democratic institutions have a formidable challenge to make amends now or to lay on the sides to witness a new emerging economic world order of socially pregnant capitalist ideology, an idealist center of equilibrium.


Will it, only the future might hold the key to this question.

Essay : Need for a Nationalist Renaissance - Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor Ideology Series (Part III)

By Abhishek Joshi: (contd. from last post)

What do we mean by Pro-Poor:

When we refer to our Pro-Poor ideology the first aspect which strikes our thoughts is to collectively seek favourable responses from our policies of governance to ensure that the bottom most person in the social hierarchy and his basic needs of rightful living, food, water, shelter, medicine, education and livelihood for being met at the first instance itself. The system needs could afford to go conservative; perhaps for a while as progressively it moves up the ladder however the course correction needs to be respectful at its origin itself.

 

We are aware today that unfortunately, we continue to follow the “trickle down theory” of governance, where only when it rains heavily, the top most gets drenched first in the shower of benefits with the last person obligated to get rightful few drops for sustenance and rest for him to secure all by himself. The pro-capitalist and new school of thought as socio-capitalist political formations are the one’s who decide on every aspect of this shower as well. How much of it, when, where and who gets the right of it in. Unfortunately, naming one group of association or political alliance for this misgiving would leave the others to achieve there liberty but it remains quite true and sadly, that each one of them has participated in this uncouth dancing ring of nominations of richness with impunity. It’s a hard known fact that rules of engagement of democratic participation itself have been heavily muddled with candidates having criminal track records, supported either fully or partially by stashed black money and economical offences perpetrated on state itself, which now they lay their claim to rule.

These segment of people are so deeply entrenched in this system that from a minority few immediately after independence who used to work underground for fear of social denouncement are now freely as majority, even with pride in few cases are openly supporting this process with nefarious motive of extending their ambitions of insatiate desire of greed. It is a known fact that Bharat leads the list of nations on illegal money stashed away in tax heavens and Swiss Banks. Dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians, civil servants and officers, film artistes, illegal sex trade operators, to name just a few, have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $ +500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 250 Mn poor people can get Rs 1, 00,000 each.

This huge amount has been appropriated from there own people on pretence of effective rule of governance by exploiting and betraying them. If this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India, the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt, leaving one wonder and aghast with its sheer magnanimity. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government and assuming all taxes thereon are abolished, the Central government will still be able to maintain the more than basic upkeep of its citizens.

This amount is also more than the combined of the other top four nations at 1.4 Trillion US$. Resultantly, these ill-gotten wealth hoarders to protect their social legitimacy continue to sponsor and lubricate this system with this money as favours and reaping a bountiful harvest in return, churning this cycle over and over again. Naturally, if this money is going to be deciding the policies for betterment of its people and masses, it would have a major share of this money solely to be kept to ensure this cycle remains intact, maintained and forcefully in their own desired direction. This has created a social imbalance such large that people, who are rich, continue to add up this wealth to themselves and people who any which ways were deprived in the first instance are being pushed more and more deep into this bottomless pit of poverty. Already we are being witnessed of various social anomalies and situations where one can only think and ponder the rotten environment around us with empathy.

The government has at best acknowledge this fact as latest as under Arjun Sen Gupta Commission report, which blares its throat out on the system deficiency, its vagaries of implementation and the end result – which if anything as sad, is bitterly laced with mistrust of its own people, their will if anything again but dishonest and execution capability, if all remotely plausible.

To speak of Pro-Poor pursuits it certainly is most important to bear in mind, first and foremost task of equipping them with their constitutional right of “basic fundamentals” and adding further their “equal” right of non poverty. Presently, the statistics of poverty are more conspicuous by there absence, an expression, which sadly is even short of covering this statement. What we have instead is the Gross domestic Consumption, Investment index of statistic, which as apparent as they would are skewed more towards encouraging this divide to widen at with capitalist fervour. Sadly, both the government and the ‘their’ people who vehemently avoid looking at the former are contented with Share Price sensex, attracting FDI’s in various fields and production and consumption factor of the country, as latter. It bitterly, as mentioned above hide more than it reveals yet everyone seems to be calling this as score card of relative success at expense of the common man, for whom this foundation of progress is being laid. This corrobates its match with celebrations by the government of “India" announcing to have arrived when the annual Forbes declares the number of its billionaires from the country, gracing its list, pushing more an more “with” same number of decimals of this wealth replacing the actual number of people “with” it who are constantly being pushed down into abject poverty yet covering the same ground of existence of this country.

The difference between the per capita income of the wealthiest citizen of the country and the lowest on the social ladder is pitiable with almost 90 times its size of earnings. This entire constitutional machinery, including parties, both ruling and opposition have become so hard necked in their pursuit of serving their “true” masters with contemptuous wealth-ism that the appalling condition of poverty are simply ignored or at best not even acknowledged being present, to deprive the only sustenance of their voice being heard at above. This makes them continue to work against the dignified right of their living versus what essentially should have been made “for” them.

This when the central planned allocation for anti-poverty programmes have seen a 15 fold increase in last 15 years from 7,500 Crs in 1993-94 to well over 120,000 Crs in 2008-09, this in addition to 70,000 Crs of farmer loan waivers, simply having no inter relation between outlay and outcomes. The situation gets accentuated more when we look at the sheer statistics of this greatest deprivation of rightful fundamentals that people in rural habitations, the villages where people have seen there income rise from Rs. 8 per day to Rs.9 per day, the thin economic “plimsoll line” widening the gap of beneficiaries from BPL (Below the poverty line) to Non – BPL entity after all these outlays in last upwards of dozen years. This interplay of deprivation as perhaps was waiting for even this partition to lay claim on the frugal benefit of governance. Alarming as it is, states corresponding to their efforts have none to appease but themselves by shamefully printing reports and organizing poverty shows to International aid doling agencies and countries to get grants. Situation likes these, where in states like Jharkhand & Madhya Pradesh with significant tribal population, 99.8 percent of there families are not able to cover one basic meal in any given month of the year. This when the state antagonism being proponent of rampant “world-bankism, grant-ism, accumula-ism with single denominator of capitalism has produced not less than 25000 people who simply have any number between Rs 7 Mn to 10 Mn, as Vehicles, all their way from portico to their garage, as simply a spoilt choice over mode of commute.

Also, this system has offspring’s in form of people, almost upwards of 1 Mn who simply have matching accessories to compliment their attire with 0.25 Mn to anywhere upwards of 2.5 Mn each. The level of socio-economic balance is so heavily skewed that even employment opportunities are controlled by just 20 percent of the people over the remaining rest, whereas the remaining below just earning 3.6 percent of their remuneration over this spread wealth and richness, ironically. These situations, to analyse have not been a result of manifesting themselves in a day.

These have had some signs of it even in pre- independence era however since the right of self rule as an independent nation was any ways deprived, it was hoped that these corrections would happen by themselves progressively with right earnest and policy changes geared towards betterment of and towards the people. Policies which were foreign would be dumped and nationalistic policies, allowing the expression of diverting these towards uplifting the masses over years of tyranny and eventually would disappear.

The seeds of hope were being carried to bear fruit of freedom, yet we just run out of expressions to condone where we find ourselves today. A lot of these expressions needs be made the foundation of this change to happen today with nationalism, patriotism and care of our people without expecting any favours in turns by these aggressors of capitalist formations. These anomalies are to be corrected, since without these we can not but dream of an egalitarian society and achieve its socio-ecological equilibrium.

To achieve the objective of a Pro-Poor system, which adopts and not discards the approach towards this balance, we foremost need to do away with the per capita formation pay anomaly brining it as close to be possible to be not more than 10 percent of it, between as high as the President of the nation, to the lowest citizen of the country. It would also be expected of all to agree on this approach by owing and endorsements by all political parties and its representatives to have their remuneration adjusted to the lowest denominator of this system. To ensure collectively this just does not remains thematic at best, progressive steps would be needed to create sufficient employment opportunities for this spectrum to ensure the system self corrects and sustains on its core, running efficiently without misbalancing itself.

To work towards a Pro-Poor nationalistic thought we would need to ensure that the basic tenants of rightful living and livelihood are duly protected. This would entail, everyone rightfully employed to his skill and all the people in the system have gainful right to food. Immense hunger, starvation deaths and under nourishment especially amongst the children due to non availability of rightful means to sustainable livelihood have created this wide imbalance where more than 260 Mn people go hungry everyday or having no course of even at best assuming the next meal availability. This abject condition to not been able to protect their families have had the most impact on the families of bread earners with children facing the most ghastly of the brunt in early years, some not even crossing the age of early childhood as a result.

Some 46% of the nation’s children relate to these facts and its immensely disturbing when development is being sponsored and proponents of it are seen singing paeans of globalized development. Gross malnutrition even reported now and children being sold of for want of money or at worst, for just few kilograms of rice or wheat is not something this illustrious nation feels proud off and should not as well.

To ensure eradication of poverty and its syndrome these “enforced” rights if needed should also cover the right to shelter, medicine, and education without any difference to their class, caste or creed. A composite nutritious meal is also right of every citizen and it should be addressed. In every meal, half litres of milk, half kilogram of wheat / rice, half kilogram of fruits and vegetables completing it. To ensure the right to good health and availability of quality health facilities we need to ensure that access to these rights are not complicated and the outreach is effectively planned. Around 27% of our population yet does not have approach to these facilities either being not present or ill staffed equally from resources or infrastructural reasons. Not having any medical access incase of exigencies is the depriving the basic right to life and this would have to be equally implemented in conjunction with others as utmost priority.

We should ensure that these instances are addressed with policies favouring them as “fundamental rights” as part of constitution and further see to it that stand executed as well to its fullest word. Necessary reforms would need to be carried out if the policies are found (which they are amongst a lot) wanting in these respects or want of infrastructural lacunas.

The entire might of nation needs then to be put behind to attain the objective of ensuring these basic fundamentals are foremost addressed over others as priorities and then only in our truest sense we would be able to achieve a state of equilibrium amongst ourselves, only then we can collectively call ourselves as following the ideology of the Pro-Poor Nation. To collectively now assimilate this Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor ideology and find scientific deployment of these to develop our temperament for our above Nationalistic pursuits we need to definite the impact of these on our policies across various sectors.

 

Concluded.

Essay : Need for a Nationalist Renaissance - Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor Ideology Series (Part II)

By Abhishek Joshi: (contd. from last post)

What do we mean by Pro-Bharat:

Our heritage, culture, geographical, temperament and ecology are different and this can not be adopted on the basis of what’s good for other would be good for us methodology. Nation breeds and sustains on its own core and accordingly this needs to be understood to approach with collective faith in our own temperament. If we progress on follies of others we would not make a step difference on where we as a nation would like to progress today.

The consciousness imbibed in our philosophy of sanatan dharma and complete faith in its tenants helped us to blow away the shackles of boundness making us as an independent nation. This has inspired and been subscribed since countless ages by great nationalist, as early by Chatrapati Shivaji, Swami Vivekananda to  Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo, Mahamana, Kesavram Baliram Hedgawar to others. We have blind folded in our approach have looked down upon these tenants which we need to revisit now, reawaken to its fullest form to form the collective nationalism and form our Pro-Bharat ideology.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “by political independence, I do not mean an imitation to the British house of commons, or the soviet rule of Russia, or the fascist rule of Italy or the Nazi rule of Germany. They have system suited to their own genius. We must have ours suited to ours”  

This nationalism would be collectively referred to the collective expressions of social and political thought, based on native spiritual and cultural traditions of Bharat. Further the native temperament and its ecology needs to built up around to understand the inclusiveness of nationalism. Affording to act global but ignoring the local terrain temperament is and would further be disastrous to sustenance of nation hood. A Pro-Bharat thought would include factors as  would be necessarily to have vision for nationalistic pursuits, understanding of these pursuits, moving them beyond isolation, improvise and develop a eco-system of these be able to collectively execute of these in form of actions within the society. This needs to be understood and seen differently not by us by others as well.

A Pro-Bharat approach hence thus would be derived from the cultural GDP and not from an economical GDP perspective as seen and measured globally. These actions should not be seen as parts standing on themselves alone but as sum of parts as a whole for progressive national upheaval. A delicate balance needs to be maintained between socio-economical and cultural factors to achieve a state of constant development which further would restrain any skewed development. This eco-system would out rightly reject what does not adapt to itself and similarly would absorb what remains beneficial under this model.

This system dependent on our ancient variables of the “Panch J” philosophy of Jan, Jal, Jungle, Jameen, Janwar, synchronising this with philosophies of what’s good for this eco-system and what allows it to regain its intricate balance would allow the Pro-Bharat actions to emerge. In Bharat’s context this would mean, has the soil retained its richness with fertility, has the water level risen on its own, have we created self sustaining model of agrarian development, industries which compliment these developments than take away what already or have we demonstrated the regard for natural resources for its usability and not exploited them fully as examples. Without these, it would best create an illusion of our pedigree driven on compromises forever.

All the existing parties are at the cusp of this interplay and have adopted one or combination or worst all of these factors to extend with glaring insensitivity to core of its beneficiary, the common man in picture. These policies have a detailed aspect to open up the boundaries to exploiting international commune and their commercial cronies in form of added investment avenues for liberalization of economy at cost of this eco-system which essentially should be driven more adding to strength to these factors. Communism or Capitalism should ideally make way for Swadesi and De-centralization of these policies remaining at the centre. The potent nationalistic force needs to be liberalized; the inclusive development needs to be liberalized prior euphuism’s are used to bail out economies of others.

Where as the global developed economies thrive on the concept of materialism and its immediate pre-occupation the level of consumption with over all focus on looking at just well being of an individual, stimulating class antagonism, socialistic disorders and greed to acquire more; the Pro-Bharat approach would to create a harmonious society by building, reshaping the institutions of these thought process. Any disturbance to these factors would lead to anarchy as being witnessed today and creating a gap which would be too large to fill by any substitute other than nation first thought, progressively. In order to conclusively attain this nationalistic temperament other then the five variables, education, its reforms, perseverance of Bhartiya languages, restoration of national rivers to its purity, protection and advancement of cultural centre of traditions, protection of religious centres and indigenous trade and craft needs to be cared for and developed as well.

National GDP would hence not be a true measure of these activities and does not cover a holistic approach for the well being of a society. The country might have a stronger GDP connotation but yet could be facing issues in governance, poverty & appalling sustenance conditions, such as present Bharat so a true benchmark could be Gross Prosperity Index or Happiness Index to cover all sections of the society regardless of the commercial contribution attached to them and this would then truly reflect the state of affairs of the nation and its people. This would assist to measure the impact of policies, polity, probity and programmes for the nation, whether or not are achieving the desired objectives or not.

Bharat despite the show up of economical statistics and replacement of these factors in factor of growth rate of development yet remains mainly an agrarian economy. The sustenance of majority of the population even till today is without doubt agriculture and steps needs to be taken to ensure there is no degradation of multiple crop or single crop lands for development. The erstwhile tirade of GATT and now WTO to restructure economy on prescription based upon matured economies should not allow the markets to be opened up for our nation’s growing economy in forms of dole’s of subsidies.

We were a highly developed agriculture nation and 200 years of tyranny of imperial rule allowed us to ignore the might we have in our land and soil to achieve this without any economical intervention of these developed forces. We need to focus on doubling the output of our agriculture produce with indigenous methods of farming, traditionally being practiced. Its been seen that in few pockets we have been able to come closer to achieve this goal however this can not be said true for some regions having seen unabated suicides of farmers.

This differentiation in farming, organic dependent at most needs to be addressed and sufficient protectionism methods yet need to be reinforced to see that we do not again become dependent for our agriculture produce. Some balance needs to be achieved for farmers and farming community as a whole and needs subjective re-addressal of their grievances to achieve this objective. Coming in with their tools of imperialistic mechanisations; consumptions and demand, propensity to higher markets with accelerated growth rate of investments on capital but as a nation we need to know that they “need us” to expand their commercial interest and we have the right to dictate what we think would be an appropriate approach to harness this with string negotiations.

This without comprising on our economical and national sovereignty. A Pro-Bharat approach could even see us survive this, even if we choose to walk out from this global trade organizations and yet protect, sustain and develop further on basis of our principles of protectionism of our national interest always remembering, they ‘also’ need us.

To continue to talk about Pro-Bharat ideology we also need to expand the scale of our de-centralized industry clusters. The overall economic holistic development could only be achieved when its ensured that no pocket of industrious activity, specially small scale in nature are left behind in participating in this growth momentum. Swadesi model of development with inclusive focus on these sectors would attain and also repose confidence in our nationist abilities to compete with the best industrious zones in the world.

There has been an attempt even to let go of this safeguard on pretext of complete transformation needed for small scale sectors by offering them subsidies in form of trash loans, infrastructural facilities, inviting more of debt in already struggling livelihood of these resources where no attempt is made to ensure the produce finds the right set of consumption centres through its marketability.

Dependence on safeguard mechanisms through trade embargo’s and addition of high duty rates have done negligible to dilute its impact since owing to the volumes being brought in from cheaper sources of manufacturing the resultant impact of protectionism also wades away. The marginalized cluster producer with no match for the level of investments in these efforts further recedes to livelihood deprivation.

As has been recently seen for efficient energy growth the entire economy of the country together with its national sovereignty left in lien with capitalist over nuclear energy agreement. We need to be promoting alternative resources of energy also bearing in mind the consideration for water restoration and its purity preservation. Factually, when the country gained independence it was expected to remain, behave and act rightfully humble towards the ecology with a nationalist feeling. Policies which have reaped dividends over all these countless years, the philosophy and the rules prevailing in the society with a focussed need to maintain and at best further these with a will to attain as per the ecological temperament of the country. This thought and its execution anomaly has constantly crept into the normal lives is a visible sign of departure from our national moorings. The constitution was supposed to be a document on these factors yet this also seemed to have failed to provide the necessary direction, even being directive in nature.

The constitution itself has been amended so many times that one really wonders whether a new constituent assembly needs to be called to steer the nationalist expectations as was perhaps perceived right from its original inception. Laying bare the an old act of 1935 as a basic framework of governance has proven itself wrong and continues to do it even today, so making amends is the call of our times, not from a past perspective but for our present and charting the course of nation, its people for future direction.

The vision of “poorn swarajya" is what needs to be replaced despite we being independent in actions, yet bounded in our thoughts to invigorate our national spirit. Where unless the bottom most person of the societal hierarchy is revitalized, the holistic development and dream of an egalitarian society and a nationalist society in turn would continue to meet each other at crossroads.

This could be achieved by, in summary, by having:

• Consistent focus at grass root level to seek and develop agriculture inputs as according to the need, temperament and sustenance of ecology for the people and not on a central policy basis of subsidies and their relative interdependent plans. We still are an agrarian economy, to remember.

• Land Improvement and support where the class, caste and displacement of people are ill effected and major development projects co-exist supplementing efforts of each other with each having its sphere of influence then forcing a option of for “either of the systems”

• Focus on integrated educational development which assures the right of employment then right of knowledge and its use in the developing world

• GDP measurement to include ancillary services which do not connote a commercial value yet still are a national component e.g. the labour barter which could be seen every season across the agrarian community of farmers pooling and taking turns to till fields for saving the spend on outsourced labour and retaining their cultural bonhomie, the very backbone of the system or perhaps challenge the GDP factor itself to define a new (GPF) Gross Prosperity Factor.

• Developing comprehensive agenda towards maintaining the intricate balance of the fragile eco-system of people and their livelihood resources including water & irrigation, land & forests, cattle & livestock and indigenous cultural knowledge heritage

• Approach to seek active involvement and virtual democratic participation in governance and administration. Reforms should not be skewed as a secondary choice for an already defunct system, as add on. If it needs a complete transformation, the will should be able to support these actions with sole aim of efficient governance as its objective

A nationalistic temperament would without doubt lead us to nationalistic actions with nationalistic intellect and happens to be the need of the moment.

(to be contd..)

 

Essay : Need for a Nationalist Renaissance - Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor Ideology Series (Part I)

By Abhishek Joshi:

Our Culture & Heritage:

Bharat is one of the only two civilizations of the world that have a continuous and uninterrupted history of several millenniums. The other is China. Bhartiya Civilisation history in its current cycle of time, the kali yuga can be traced to more than 5000 years ago, both through modern archaeological techniques and through our own itihasas and puranas. There have been other civilisations of the world that originated in that early phase of current human history, but none of these, except the Chinese has survived to the modern day. Life and society in Bharat have undergone several changes in this long period of time. Yet, in very, real, essential and identifiable sense, life in Bharat continues to be defined and guided by the ideas, principles and preferences that were evolved at a very early stage. These basic ideas, principles and preferences defining Bhartiya civilisation are collectively known as “sanatan dharma”.

Scholars and foreign historians have often wondered at the extraordinary civilisation homogeneity that pervades throughout all parts of the country, in spite of the great geographic, cultural and linguistic diversity of the land. This homogeneity is anchored in “Sanatan dharma”. And at the core of “Sanatan Dharma” is the idea that all creation is a manifestation of the divine, and therefore every aspect of creation, all the diversity in nature and human life and society, must be respected and carefully nurtured. The essence of this dharma as mentioned and compared by Sri Aurobindo as synonymous with “nationalism”.

Bharat is blessed with natural abundance that is not found almost anywhere else in the world. Early twentieth century geographers of the colonial empire used to refer to every aspect of Bharat in superlative terms. This is the most hopeful fact about Bharat; unfortunately, we have tended to forget about this even fundamental truth.

Bharat is blessed with an extraordinarily compact geography; three fifths of the Bhartiya land is cultivable, else where in the world regions where one fifth of the land can be cultivated are considered highly valuable, at least in terms of agriculture. Of the cultivable area of Bharat, more than two-fifths falls in Sindhu-Ganga plains. The vast plain, extending over 3,000 kilometres in length and 250 to 400 kilometres in width, is the largest expanse of fertile land in the world in the world. The plain is formed of the Himalayan alluvium brought by the Sindhu and the Ganga over several millennia; the average depth of alluvium in this plain is estimated to be 1,300 to 1,400 meters. Alluvial soil reaching up to such depths is un- imaginable anywhere else in the world.

The heartland of Bharat is thus literally born of the Ganga. There are other rivers in the world, though not many, which flow over a distance longer than the Ganga, or which carry more water or more slit. But there is no river in the world that equals Ganga in her life-giving bounty. From the north to the south, every part of Bharat is traversed by some great river or the other, and each with its own magnitude give rise to and support the great civilisation on its own. In addition to fertile soil and fertilising rivers, Bharat is blessed with abundant rains and sunshine, the essential conditions for the growth of plants and life in all its varied forms. Average rainfall in Bharat amounts to 105 cm, which is the largest anywhere in the world for a country of comparable size.

Blessed with land of unusual natural endowments, the people of the Bharat have, over several millennia, developed extraordinary high and sophisticated skills to convert the nature’s bounty into abundant food and great material wealth. It has been rigorously established that unto at least the nineteenth century, skills of the nation in fields like agriculture, irrigation, metallurgy, textiles and medicines were surpassed anywhere else in the world. Such is the geography, collective ecology of the people inheriting this land that it can rise to its rich glory, unyielding in its efforts to collective being called the civilisation cradle of the world.

Our cultural ideology has its roots in sprit of our ancient civilization. The embodiment of internal values being enshrined in the concept of universal peace and universal family “vasudheva kutumbakam” the value being derived from “lok samasta sukhina bahanvantu”. This cultural heritage being central to all religions and languages is a civilisation identity and constitutes the cultural nationalism of Bharat propagated by Swami Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati and Sri Aurobindo, being the core of the Hindutva ideology.

Hindutva, more meaningful as “Hinduism” or “Hinduness” as way of life and not confined to the blocks of religion alone, sustains the thought of cultural aspect of being inclusive and that of inclusiveness, holding sacred all forms of belied and worship.

The contours of “Hinduness”being;.respect to all modes of worship, there is one and the same consciousness in all animate and inanimate beings, there is nothing like inferior or superior being therefore egalitarianism is Hinduism. Man is not a conqueror of nature but a part of nature and therefore, an eco-friendly economy is what Hindutva proposes. Because of the special quality of motherhood, women have a special respect in the public welfare society. The purpose of life does not end in eating, making merry and dying, but transcends that and finally, there is the nonmaterial value of pursuing a goal, even if it may be endless.

Even after having obtained independence from the imperial rule, the nation has yet to come to terms of its fullest potential with inspiration from our this rich cultural heritage and civilisation, our belief system, our principles and our “Hindu” religion. And time now has come to impregnate the nationalist thought with more rigor for immense possibilities, without failing to undertake a concerted effort, involving all our resources and all our people capital to quickly restore Bharat to her rightful glory.

Such coming together of our people of Bharat has necessarily to take place through a reassertion of the essential aspect of our ancient cultural, economical, political and religious consciousness. Any movement for national re-awakening shall have to build on these pillars of aspects and symbols and the task therefore is thrust upon us to set the direction and awaken the spirit with determination and the set the nation on the move.

Need for a Nationalist renaissance:

  

Post six decades of independence, we have either lost or are still searching for own national identity. Despite our imperishable heritage we continue to raise ourselves to be measured by prosperity or less malaise of the developed world. We continue to raise ourselves from a third world definition to a second world, as achievement and that is where we have kept our focus on with competing not with the world but inwardly developing a mind set of competing with ourselves.

All these years. We conveniently forgot that when these inhabitants of developed leagues were yet to come to terms of community living and even collective living as colonies, Bharat already had multi-tier governance existing complete with revenue, taxation and civic laws systems and it was this intellectual prosperity and wealth which attracted both saints and sinners to explore the marvel of a nation called Bharat. Sadly but true after all these decades we are yet to regain the conformity of a developed country and although the nation has come to imbibe the perception of having started a journey to a possibility of upheaval, the ambiguity is surpassed by the existing absence of a pride in our cultural and moral sovereignty.

The tone of our nationalistic temperament is at its all time low. We pride ourselves as the largest democratic nations of the world, yet we find this without meritocracy. Rampant corruption, dishonesty has replaced the essence of what could have been achieved by democracy and its pillars. Policies naturally flowing out of these systems laced with this malaise resultantly produce development which starts to limp from its birth and continue to be run forever as orphans between all of them without any accountability for national interests. The political parties considered to be the guardians of democracy have all these decades mastered this art of not owing responsibility and shifting of accountability with perpetual ease. The democratic contest every five years is not on ideology of who has the moral fibre of keeping the nation first but on finding audience of who could possibly deceit the nation, first with these mastered tricks.

This including the longest tenure of Congress, and now United Progressive Alliance (UPA ) or Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its allies, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who on every possible opportunity decided to have turns and compete with its best ability to let go of the principles of polity, probity of serving the masses, people at large to choose over their own agenda’s of serving the parties interest first, its members and privileged commune the next and leftovers for the people who repose their faith each time through the enshrined democratic process to make believe the unsurpassed end to their miseries, depriving further the singular right of living served constantly on pseudo plank of governance, as absolute last.

The nation yet remains counted as among the backward countries with another few decades of motion needed to arrive with the world. Even despite the principled stand of leading the nation, we stand at the dawn of new millennium with upwards of 260 million people still not having sufficient income to access the consumption basket remaining below poverty estimates. Our leading developing states being compared with Uganda, Congo, and Chad on Human Development Index. As huge as 27.5 percent of people officially classified under the below the poverty line, with almost upwards of a quarter of this group sustaining on less than 20 Rs a day, further classified as being mentioned as chronically poor.

Out of the entire population of close to 1 bn, 296 Mn people are illiterate and 233 million people are undernourished, particularly children under the age of 3 years. Appalling circumstances of poverty coupled with socio economic problems have failed these political experiments only to gain political ruling power at all cost as the sole motive leaving to bleed the nation as if , at its own volition.

The Constitutional right of “state to protect those, who can not protect themselves” as a simplistic way to read and lay allegiance to the pre-amble of the Constitution, the state and its pillars of democracy, the legislature and executive (more) and judiciary (fortunately less) have instead been forced to co-opt the political constitution of their respective parties and blind folded bequeathing to now the globalisation tirade of capitalist formations of USA’s and Europe’s of the world, in the garb of WTO negotiations or World Bank Agenda politics of governance.

Both, the present UPA dispensation and erstwhile NDA regime, as BJP have exploited the nation, its resources, people and their right of sustenance with impunity by there pro-capitalist, pro – WTO approach. Whether it would be the UPA regime acquiring vast tracts of fertile multi-crop agrarian land demonstrating the capitalist model of increased consumption by substituting land reforms and needed protection over larger national interest of agriculture contribution as percentage of GDP over formation of Industrial zones, SEZ, FTZ polices to attract FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) and yet taking pride of service contribution replacing the agriculture input as minor partner in still agriculture dependent economy of the country, Or the NDA regime coming out with plastered white washed version of one urban wall and announcing the entire home, the country to be “shining” and remaining that way; and further to secure this as a impressive electoral achievement to “rule” once again.

This when close to 175,000 farmers committed suicide in the country? The only achievement of these political parties post there turns of being monarchs has seen the country now standing divided between the have’s and the have nots, as being generally proscribed in their governance documents, as India and Bharat.

The nation, its nationalism, serving not more than decked conversations of capitalist’s monarchies in their Pro-Bharat documents.

We had been forewarned of these dangers several decades ago by Guru Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore, thus, “ We have for over a century been dragged by the prosperous west behind its chariot, choked by the dust, deafened by the noise, humbled by our own helplessness and overwhelmed by the speed. We choose to agree that this chariot drive was progress, and the progress was civilization. If we ever ventured to ask “progress” towards what, and progress for whom”, it was considered to be peculiarly and ridiculously backward to entertain such ideas about the absoluteness of progress. Of late, a voice has come to us to take count not only of the scientific perfection of the chariot but of the depth of the “ditches” lying in its path”. Yet these ditches despite the direction are not seen.

This has been so true for state monarchs as well, the CPI, CPI (M) who considered the champions of the proletariat, peasants, marginalised farmers and labours dumped them with Engel’s and Marx favouring disgraced organizations in there own countries and returning the electorate favour as Nadigram and Singur. This continued with backwards mobilisation of class displacement as a cause over three decades with singular objective of ruling the masses and creating an egalitarian regime by ‘investing” people state’s interest in 4,000 crores of dubious innumerous projects, including several injunctions of judiciary over mass flouting of environmental blunders and cult formation by installing statue’s and yet taking pride of “Bhaujan hitaye, Bahujan sukhaiye” as Bahujan Samaj Party.

This unabated over democratic principles and issues of genuine governance across the length and breadth of the country with various political formations as faded remembrance to convenient nationalism with immuned flexibility, at best utmost convenience. The nation seems to be long forgotten and attempts of sycophancy to lay open the siege of this nation even to a foreigner as continuation of surrogate dynastic polices as proven itself the decay which has come to roost our struggle to achieve democracy. Polity which was a means for voluntary service to the nation and having produced sterling leadership of this nation which has this developed world taking inspiration and yet not forcing this as any convoluted ideology of any “ism” has a new yardstick of qualification to participate.

The more corrupt and more criminal injunctions with severity the better chances of winnability and allocation of governance to satiate this greed of power. Not surprising even in the last concluded democratic participation, each political formation, every political formation succumbed by choice to not to loose the allure of power by offering them as candidates to the electorate, increasing them by a collective 17.2% in comparison to last in 2004. The choice of electorate to choose their representative not on the basis of this “voluntary” nationalistic service but to choose the lesser of them corrupt over others, coming further closer to at best but a sham, which otherwise was a right for genuine constitutional representation.

It is proven now that these political parties can not be trusted to rejuvenate the nationalist pride and a movement of nation first, needs to be brought to the fore within the masses. The ideologies of these parties have left nothing but to peril the glory achieved of the nation at expense of common man. This love for Capitalism, WTO’ism now needs to be replaced by core nationalism with absolute focus on Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor ideology of nation first and people first movement. This needs all the concerned to come forward making a clarion call for much needed Nationalistic temprement as an invincible power to dispose these pro western powers, putting in place a more stronger alternative politico policies of governance by putting the common man and his ecology in the core of this set up.

This top down pyramid which forces the common person, the last man on the socio economic ladder to constantly look up within this democratic system to vehemently oppose this and allow him to question and at best to reverse this by turning this upside down by active dialogue, concurrence, and participation to strengthen this democratic process of rightful activism.

 
 
(to be continued)

Crisis in our backyard - Strangulated Democracy

By Abhishek Joshi:

“Are you first time here, asked a close senior activist friend of mine at Dariyaganj Police Station. The question allowed him to brag on his valiant story of how he with some other 39 was in the lock up during the one of the agitations for complete 28 days without an FIR being filed and then subsequently released with no charges pressed. This despite him not waiting for me to collect my expressions to help him with an answer. All which took him to share this bravado was a simple question from me, “why are they (police vallah’s) taking our names and addresses down”..?

Having recently succumbed to the temptation of learning and updating myself on IPC and CrPC procedures, I simply wanted to test my understanding on what sections were we detained and under what procedures were we to be released. Knowing all this while fully, that draconian sections of IPC and CrPC completely was “out of scope” given the nature of protest (ah consulting!) so waiting in the wings for my turn, this was the best laboratory to test myself and quickly get it validated from the number of IPS officers with complete force who had been politely escorting us the entire evening. Clearly, spoiled by choice, we were outnumbered by a considerable margin – for some 200 of us to be brought at the 1930 Heritage Police Station, we had some 500 in tow. Other activist friends who were dispersed on various other locations, as we collected late in the night were not so lucky for similar privileges.

Humour naturally seeps in when you achieve as daunting as a protest being successful without compromising on your conviction all the while you were protesting for a cause as large as exercising Democratic right of expressions through “silent” protest.

Yes, this indeed was the 1st time for me. The last I remember had come closer staring the white’s of the Khaki eyes was during my college days when returning back from a splendid late night “action” movie show, the entire troupe of friends were caught in middle of severe ruckus created by the 2 warring sections of Medical Students. Their hostel straight across the street, next to ours did the trick. Little were we aware that while we were clapping, hooting and dancing on our 15 Rs ticket show, there was considerable action on the streets with a full battalion of riot control police force quelling the student crowds outside. This also was the nearest I ever came to qualify as a “Doctor” and “referred to one” when was chased by 3 stout tall Rajasthan Police Force cops across the entire football field next to the hostel premises for few hours, amazingly achieving three changes for life while I outpaced them – switched streams from Science to Commerce mid year, hostel to a friend’s pad and brought myself back to the field of sports, having demonstrated my ability to withhold long miles of running. That was past and a thrill and adventure of student life.

This was serious for present and future as a matured citizen of the country.

I had received a call on night of 4th June from one of my closed associates who had joined to fast alongside several others with Swami Ramdev for the corruption agitation. The caller mentioned that Police Force has entered Ramlila Maidan and their intentions speak differently. Haplessly, thereafter what we countless of us witnessed that entire night through live reports was as brutal as possibly our generation could ever come closer to see. The sheer brutality of oppressions on fasting women, children, and elderly and in some cases physically challenged people was the saddest day for our democracy and constitutional fabric of our country. A non violent “satyagrah” had a violent barbaric clampdown. True there could be multiple interpretations on the leadership and organizers of the agitation but some 50,000 people had committed no culpable crime to have sided on to their individual conviction by raising the voice of dissent by punishing themselves through fasting until the demands could be met. A detailed report is below in the blog, shared by Shri Rajat Sharma .

Hon’ble Supreme Court having taken “suo moto" cognizance of this atrocity had served notices on Delhi Government, Central Government and Delhi Police asking for reasons of this in human, uncivilized decision to unleash 5000 police vallah’s, riot action force on peaceful protesters, without any law & order provocation. The affidavit and observation report incidentally was filed on the day (18th June) the Citizens Protest was organized. National Human Right Commission (NHRC) also followed the Hon’ble Supreme Court directives and they too while acknowledging lapses sought an explanation from the Cental & State Governments. And, this is where it started to end as far as NHRC was concerned.

Having waited for couple of weeks for NHRC to intervene and publish facts, they simple outlived their utility by adding another single sheet of paper to their thick reams of “cognizance” sterner action observations and defying the very charter of human rights on which they were formed to defend the enshrined rights of every citizen for justice. The Chairman, NHRC himself is under scanner is all saved for my activist friends to cover in the socio-political activism blogs.

We decided to remind them and as a result “Forum for Concerned Citizens” was formed on initiative of few with citizenry cutting across different ideologies, professions, interest groups, civic, social and political organizations further agreeing to vehemently yet silently protest against proverbial despotism by power obsessed central government. A Citizen Protest March for 5th June condemning the atrocities was announced, teams formed and they swung in action on with an “appeal to participate” on social networking sites, mobiles, personal call in visits across groups reaching out to people, requesting them to join the efforts.

What followed were permissions withdrawn at last moment on 18th June afternoon despite application resting with Police Personnel, waiting approvals since 15th June. A heavy police “bandobast” met us even prior the crowd had begun to turn around. Senior Politicians and Journalists groups including the organizing leaders paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat invoking the “non violent” principles and praying for collective strength for each given the past experiences of clampdown despite no provocation and the assembly begun, sharp at 5pm.

Black bands were distributed, placards and posters – few hands written on the spot were placed on the street and we convened to begin our protest march. Few senior members continue to address the crowd until 6.30 pm. Once we decided to move ahead to NHRC, barricades which were yet a little distance away were placed right on the assembly spot.

We were stopped not allowed to move even 100 Mts of collection point. The Police personnel, including senior IPS officers though extremely polite conveyed the sterner message of not even allowing a peaceful protest to reach its conclusion by announcing “arrests” in case we persist.

We persisted & resultantly we offered to “court arrest”. Each one of the 1000+ group without any leader calling their attention, stood self disciplined by more further hardened resolved of conviction for protecting democratic and fundamental rights of each and on behalf of all – when requested squatted on the main street, silently with black bands yet covering their lips. The police preempting the protest had made “elaborate” arrangements and we were one by one asked to board the busses and police vans.

Each went to different direction. The activist, having now “officially under arrest” impromptu taking the bands out bursted with loudest each could manage in sloganeering, the catchy one which perhaps remained the closest on the determination and on back of strength of conviction for the cause was “

“Ye prajatantra ke diwane kahan chale......Jail chale bhai ....jail chale...........!!!!!"

Section 65 of Delhi Police Act was announced to the crowd, names noted and after few hours we were released.

The crowd decided to seek a formal appointment from NHRC to present our petition on Monday, 20th June and representatives were chosen and incase denied – resolved to be back to RajGhat on 25th June. The eventful day, which part of folk lore for the new generation and extremely painful for the ones who witnessed in the past with suspended rights across Executive, Legislative, Judiciary and the 4th Pillar of Press and Media – the day Emergency was clamped on this country under Article 352 of the Constitution.

What lies ahead – watch this space. Hopefully Monday, 20th June will have updates to be posted, until then, what I leave at the 1930 site was a “nazm” fondly remembered from my college days by “Faiz-Ahmed- Faiz”

Nahiin Nigaah Men Manzil To Justajuu Hii Sahii

Nahiin Visaal Mayassar To Aarazuu Hii Sahii

Dayaar-E-Gair Men Maharam Agar Nahiin Koii

To ‘Faiz’ Zikr-E-Vatan Apane Ruu-Ba-Ruu Hii Sahii”

Congress' Midsummer Folly: Rajat Sharma

Swami Ramdev asked me on June 4 whether police would try to arrest him. He said that he had definite information. My reply then was: “No government would dare to make such a mistake. You are staging a peaceful fast in the presence of thousands of your supporters. There are at least 40 OB Vans of TV channels monitoring everything”. I also told him: “Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh will never allow this to happen”.

I was under the impression that the Congress had learnt its lesson from the Emergency days. During the last seven years of UPA rule, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Manmohan Singh had nothing to suggest that they would ever try to exert muscle power.

But I was proved wrong within a few hours. At the dead of night I got a call from India TV newsroom: “Sir, police have swooped on Ramlila Maidan”.

The visuals of police on the rampage that I saw on television that night were really disturbing. How can any one do such a thing? In the glare of TV cameras police swung their lathis, fired teargas shells, beat up old men and children and tore the clothes of women.

I heard Swami Ramdev sitting on the shoulder of one of his supporters telling the police: “Do not beat the people here, I am ready to court arrest”. But when a government sends a 5,000-strong police force to disrupt a gathering, the policemen are clearly unwilling to listen to the voice of reason. Policemen are trained to wield sticks, to fire teargas shells and bullets. For the policemen, it matters the least that these were starving people sleeping after a daylong fast. Had the crowd been violent, the police could well have resorted to firing. I can only thank God that most of Swami Ramdev’s followers were either old, women and children or were his selected ‘sadhaks’(trainers) who have been trained never to be violent.

Earlier, when Swami Ramdev rang me up during the daytime, he had told me that somebody has given him a credible information that thousands of policemen would try to clear out the tents at midnight. The informer had also told him that the police could also kill him in a fake encounter or set the tent on fire.

I had then told Swami Ramdev, “such things can’t happen. It impossible that thousands of policemen will try to enter the tents, and nobody can ever imagine of killing you in his wildest of dreams”.

After seeing the police on rampage from 1 am till 5 am on television, I wondered how Ramdev proved me wrong. I later realized why Swami Ramdev wore a women’s attire to sneak out of the camp. He might have thought, when his information about police entry was correct, about police wielding lathis was correct, then surely the secret info about a possible encounter would also be correct.

Congress, to me, is a party having leaders experienced in the art of governance. I had always believed that the Congress leaders know how to govern, But the June 4-5 midnight crackdown has shocked me. I fail to understand even now why the government did such a thing at all. And the most important question: What did the Congress or the government gain out of it?

Supreme Court sent a notice asking the government to explain the brutal police action in the dead of night. Will the government tell the apex court that it did this in order to assert its might, that it can gag anybody’s voice. Kapil Sibal had told the media that evening “if we know how to accommodate, we also know how to rein in”.

I wonder what did the Congress get out of all this? The yoga guru who had been extending his hand towards Congress is now its sworn enemy. The same Swami Ramdev, who was maintaining a distance from RSS and shaking hands with Muslim leaders in order to project an image acceptable to all, has been shoved by the Congress into the RSS camp. The Congress, by brutally beating up Swami Ramdev’s supporters with the help of police, has brought both Mayawati and Mulayam Singh on the same plane. A leader like Brinda Karat who used to criticize Swami Ramdev in public, appeared on television to condemn the brutal police action.

Both the Congress and the government were already in a fix over Anna Hazare and were eyeing Swami Ramdev as an antidote to Hazare, but the midnight crackdown has reversed this.

Both Anna and Ramdev who were at unease with each other are now together. Anna Hazare is sitting on fast to protest over police brutality on Ramdev supporters. Now the government will have to deal with both.

While the Congress went on back foot, rival BJP got rejuvenated. BJP which was trying to revive its fortunes but was bereft of any big issue against the government. The very same party is now out in full force, thanks to the gift of a livewire issue from Congress.

The Congress has unwittingly given the BJP not only an issue, but also a leader like Ramdev with a mass base of crores of people. Now the Congress will have to face not only the BJP, but also Ramdev, Anna Hazare’s civil society, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh.

The timing of the bloody, brutal police action was also significant. The previous evening, Kapil Sibal had created confusion by showing a letter about a deal with Ramdev. Swami Ramdev was on the defensive and he was busy clarifying that the letter merely states that all his demands will be met and the fast will be over in two days. But by sending a 5,000-strong police force in the dead of night, the government has now put Ramdev on the offensive. It is now Ramdev who is attacking Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh by name. Ramdev had been scrupulously avoiding criticisms of these two leaders for the last five years.

On the other hand, Digvijay Singh described Ramdev as a ‘thug’, his associate Acharya Balkrishna a thief, and had demanded that the government must probe Ramdev’s assets. A prominent newspaper published a news item that the CBI and ED will prove the assets of the trusts and companies associated with Ramdev. Had Swami Ramdev been a thug, then how is it that the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh sent him a letter appealing him not to sit on fast?

Why did the Prime Minister write a letter to a ‘thug’ to say that his movement against corruption was valid?

If the assets of Ramdev’s trusts and companies are to be probed, then why did the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and three other senior ministers went to the airport to meet Ramdev?

In any democracy, the people’s faith acts as an oxygen for the political parties, but sheer arrogance of power can work as a corroding acid for any party.

History is witness to the fact that a democracy cannot be run on the strength of sheer brute force. Only those governments last, which listen to the voice of the opposition and of those who criticize peacefully. It is now up to the Congress to choose between oxygen and an acid.

Shri Rajat Sharma is Chairman and Editor-in Chief of India TV.

जनतन्त्र का जन्म / रामधारी सिंह "दिनकर"

सदियों की ठंढी-बुझी राख सुगबुगा उठी,

मिट्टी सोने का ताज पहन इठलाती है;

दो राह,समय के रथ का घर्घर-नाद सुनो,

सिंहासन खाली करो कि जनता आती है।

जनता?हां,मिट्टी की अबोध मूरतें वही,

जाडे-पाले की कसक सदा सहनेवाली,

जब अंग-अंग में लगे सांप हो चुस रहे

तब भी न कभी मुंह खोल दर्द कहनेवाली।

 

जनता?हां,लंबी - बडी जीभ की वही कसम,

"जनता,सचमुच ही, बडी वेदना सहती है।"

"सो ठीक,मगर,आखिर,इस पर जनमत क्या है?"

'है प्रश्न गूढ़ जनता इस पर क्या कहती है?"

मानो,जनता ही फूल जिसे अहसास नहीं,

जब चाहो तभी उतार सजा लो दोनों में;

अथवा कोई दूधमुंही जिसे बहलाने के

जन्तर-मन्तर सीमित हों चार खिलौनों में।

लेकिन होता भूडोल, बवंडर उठते हैं,

जनता जब कोपाकुल हो भृकुटि चढाती है;

दो राह, समय के रथ का घर्घर-नाद सुनो,

सिंहासन खाली करो कि जनता आती है।

हुंकारों से महलों की नींव उखड़ जाती,

सांसों के बल से ताज हवा में उड़ता है,

जनता की रोके राह,समय में ताव कहां?

वह जिधर चाहती,काल उधर ही मुड़ता है।

अब्दों, शताब्दियों, सहस्त्राब्द का अंधकार

बीता;गवाक्ष अंबर के दहके जाते हैं;

यह और नहीं कोई,जनता के स्वप्न अजय

चीरते तिमिर का वक्ष उमड़ते जाते हैं।

सब से विराट जनतंत्र जगत का आ पहुंचा,

तैंतीस कोटि-हित सिंहासन तय करो

अभिषेक आज राजा का नहीं,प्रजा का है,

तैंतीस कोटि जनता के सिर पर मुकुट धरो।

 

आरती लिये तू किसे ढूंढता है मूरख,

मन्दिरों, राजप्रासादों में, तहखानों में?

देवता कहीं सड़कों पर गिट्टी तोड़ रहे,

देवता मिलेंगे खेतों में, खलिहानों में।

फावड़े और हल राजदण्ड बनने को हैं,

धूसरता सोने से श्रृंगार सजाती है;

दो राह,समय के रथ का घर्घर-नाद सुनो,

सिंहासन खाली करो कि जनता आती है।

(26जनवरी,1950ई.)

रामधारी सिंह "दिनकर"