The generation that saw independence witnessed India’s transformation from food scarcity to surplus, from 400 million people to 1.4 billion, and from Gandhian simplicity to a politics often driven by privilege and power
It would be pretty interesting for the millennials, or the Generation Z, to interact with the octogenarians, born subjects of the British Empire, but who were fortunate enough to become citizens of free India, and are still active and alert! They learnt the basics of democracy in universities in the late fifties and early sixties of the last century!
These senior citizens have witnessed the great Indian demographic transition from 400 million to 1,400 million, and all of the natural consequences that followed it. They grew up in an environment full of the fragrance of the values and principles preached and practiced during the unique freedom struggle. They could recall how the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had to appeal to the nation to “miss a meal every week”, as we were short of food grains!
Today, India feeds a hundred crore more, and is also an exporter of foodgrains! This select group of Indians is also, sadly enough, a witness to the erosion of the proudly treasured Gandhian values and democratic principles. It has quietly observed the emergence of an apolitical class, with varied party affiliations, falling prey to perks, privileges and pelf! To them, democracy is just winning elections, getting a position of power, and then using it unashamedly — exceptions apart — for the accumulation of riches. One of the funniest episodes that says it all is that of a former Chief Minister, who was unseated by the Court within forty-eight hours! When he found the environment congenial — I need not elaborate — he approached the Court that he be declared a ‘former Chief Minister’! The plea was, however, rejected. Numerous privileges are now legally available ‘for life’ to the ‘ex-benefactors’ of the people, in which all of the ex-CMs are included! These were awarded to themselves by the honourable lawmakers, aka, the elected representatives of the people!
One wonders how Mahatma Gandhi would have reacted to such a state of affairs!Think of an Indian delegation addressing the UN General Assembly on “Gandhian Values in Indian Democracy”! It could be led by veteran politician Sharad Pawar, and could comprise Lalu Prasad Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal, Ajit Pawar, A Raja, Partha Chatterji, Madhu Koda, great inheritors like Akhilesh Yadav, MK Stalin, Kanimozhi, Supriya Sule, Tejasvi Yadav, Misa Bharati, Ajay Chautala, and several others. Imagine their presentations on Peace, Non-Violence, Truth, social cohesion, service of man is the service of God! I am sure some of them would certainly refer to Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzari Lal Nanda, and certainly APJ Abdul Kalam! India’s eternal strength is exemplified by the fact that this list still remains long! One is confident that none of the delegates would make any reference to their own meteoric economic rise, including the Swiss bank accounts, etc. When the elected representatives take the oath of allegiance and secrecy, one could just speculate regarding the stirring within! Often people observe the transition of solemn pledges into sheer hypocrisy!
The voter, who knows his five-yearly adulation, is by now well familiar with how the elected representative would get so busy with the matters of family and friends, preparation for the next elections, and preparing his own son or daughter as his successor, that there would be little time and space for the elector! The elector had indeed exercised his autonomy in 1977, when Indira Gandhi was unseated, and within two years, the anger erupted again against the successor government that failed miserably in coming anywhere near the expectations of its electors. In fact, the return of Indira Gandhi — and Sanjay Gandhi, is indeed a great area of research for future researchers. It is said that the entire planning for the historic return was developed and executed by Sanjay Gandhi, who was the most hated person in 1977! There is so much to be learnt from the study of the Indian political scenario during that five-year period: from the imposition of Emergency in June 1975, to the return of Indira Gandhi to power in January 1980!
The voter was alert and executed his own choice. The only other occasion of that level was the 2014 general election, in which voting was not on party lines, but for a person who had proved that in spite of all possible odds, one who works for the people steals their hearts. One had the gracious privilege of interacting for over six decades with young persons, fellow teachers, researchers, and also educational administrators and policymakers. It is but natural to recall the days of unprecedented adulation and admiration for Pandit Nehru, who was the hero of the young of those days. The Chinese invasion shattered his aura, but there were others in the political arena whose honesty, integrity, commitment and purity in public life were reassuring to one and all. During the 1962 and 1965 attacks on India, one participated as a volunteer, mostly serving tea and snacks to the soldiers moving in special trains to their assigned destination. The ideological differences amongst the student wings in universities had coalesced into a dedicated national effort. Everyone was supporting the government, no one was asking for any proof on the claims made by the then government.
The demoralisation of 1962 was gloriously replaced by a newly found confidence in 1965 and 1971. Everyone was proud of Indian defence forces, our admired heroes, but everyone was giving total credit to the leadership of Indira Gandhi, and this included her staunch detractors in the political arena. All that stands fully forgotten at this stage. Politicians do play their own games, depending upon being in power, or ousted from it. None need assume the authority to challenge the facts and figures presented to the nation by the Indian Army. It is a serious situation that reveals the presence of negative forces, being in collusion with the stooges of the notorious destabilising forces. Negativity, arising out of a bunch of frustrated politicians, is trying its best to overshadow the rising stature of the Indian nation. And this is not unexpected.
This apprehension was so succinctly foreseen by Dr Rajendra Prasad as the President of the Constituent Assembly in his speech delivered on November 26, 1949: “Whatever the Constitution may or may not provide, the welfare of the country will depend on the way in which the country is administered. That will depend upon the men who administer it. It is a trite saying that a country can have only the Government it deserves. If the people who are elected are capable, and men of character and integrity, they will be able to make the best even of a defective Constitution. If they are lacking in these, the Constitution cannot help the country. After all, a constitution, like a machine, is a lifeless thing. It acquires life because of the men who control it and operate it. India needs today nothing more than a set of honest men who will have the interest of the country before them.” India needs awakeners in every section of Indian society.
Professor Rajput works in education, social cohesion, and religious amity
