India is a nation born out of
high ideals. It is the first, and possibly, the last country in the world to
get freedom through a non-violent movement (helped by the pressure on Britain
post 2nd world war). The group which led the movement had hoped for a
country which would serve as a beacon of hope. Nehru said on August 14, 1947: “Long
years ago we made a tryst with destiny….That future is not one of ease or
resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so
often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the
service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and
ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the
greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That
may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our
work will not be over.”
This was the aspirations on the
basis on which our country was found. This honesty of purpose and idealism guided
the first generations of politicians. But idealism is not and cannot be the
basis of a nation’s action (non-alignment, non-violence). The outcome may be
based idealism that but action may not be - Lincoln abolished slavery and
united the US but the actions to secure this were driven by cold statecraft. The
first priority of the leaders of any nation is to secure the national borders.
Weakness in action enabled the loss of territory to both Pakistan and China.
This continued even as geostrategic reality in on Indian borders underwent the
change (i.e. Tibet, Burma, China and Nepal). This weakness in national posture
has continued till date and even the high point of 1971 war resulted in
restoring the status quo on the western border.
The fatal failure of Nehru to institutionalize
and democratize of the Congress Party has ensured perpetuation of nepotism of
the worst order. We are currently being ruled by the 4th generation
of the family trying to pass the baton to the 5th generation. This
is the lead that all major political parties have followed. Tyranny (absolute
power) is the farthest remove of all the perversions from true constitution…
(Aristotle).
The divisiveness of religion perpetuated
in self-interest by our politicians has divided and sub-divided the Indian
populace in a manner that would be a marketer’s delight. Ambedkar had warned, “The
sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to
have a united integrated modern India.”
The left leaning politics of our
founders founded in the political fear of America who they saw as the inheritor
of the British global leadership saw the emergence of planned economy aligned
to the Soviet Union, which then moved to nationalism and then to economics of
special treatment and special interests. The hope for salvation on this path
crashed with the collapse of the Soviet Union but in this process 4 decades
were wasted before a limited free enterprise was unleashed and large parts of
the economy were occupied by then by special interests. Ambedkar said, “History
shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with
economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested
themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”
In effect the 4 key tenets of the state – security, governance, economics and unity - have been undermined, corrupting the functioning of the state. The tryst of the Indian state with its destiny continues to yearn for fulfillment…even in 2010 the World Bank reported that 32.7% of the total Indian people fall below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day (PPP) while 68.7% live on less than US$2 per day.
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