No Quarrel but a Slight Contention

Life never ever proceeds straight, more in zigzags traversing which most of us complete our fates’ given courses. There are though extraordinary journeys to which category belong lives of Indian Prime Ministers, certainly. The embassy is even nation’s most powerful office. At stake is not only land, country but also, all importantly, nation which entity lends to this office an identity all its own; to be precise, steering in today’s India the one billion life, one billion fate that is in play. The outcome is therefore very grave matter hanging from the overall ability of the person holding this office.

That is a ballast of historic proportions indeed. And if yet we included in our regard of the matter the global context, the responsibility and significance of this office take on monumental proportions. Recall that earth is being driven to its doom by demons of thoughtless scientific and technical progress, forces that are blind to consequence of their vile acts that end in pollution of the planet, hence to the danger of its untimely death.

Matters proceed but in phases. 1947, as Indian Prime Ministership takes on its profile, the nation is fresh mint from history’s mill. This is the much worked people who have just cleaned their hands of filth and dirt that was British Raj. Indian Independence heralds upon humanity the onset of era of freedom and progress world wide. Much mauled in mills of cruel and powerful imperialism- the land itself partitioned under most dubious pretext – such as we see in current world by the American occupation of Iraq – chief among them the still unpublished British concern with pre-empting Indian Resurgence that could spell for their world hegemony assured doom, Indian people are particularly lucky in having at their helm stand as Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a towering genius of Indian intellect.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the harbinger of change, is a man of many parts. The best of his qualities that I shall draw on here for this essay is his skill in envisioning India of future. Foremost in his equation sit Indian people, the task of uplifting this huge mass from the mires of their long suppression that has made of them rather corrupted minds seen in the light of their original capability. That is again huge – a Kalidas alone will vouch for that surmise. On the other hand, any one familiar with high culture of Avadh – these folks blazed first trails of fight for independence, unparalleled sagas of high nationhood that seek their equal in world history – would know from present day picture of these regions what I mean by the term ‘demeaning of pristine Indian habit’.

Jawaharlal Nehru loses not a second, has his wits about and creates in no time a magic like ambience of national reconstruction. Aaram Hai Haraam, says he and the nation nods. In hindsight it can be appreciated now how deeply visionary was this pearl of an Indian Prime Minister, by the way true to his name, this Jawaharlal! Effectively, within the span of two five year plans, he had the country march ahead, quick step that promised quick pace in drawing abreast of humanity’s first ranks.

I mean it is no big deal that colonial countries were in advance. They had behind them two centuries of uninhibited colonialism, loot and plunder of colonies, free use of their labors on which to raise their facades of affluence. North America is classical example of that advantage. Americans and Canadians occupied large continents, gratis! All the raw material in the world, free! Over and above that Slaves, free!

What had India? The bastards left us with a truncated subcontinent, moreover festering wound that was Pakistan, a nation without any locus for existence at all, a big sabotage spanner in our works, a drain on our energies to this day. Even so, every hurdle was thrown India’s way by the English, now over manipulated stratagems of Security Council Veto.

All the same, to cut the story short, Jawaharlal Nehru, taking every hindrance in his stride, steered Indian course into infrastructural advancement of the land. Based on his work, then, our country today dreams of being next world power!

The first Prime Minister of India was thus history’s special gift to the people of India. He set the bar of performance very high indeed.

The second Prime Minister was in basic Indian promise much the same mettle alas! snatched from our midst by untimely death’s hand. Even so, Lal Bahadur Shashtri did a couple of things which are remarkable placing him in league with the best. One, he was very true to nationhood, all of Indian, and outright sincere as evident from his modest use of Prime Ministerial privilege. He would forego a meal a week! He would live modestly. Two, he infused new life into Jawan and Kisan, both backbone of our nation.

Then started Indian Rise’s downslide! The next Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was of another timbre, certainly no visionary in the measure her father was or then her office required, nor as modest as her predecessor. She was quintessentially a power politician focused on exercise of power, somewhat in the way of l’art pour l’art! She was adept at French, it is said.

Save for inertias and momentums of state as big as India, I fail to see much substance in Indira Gandhi’s chef d’oeuvre. In fact, she opened nation’s doors to political intrigue which in good time metamorphosed into what we today know so well: dirty politics. In short, nation’s attention was now diverted from reconstruction, which should have been, to Power Politics, which must not have been. Khalistan movement in Punjab is telling testimony to Indira Gandhi culture if we keep Emergency and her achievement of debunking two nation theory apart, both matters still yet not fully appreciated, in any case bungled by her to offset any disadvantage.

The rest crowd of Prime Ministers has been a deep sore, descent of India’s downslide from promise’s peak into abysmal abysses of its Patan. I don’t really care to recount names of those Prime Ministers because they did nothing at all that should bring back India on to Nehru Progress’ rails or then into their own essays. Of those they had none! The bird brains!

Two of these personalities though deserve a negative mention.

Rajiv Gandhi was unique in many ways and on many counts. Foremost, he was young. He had Nehru’s inheritance in his intellect, I suppose. Most of all, he got two third majority in Lok Sabha. Sky was then the limit to his accomplishment in service of Indian people. Alas! He squandered the chance by leaning on his Computer Boys than on the pages of his grandfather’s Discovery of India or on the foster grandfather’s extraordinary vision- Experiments in Truth. He lost his opportunity. What a waste!

The other personality is Atal B. Vajpayee. This was a real Pandurik! The worst that could have happened to Indian people, oh! Indian Prime Ministership. The man simply lacked credibility, let alone other crucial ingredients essential to the spice of leading a nation of India’s civilisational stature. Above all, he lacked vision. Worse still he was glued to power, too glued to be effective, if at all.

I remember him making common cause with imagine! Bill Clinton of America in making Vision Statements as if vision were some Moolis and Gajars he could pick from his beloved ‘market’. Forget the other Fella which only America is capable of producing. People of Vajpayee’s dubious integrity should never ever grace the post of Indian Prime Minster. They disgrace the office. This man offered us every possible evidence, on silver platters – this time and again – on his utter incapability to carry out exalted functions of nation’s high office, let alone touching Jawaharlal Nehru heights on progress’ standard. In fact, his Govt. dismantled Nehru’s work with zest. It was so odious and reactionary that within six years of his mandate he was out from peoples’ radar, dismissed with the contempt that he deserved. His star hero Pramod Mahajan only lived to prove the point.

Finally, I shall treat of Narsimha Rao and his protégé the current holder of the office of Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The common fault with these two guys is they leaned one sidedly on economics extreme. Now, extreme of anything is bad, counter productive. Who doesn’t know Narasimha Rao’s leadership finally collapsed in all out riot of corruption in our nation’s bazaar?

Manmohan Singh is still on, now as Prime Minister. He has been a bureaucrat all his life, a careerist at that. Those are commendable things in professional and personal life. In contrast, Indian Prime Ministership is out and out a national affair. It demands extraordinary vision, lots of dreaming, a feel for the peoples’ nerve and woe which in the first place is a creation of bureaucrats. Above all, it calls for creativity. Manmohan Singh is of the apparatchik mould. That is a very tricky affair. It gives you professional success all right but the cost is high, very high indeed in terms of intellectual integrity, all right in the least as regards intellectual ingenuity. Careerism impoverishes mind.

Let’s make an example. Jawaharlal Nehru could have been the greatest British Babu if only he had so desired. His father surely cultivated such prospect for him as he sent him off to Harrow and Temple Inn. Jawaharlal Nehru chose instead another path which was all but careerism. Now, in freedom, when tasks change to nation’s reconstruction, that rebellious spirit can be, should be adapted to renewed rigor for progress which happens when you contribute also by your critique, check and balance that is. In fact, the real harbingers of change are the dissident castes if they do succeed in capturing in their word nation’s real essence. Who can deny Munshi Prem Chand’s contribution to national awakening? He risked his neck, he did.

In other words, this ‘ablution’ is done by the strength of intellectual competition with country’s governing elite. They also like to call it constructive criticism which is rather woolly view of the matter. In reality it is sharp critique, much maverick ado. Jawaharlal Nehru was twice lucky in having in his parliament such stalwarts of Indian genius as Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Kriplani, not to mention C Rajgopalcharya. Dissent is of essence in any nation’s real advance. House of Commons in London deserves a pat for that particular distinction in spite of all my contempt for things English. Any way, these of the present shun critique, and would like to see in it enemies of nation, yes dacoits and Naxalites and terrorists, not well meaning citizens who simply want the best for their land, and certainly no careerism for themselves. That is any way incompatible with high demand of the office of Indian Prime Minister. The sole condition of eligibility for this office is that the candidate swears to serve Indian people, sincerely, not seemingly as is the case now.

Manmohan Singh doesn’t show in his speech, writing or policy if he has a particular vision on India such as Jawaharlal Nehru had. I am not at all sure what he is exactly driving at in that sense or then what his philosophy of life is. He is a Sikh by faith. Guru Nanak describes an ideal life as one that is distinguished by 1. Kirt Karna 2. Vand Chhakna 3. Naam Japna. Now, what has Manmohanics to do with that exalted view of life? Nothing at all.

The citizen that Manmohan Singh is creating is typically Middle Class, a beast of burden of crass and senseless consumption, dangerous consumerism that is leading every country that practices this culture into dooms of pollution and disease and drugs and crimes and wars. America is typical example of that ‘ideal’. If Jawaharlal Nehru were to see with his own eyes what these masqueraders, these crocodile-tears-on-poverty moaners are doing to his India, he would weep bitter tears of sorrow, and of course blast them with his famed temper. Gandhi would go mad! Netaji Subhash would settle down in Germany. Bhagat Singh would beg pardon of the British. Chandershekhar Azad would be doing booming business on Firauti somewhere in Bihar. Rajender Babu would commit suicide. Sardar Patel would run motels in California. O my! These Sonia whip lashed Congresswallas!

Economics alone will not do. I can here draw on such holy names from their own canon as Adam Smith, Keynes, Ricardo, JS Mill, modernly Galbraith, Myrdal, why, our very own Nobel Laureate Amritya Sen. These scholars of economics would frown at what these Murids are doing, licentious laisser faire! In other words, capital’s Jungle Raj

A nation is a composite mosaic of all sorts of needs. Economics is just the one. What about the others? Indian Shines is a phantasm they manufacture in their Delhi Darbar. It is a myth seen in the light of India’s other millions outside their Middle Class minority harem. A minority can not make up a nation, can it? Capitalists are far too less in numbers and any way always love their capital above their nation much as Mussalmans love their Mecca above their land of birth.

At the least Manmohan Singh should be true to his own professions on democracy! He comes of common stock. Where is the difficulty in his acknowledgement of the democracy’s truth, that namely all Indian progress must under all circumstances proceed such as to serve, first and foremost, Indian common people? Neither World Bank nor the IMF or then other sources in their Cambridge and Harvard springs give a damn to that high end need of India.

Why does power turn these simple souls into such hardened stones as would not see, forget all else, even the writing on the wall. Vajpayee exemplified that best; son of a school teacher who wasted his wont in the service of Middle Class, ever the traitor to any nation’s larger cause, particularly so such Indian as was responsible, always, for our subjugation to bandits of all sorts. Two names stand our, Mir Jaffir and the Jai Chand.

It is a bleak picture if we regard it in India’s overall potential, promise and need - the civilisational need, that is.

The vast silent majority of Indians, all so very lost to their lives’ struggles, is Indian body’s real heart and soul, if you please. They live in villages, are still true to Indianness unlike their urban compatriots who are- of the neo Middle Class- oblivious of this Indianness, a mish mash of western palimpsest, all Garh-Barh Gol Maal Hera Pheri Hawala Scam Ghotala sort best represented in the pages of Indian English Press.

In conclusion, let me bring out the fact that with Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Prime Ministership was like conquering the accomplishment’s very Everest.

We have successively been treated to the fall from that Everest to the present day goalless roaming in depths of hopelessness and despair as far as vast majority of Indian people is concerned.

They talk of India as future World Power.

They don’t know what they are talking.

April 13, 2008

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