A future in jeopardy

Ramachandra Guha has long been saying across the world and in India, that we are not going to be the next superpower, for many reasons. One of the reasons he has always quoted, has been the lack of a strong centre which is free from ideological bankruptcy of both the right and the left in India. A centre which would be liberal, democratic and have a sense of political morality. A centre which would realize how to deal with issues in a frank and transparent way. A centre, which would accept what K. Kamaraj, the former CM of Tamil Nadu had once advised : "Take a problem head on."

Sadly, India can keep dreaming about the centre to come ever. For the Congress is not that centrist party any more. And this is not just about demise of the Congress. This is the demise of us, the Indians. Not because the Congress is India. But because it's history is a fundamental reflection of what happened to us as Indians.

Since the beginning of May, when Osama was shot in Abbottabad, debates have been occurring across the entire spectrum of Pakistani society on everything, including the foundations of the Pakistani state itself, as to whether it is right or wrong. It was time we also recognized that we needed to have a debate on almost similar issues across our nation, so as to ensure our foundations as a nation, as a people, as a society were also strong, since they had been weakened in part by things which have shamed us for long. Sadly, in this entire crisis, one can only say these needs have not been even attended to, and instead a political football is on course with all sides having a free-for-all.

Long back, the father of the Indian Constitution (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) had said that after adopting the Indian Constitution, we would have to give up methods of protest which would hold the government to ransom. Yet, an Irom Sharmila had to go for fast-unto-death to get AFSPA removed from her home state. Yet, an Anna Hazare had to go for the same to get a Lokpal Bill, the contents of which are being fought upon. Yet a Mamata had to go for the same on Singur. Why? Was it not a failure of the working of our democracy that when a government was not willing to listen to any other form of political protest whatsoever (with no elections in sight), that people had to sit on a fast. Who all were responsible for destroying the ideals Dr. Ambedkar had asked all of us to live up to? Dharnas and political rallies were acceptable as protests even to Ambedkar ji, but how come we went to such low levels in our public life?

The father of our nation had been talking about transparency and probity in public life virtually from the very beginning. His autobiography was in itself a shining example in this direction. He chose khadi as the cloth to connect to the common man of India who wore the same cloth. And he chose white as the color in public life on account of simplicity. Yet, the very men who represent public life and politics in India shamed it in all possible ways. They turned politics into a business where corruption and rent-seeking have become the norms to survive. And we all allowed them to, while we watched, either helplessly, or learnt from them, to ourselves turn to corruption. We abused A.Raja, Ashok Chavan, Narasimha Rao, Shibu Soren, and even B.S. Yeddiyurappa but had no issues with the corporates and normal individuals involved in the public scams. We were not bothered with corporate interference in political affairs to the limits where lobbyists were ensuring that policies which favored them were being made, MPs were being bought, elections were being won on account of using black money with all election rules thrown to the dustbin, and a culture of secrecy, corruptibility and nepotism was being spread across our politicians, corporates and bureaucrats, and really in turn, amongst our own families, our brothers and sisters, amongst ourselves, ingratiated as values. What were we doing then?

The first prime minister of this nation, had a penchant for building institutions. He even ensured that these institutions were made to work properly, as much as possible, without his interference, even though the amount of trust the Indian people placed in him was such that even if he interfered, they would not have protested. When we look at the Election Commission, when we look at the Planning Commission, when we look at the Supreme Court, the IITs and the IIMs, our civil service, we can point at him as the person who ensured democratic and norm-based functioning of our institutions, at least in his time. But then we saw a change. A change which saw our courts (at least at lower and sometimes even at High court levels) crawl when asked to bend by the rulers. A change which saw ridiculous policies prepared by so-called eminent economists and bureaucrats of Planning Commission who had no idea of what these were doing at the ground. A change which saw autonomy of the IITs and the IIMs being toyed around with by incompetent politicians and more incompetent administrations of these institutes. A change which saw our civil service becoming nepotist and corrupt to the tune of exasperation.

A change which saw us becoming a conscience-less society.

In the 50s, the Congress represented each and every political spectrum of India, from the Left to the Right, from the ultra-religious to the ultra-Marxist. Today, it just represents two sections: thugs and those who have adjusted to living with those thugs. Because that's what we are, and what we have become.

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