Friday, March 02, 2007

Our experiments with untruth by Poonam I Kaushish and my notes..

Dear Friends:
Today is 30th January. I am unable to pen in anything on this occasion,when as Neheru put it: "The light is out". Yes, when light was put out of our lives by an assasains bullet. Who was no doubt hanged but the philosophy which truned this young patriot into a murderer is hanging around, more vicious than then, more hateful than then. It is not even ashamed for creating a national shame like the Gujarat riots. But it is not a vaccum in which they are operating. The more it is becoming transparent the world is knowing the about the mischiefs of the mischief mongers. All stories are not out yet, it took nearly 40 years for Late Bhism Sahni to pen down Tamas. But it turned the Indian society more communal than before. Today the Governors of various states live in the inherited palaces of British Raj (including the President). The Govornor house of BBSR always tells me that it is no better than "Jatan Nagar" built for the Dhenkanal Maharaja. At least there was no hypocracy in Dhenkanal as to who is to be served. Is that so in BBSR? Does the Governer from his hillock top house think he is here to serve the people of Orissa? How many school children have visited the Governor's house? How many ordinary school children and citizen of BBSR have visted the Orissa Assembly? I ahve visited so far 30 of the 48 state capitals in main land USA. It has been always a walk in for anyone, yes even after 9/11.
This includes Washington DC's Senate, Congress and White house.
How many Indians, forget about ordinary Indians can tell me they have similar experience?
Bapu had said, "Ministers should not live as 'sahib log' or use private work facilities provided by the Government for official duties." Nothing could be farther from the truth today. Yesterday's princes have been replaced by Ministers, and MPs, who see themselves as winners. For there are no rules of the game. You make your own rules. The doctors of all trades. Experts in doctoring facts. At various election rallies, our netagan emphasis a return to Gandhian values. "Our life styles must change. Vulgar, conspicuous consumption must go. Simplicity, efficiency and commitment to national goals hold the key to self reliance!"
I can go on and on. It will only pass on my melancholic thoughts to you and spoil your day, fully entertained by Munna bhai's "Gandhi giri"
So, let me stop.
Please read the article below, which I chanced upon and liked very very much.
Best wishes,
Sandip






COLUMN
Remaking Of Gandhigiri
Our experiments with untruth
By Poonam I. Kaushish
Let me tell you the antecedence of how Bollywood superhit film on Gandhigiri ---- Laage Raho Munnabhai got its name. It was originally titled Munnabhai meets Gandhi. The director of the film cursorily asked the chaiwala what he thought of it. Replied the chaiwala "Boss yeh Gandhi kaun hai?" It is not only the chaiwala, prior to Munnabhai made Gandhi fashionable, for many he was just the strange guy who won India its freedom, for Gen Next he was a mere chapter to mug in the history book, the kids linked him to a chutti and not a few are totally blank about him. And we call ourselves the land of Gandhi!
The tragedy of India is that it took a reel tapori Munnabhai and his sidekick Circuit to repackage Gandhi, reinvent his ideology and values as Gandhigiri and resell them to fellow Indians as the best thing that ever happened. Look how our netagan, who till yesterday ritually remembered Gandhi are today falling over themselves to be the first-past-the-post in everything Gandhian. The Congress which never tires of yelling that it has proprietial rights on the Father of the Nation has organized a two-day jamboree (29-30 January) on Gandhian philosophy in the 21st Century to commemorate 100 years of Satyagraha. Leaders from the world over will pontificate on Peace, Non-violence and Empowerment. Others too are not far behind.
Do they really mean it? Forget it. All riding the crest of popularity of Gandhigiri to reap a political harvest. Today, 30 January, (Gandhi's Martyrdom) at the crack of dawn a smattering of leaders led us to Rajghat---the Samadhi of freedom. With beatific smiles even as they inwardly cursed the time wasted. Respectfully offered flower petals. Folded their hands. Observed two minutes' silence. Caught the eyes of the TV cameras. Duty performed, they rushed back to their heavily securitised cars. Heading to their next destination. To go through the ritual again. The aam aadmi meanwhile patiently await their turn at Rajghat to pay their sincere homage. Opportunity comes only when the security barricades are removed.
Look around and one sees how far removed we are from Bapu's vision of India, post-Independence, his ideas of simple living and high thinking, his sense of right and wrong and his value system. If ahimsa, or call it soul force, cast a Mahatma's halo around him universally, himsa has become the universal truth for our society. Wherein Gandhi's teachings have been reduced to mere straws that fly about in the election wind, courtesy our parochial leaders. Pious platitudes and inane speeches to paint a halo round their heads. The fire and zeal across the nation to come out in response to Gandhi's "do-or-die" slogan died an early death. Replaced by a rent-a-crowed brought by chartered buses to election rallies. Might is right, after all.
In our days of slavery, we had come to believe that independence was the panacea for all ills--- social, economic and political. For that we paid the supreme price of India's partition. But we have not yet learnt that the three Cs (crime, corruption and communalism) can be highly damaging for unity even if it gets one the vote banks. If the widening communal divide mirrors the deep crevices in national consensus and our secular image, the depredations of criminals and mafia dons provide proof that our social polity is now gripped by cancerous tentacles. What has been left in its wake are moral degradation and decadence. And the game goes on.
And, what should one say about India's credentials. Which have been dissected, butchered and roasted to suit political convenience and tactics. Unfortunately, the secularism advocated by the founding fathers has got greatly diluted to mere "ism" and slogans. Carrying it to such absurd limits that the singing of the melodious national song Vande Mataram turned behsura in the hands of our political drumbeaters. Recall, when the Government passed an order making its singing in schools compulsory, the Muslims clerics opposed it on the ground that it was anti-Islamic. Clearly, a day is not far when Mahatma Gandhi's call for Ram Rajya will be dissected and debunked as the outpourings of a rabid Hindu fundamentalist. This is the secular reality of India's "420 secularism".
With elections to three State Assemblies around the corner see how populist promises are being doled out in the fervent belief that it will bring in the votes. Minority appeasement is the latest vote-catcher now rechristened as "humanism". Asserted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, "A commitment to equity is not appeasement. It is a mark of one's commitment to humanism." (Sic) He was speaking at a function to commemorate Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Arguably, what about equality for all? Are doles, jobs, subsidies now going to be given according to our surname and the religion we practice? What about enforcing humanism to the vast majority of poor for whom roti exists only in the neon lights of Mcdonalds. Who should they turn to for succor? Where should they go?
Bringing things to such a ludicrous pass that Gandhi seems an alien from a different planet. Pointedly brought home by an Gandhian: "Gandhi was considered a saint, Rajghat is more about spirituality and Indians today are more bothered about survival". Why do people find it difficult to relate to Gandhi or follow "Gandhigiri"? Bluntly because Gandhi was a person too good and saintly to be true, a living God. He practiced what he preached. While we are mere mortals who revel in preaching only, with all our weakness, foibles, complex et al.
Could one imagine the Father of the Nation manipulating the system to achieve his goals? Grooming one of his sons as his heir apparent. Never. Its just that the people are not ready to take on his perpetrators wholeheartedly. Why? One, because we have tended to become immoral, unethical and even corrupt ourselves. As long as we get what we want, who cares a damn for others. Two, with abject poverty around, who has time for Gandhi. The struggle for roti, kapada aur makan is what matters. Besides, it is so easy to be complacent than retaliate. Gripped as we are in the tentacles of ki pharak painda hai (what difference does it make) attitude.
Where are the Gandhian leaders. Genuine leaders of the people and genuinely from the people. "Let them not arrogate to themselves greater knowledge than those who have unrivalled experience but do not happen to occupy their chair," said Gandhi. Today, it is a kissa kursi ka and paisa pakro gaddi rakho every day. Politicians are only for themselves. Good governance be damned. Political survival alone matters. Their hierarchy of status gauged by the gun-totting commandos surrounding them. Funny isn't it that our leaders need strong protection from the aam aadmi they are supposed to represent and serve.
Look at the irony. Today, the Supreme Court is adjudicating on what defines political morality. Given that for the first time in history, a Union Cabinet Minister is behind bars for allegedly murdering his private secretary, another forced to resign in the Volcker-probed oil-for-food scam and five tainted Ministers adorn the Treasury Benches in Parliament. What to say of the innumerable criminal netas who strut around the corridors of power in their 'bullet-proof' jacket of MLA and MP-ship.
But such is the nasha of power that our netagan distressingly justify their wrong by asserting that the law will take its own course. But what they leave unsaid is more important than what they say. To hell with the rule of law, we are above the law and will rule by law. Rules will be changed and the Constitution amended if it does not suit them. See how they amended the Office of Profit Bill to save 44 MPs, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, from being disqualified for holding offices of profit. Never mind that it went wholly against the spirit of the Constitution, turned Article 102 on its head and subverted the legal and parliamentary system.
Gandhi's whole life was devoted to a search for truth. "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be shuttered. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about freely. I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. Mine is not a religion of the prison house. It has room for the least of God's creations. But it is proof against insolent pride of race, religion or colour," he said in his autobiography "Experiments with Truth". His life was his message. Like the three monkeys on his desk--- each with its own message. Speak no evil, hear no evil, and see no evil. Today apes and parrots have replaced the monkeys. They speak no truth, hear no truth and see no truth.
Bapu had said, "Ministers should not live as 'sahib log' or use private work facilities provided by the Government for official duties." Nothing could be farther from the truth today. Yesterday's princes have been replaced by Ministers, and MPs, who see themselves as winners. For there are no rules of the game. You make your own rules. The doctors of all trades. Experts in doctoring facts. At various election rallies, our netagan emphasis a return to Gandhian values. "Our life styles must change. Vulgar, conspicuous consumption must go. Simplicity, efficiency and commitment to national goals hold the key to self reliance!" Welcome brave words which taunt the five star culture reality of today.
In the final analysis what should one say of a polity that swears in the name of Mahatma Gandhi but doesn't heed him. "Today I am your leader but tomorrow you may have to put me behind the bars because I will criticize you, if you do not bring about Ramrajya," he said. We did not put him behind bars. Instead, we murdered him--- and continue to do so daily. Our experiments with untruth!
-INFA

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Arise Awake Stop not till the goal is reached. - Swami Vivekananda Swami ji is my inspiration, not as a monk but as a social reformer and for his universal-ism.