Protest & Public Policy

Not a long ago, we as a nation stood very firmly behind Damini and showed our righteous assertion on the justice for her. Damini had become a household name. Candle marches, peaceful protests, and other related happenings were common those days. These post rape incidents led us to believe that a nation, long suppressed, has, at last, started finding its utterance as once said by Nehru. But, alas, what is even more unfortunate is the fact that she slipped in periphery from the center stage within a month or so and we could not even realize that.

Similarly, we had come across numerous scams, rapes, murders and other breaking news. They all were not only considered very serious but also they invited numerous protests from some or other quarters of our country and society. They all seemed to shake the nation at the time they broke the news. But again we forgot to deliver. Again we could not realize that how one new incident suppressed the intensity of our protest for other incidents that preceded the latest.

In fact the amount of news, we are being fed these days, left us with no or very little time to think and make opinion on any one of these issues. Today, the basic problem with our public protest is not the absence of support but is our inability to focus on the right things at right time. Today, most of our opinion is formed by media trial. The nature of news and incidents is sequential and is so large that, otherwise preoccupied, middle and lower class mind hardly gets the time and energy to think beyond these major headlines. 

Actually, we are interested only on the effect (any individual case) and do not take any pain in understanding the real cause (defective public policy) behind that effect. We only tend to focus on individual cases. And a nation, which protests for stand-alone cases like Damini, 2G, CWG etc, is bound to forget it if another case emerges. Consequently we tend to jump from one piece of news to another piece of news and in spite of such a huge uproar and protest, these scams continues to hit the national daily. And it is this context in which they say that "Public memory is very short”.

We need to understand that these scams would continue to emerge until we see the real reason behind these. And the real reason behind many of such news i.e. scams, rapes, public disarray etc. is nothing but the very bad public policies of our own democratically elected government. Thus, only by changing the government and switching the loyalty from one politician to another would not solve this real and more serious problem.

I often remember a quote “Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived” which aptly and rightly justifies why the man of today is being exploited by his ruler. But we must have to look beyond what seems to be obvious. We must rather protest for a serious systemic change. We don’t have to look towards our politician for everything. And moreover, why would our politician support us, at the first place, when they are very successfully and convincingly exploiting us using the current system? They would never support such protest demanding for systemic reformation as they all are status quoist.

Most of our public policies are socialistic in nature and that is their major defect and flaw. Under this socialistic environment, governmental monopoly and control on our mind and thought is so total and complete that we could hardly even think of revolting against the current systemic exploitation. We need those policies to be abolished which are reportedly proven to be the existential threat to our individual liberty. Today, India must fight for freedom from the big government. We, rather, need those policies which not only help us in curtailing the very antagonistic power of our government but also make our administration more transparent and accountable. Only then, we will be able to provide a truly liberal and eternally peaceful society to our coming generations.

Why does India need Founding fathers ?

I really can't recall, exactly, when I came to know that Gandhi is our father of nation and that, it was he who is, reportedly, said to have responsible for India’s independence single headedly. I do agree with the greatness of the great soul but making him only force would certainly be a very shallow assessment of our history and its martyrs.

In USA they have recognised their founding fathers as the group of people who have reported to have signed the declaration of independence, or framed the constitution, etc. Notable among them are such worthies as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. But, back home we always celebrated our success with only one hero.

You may note that the Americans have “the Founding Fathers” but India has only a “the Father of the Nation”. Why did India choose only one man that too as his father of nation, is something beyond my knowledge and comprehension. Is it because of some political interest or some shellfish propaganda? As they say, History is always a survivor's account of events, no wonder, in our case Gandhi was made a sole hero, presumably because many other pseudo Gandhis could rule this country effortlessly. Gandhi's sole worship has given birth to another political religion known as Gandhism. And all those following this 'ism' turn to be the de-facto rulers of this country. This is really interesting to note that how Sonia came to be known as another Gandhi, even though I would not surprise a bit if she comes out and tells that she was not even aware of real Gandhi and his work before coming to India. But again they say politics is the game of possibilities.

Indian diversity and cultural heritage is essentially more majestic than any country in the world. And in the context, if we do settle ourselves with a single hero, we would certainly not do any justice to our history and and her people. India i.e. Bharata is more than Gandhi.  But, making India a sub set of Gandhi is one of the biggest existential threat to the very soul of our great nation.

India must move beyond Gandhi and must explore her set of founding fathers. It must not only include those who have defined the very soul of this country but should also include those who, at the very defining moments of Indian history, have shown their courage and valour in shaping India’s future. Our historical legacy is essentially bigger that that of USA. Thus "Indian founding fathers" cannot be concentrated at some certain point of space and time, just to suit the whims and fancies of her contemporary ruler. We have to exploit ourselves in exploring the legacy we have inherited.

In his famous last speech to the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar warned of the dangers of hero-worship in politics and history. In a less known passage from that same speech he allowed that a nation must have its heroes. That is to say, one can appreciate and admire those who nurtured Indian democracy and nationhood without venerating them like demigods. In that spirit, one might choose hundred great Indians, or fifty, or ten but not just one.