“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual,” said Marie Curie, Scientist-Nobel Laureate. Our leaders in all walks of life, importantly, those in politics, must bear this cross of improving themselves and their followers. Only then India will improve.
Some political leaders are like shooting stars. They stream across the dark sky brightening it momentarily and then disappear. But some are like the Northern Star guiding the weary traveller in the dark pathless desert. No doubt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to the latter kind of politicians as far as India is concerned.
It was simply serendipitous for India to have got a political leader like Modi at a time when India’s ruling party was tottering under charges of humongous corruption eating into the vitals of administration like termites with a proxy, accidental Prime Minister in Dr. Manmohan Singh. He was so helpless he could not muster courage to resign or assert his authority when his ordinance was torn asunder and rubbished by his own party’s junior honcho who was wielding so much vicarious power.
There was too much of vote- bank politics and community discrimination. Discrimination axiomatically leads to anger among those discriminated against. The people of India were waiting for the general election, waiting for their turn to put in place a better government. Good people of India did not think of going for a “civil war” or an agitation like JP Movement of 1974-75 that some Opposition Leaders are talking about now after Bangladesh civil war. And the Parliamentary election of 2014 was a turning point in the history of post-independent India. The old order changed yielding place to new. A new page was turned for a new history to be written. And the majority Hindus of the partitioned India thought Prime Minister Modi would be their Veda Vyasa to write on those new pages a Naya Bharat.
Eleven years past, what is Modi writing on those new pages? Mixing of too much religion into politics is like, to borrow the words of Yasser Arafat, mixing too much sugar into your coffee. No good.
However, during his first term it was like moving into a house unkempt and infested with termites and rodents. He had promised many temptations to people of this country. What seemed impossible to a common man and even to an intellectual, Modi, using his purple, flowery eloquent speeches, convinced them that ‘he can do.’
Yes, he over-promised but under-delivered in his first term. The billions that were stacked away in Swiss and other Banks by the new Mughals and Brown Sahibs from 1947 to 2014, did not come; leave alone depositing Rs. 15 lakh to each Bank account, nor the corrupt sent to jail. Many thought Vadra would be the first one to enter jail. He merely lost his special security and free-passage in Airports. Who cares?
Not that he (Modi) did not fulfil the aspirations of the people. He did. In areas of administration, Modi has brought about perceptible changes, passed new laws and introduced many people-friendly welfare schemes. But for 10 years that was not enough. Middle class was ignored or taken for granted.
When Modi came to power, he was holding a sick, screaming, unhealthy baby in hand. There were many politically sensitive and controversial issues he had to deal with. Among them the MOST important and world-attention-getting one was the Kashmir issue. It has been like a thorn in the flesh of Indian body politic. This has also been the cause for disrupting Hindu-Muslim cordiality and harmonious living. Suspicious of each other, it has sneaked into the game of cricket as well. It has been a great pleasure watching two great cricket teams of Pakistan and India playing. But see where it has come to?
And now Modi must be given credit for removing the major impediment in solving the Kashmir problem, at least partially — annulling Articles 370 and 35A from the Constitution that gave a special, discriminatory status to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
J&K has been the subject of blame-game between Congress and BJP (earlier Jan Sangh) since partition of India. Many have put their hand into that boiling pot and burnt their fingers. Some of the suggestions by the tall leaders were rather simplistic and disastrous. Remedy being worse than the disease. Take for example C. Rajagopalachari.
India’s renowned historian Ramachandra Guha, in his highly readable book “Democrats and Dissenters,” a compilation of essays and articles by him, records about “Rajaji Formula” on Kashmir which seemed atrocious to any Nationalist Indian, leave alone Hindus. To state briefly, Sheikh Abdullah, out of Nehru’s prison, travels to Madras and meets Rajaji. “Rajaji presented a proposal that would allow Jammu to remain in India, Azad Kashmir (PoK) to stay in Pakistan and the Valley (Kashmir Valley-Srinagar) — the crucial bone of contention — to be jointly administered by both countries with assistance from the United Nations.” Alleluia!
The Sheikh (I have seen him and heard him in Pune), a humble and too gentle a person in his speech and demeanour, took, what became known as “Rajaji Formula” to Nehru. He approved it and then it was taken to Pakistan leaders. Ramachandra Guha writes, “While the discussions were on, Nehru died and the hopes of a permanent settlement with Kashmir died with him.”
Probably these two tall, highly revered Hindu leaders of India did not much care about Hindu Asmita, spiritual and cultural attachment to Kashmir, but cared more for peace with Pakistan at any cost. Specially after losing 1962 war with China.
In retrospect, one might well think that Pakistan must have considered “Rajaji Formula” an opportunity to get Kashmir Valley like it got PoK. The military dictatorship of Pakistan, headed by President Ayub Khan, took this as an opportune moment to take over the Valley militarily making UN supervision under “Rajaji Formula” redundant. A Jerusalem in India? Nehru died in 1964 and Pakistan declared war on India in 1965. The trigger for war was “Rajaji Formula,” I guess. I don’t know. I may be wrong.
[To be continued]
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This post was published on September 2, 2024 7:05 pm