Idea of India!

 

'Self-rule' & 'liberty' are things that my generation has not had to struggle to earn - we were the fortunate ones, we were born free. Our forefathers paid the price for the freedom that we enjoy so dearly all the time (also abuse, on occasions). So in that sense, it is rather hard for someone like me who was born in the monsoon of 1984 to imagine, how alluring the scent of the 15th August must have been to those who toiled their life for it, in the fateful year of 1947. It would have taken a nerve of steel to deliver that iconic and historic 'Tryst with destiny' speech in the marvellous assembly setting.

They do not create such men any more!

Think of it, Bapu lodged himself far away in Kolkata; doing what he liked best - helping and building communities, dousing the fire of hate off, away from the glitters and the lustre of the New Delhi, the capital of a nation that had just become a sovereign. Such saintly demeanour, one can not but stop in awe of the great Mahatma. India is a deeply spiritual land, home of rituals, traditions and customs; most of which predate the modern identity of the nation by a few centuries if not millennia. The sense of community, the idea of belonging comes to us Indian in 'plurals'. Amalgamation, in my view, describes us the best. We're the ultimate culmination; like multiple rivers, streams and tributaries meet the ocean to become one, all citizens when they pronounce their Indianness, other identities that they also hold; of caste, creed, colour, culture, cuisine, custom, language and others fade into the background, (or should I say, "should fade into the background")

If winning freedom from the British demanded every drop of blood of our forefathers, sustaining and securing its 'free' state expects every drop of sweat of us Indians. Keeping a continent size country, which is home to 1.3 billion people is not an easy chore. There is a constant struggle, often complex and multidimensional between forces that unite and also the influences that seek to divide us. We are in a category of our own. Within the overarching Indian identity that all of us wear with pride, other sub-antecedents compete with one another sometimes in a moderately violent and uncompromising selfish way too. In the last 73 years, India has seen caste divide what religion united (I will vote for the candidate of my caste) and also religion uniting what caste divided (We have to make Hindus win), she has also endured religion divide what nationhood united (Go to Pakistan). It is humanly impossible to sum the idea of India in a way other than to say that there are 1.3 billion Indians and there are 1.3 billion ideas of India. (I am taking the liberty of assuming that everyone begets just one Idea of India, which we know is not true, entirely)

Given the circumstances, how do we conclude and more importantly how do we converge everything Indian in a capsule, is a question that has remained at the core of all nationalistic and political debates that have occurred in the country over the course of the last 73 years? Someone like me (with limited intelligence and scant erudition) thinks -"Is such a thing even possible"?

To me, ‘The Idea of India’ is neither static nor a singular one, it has never been and it never will be. India is about knitting a variety of Ideas by the combined thread of constitutionality, plurality, equality, civility and unity in diversity. We’re a land of peaceful co-existence, of harmonising difference and worshipping morality and fundamentals of natural justice, not just social but also economic and that of ethnicity. For India to exist, it will have to remain together!

"We're a constitutional parliamentary representative democracy amidst federal structure (centre and the state), with liberal signature"; at least that is how the idea of India was conceived originally by our founding fathers and mothers.  And that right there is one expression that sums it all up. It has the depth the width and the length to accommodate everyone, every notion, every idea, every imagination, every fact and even has generous room for fiction. Our constitution is the supreme binding force, which most eloquently outlines the set of principles that we all shall uphold in our conduct. The creators of the constitution kept the provision for the document to remain current by giving the legislators the powers to add, delete and modify laws. 

'Rule of law' was established, peace-loving and law-abiding citizens of this great nation, allowed the book of the constitution to shape our lives and thus a contour of the modern Indian identity was forged.

In the last 73 years, India conceded multi-party, multi ideological political parties to be formed and operate freely and fairly, as should be the case in a liberal civil society. Evolution is not always a happy process, it is effectively about becoming 'something else'; when species get lucky, they develop into a form that gives them the ability to cope up and adapt to the changing circumstances better and to survive first and then thrive. There are also times when evolution goes wrong which results in the extinction of the species. The idea of nationhood is deeply connected with the system of governance and in a multi-party democracy, politics is equated with governance in an umbilical bond. A highly competitive political system, opens the stage for lateral entries, leading to a wider stage of participation but it also inadvertently reduces mainstream constructive, and citizen-led narrative to a number game; in which getting to 2/3rd majority becomes more important that journey that a party or an individual takes to get there. The number and only the number matters - this mindless, rush creates grounds for all kinds of practices to creep in the electoral process. Morality is forgotten and is often considered a hindrance in the path of blatant and audacious ambition. Citizens unknowingly start craving for a bloody fight; gladiatorial contest comes up for display, every time elections are announced.

In the transition of power from colonial rule to democratic self-governance, in the last 73 years, we have had a peaceful run. When I say that I discount the passionate political jostling, poor policymaking and missteps that might have been taken by various leaders, to further the cause of their 'idea of India'. The first dastardly attack was launched on the state by the daughter of the 1st PM of the country and the freedom fighter who spent nearly 4K days in jail in the struggle for independence, when she declared emergency, rolled back fundamental rights and jailed every voice of opposition. The nation was young then it had not forgotten the freedom struggle, it got back together, brought her to her knees and the atrocity ended in 2 years.

The 2nd and perhaps, even more, potent blow to the founding principles of India is underway now. This time we are living in an undeclared emergency. This version of the attack is intelligent, sophisticated, aided ably by legal and commercial resources and it wears the mask of the mandate of the people but is every bit as brut as all authoritarian regimes have been in the human history. In 6 yrs of BJP-RSS rule under PM Modi India has witnessed, a departure from its rich traditions. The large heart of the republic seems to have shrunk itself so that it could be hidden and locked inside the bud of the lotus flower, the political symbol of India's right-wing. In the last 6 years, we have seen dissent being punished, jailed and even killed. Individual liberties have been crushed under the feet of the strong deep state. Almighty PM rules on whims, he showed his dictatorial streak for the first time when he invalidated 84% of currency notes in circulation. Economic destruction that followed still has not passed us. India is undergoing the rise of majoritarianism, values of constitutional morality have been forgotten. Parliament, the temple of democracy, is used as a notice board, the tradition of debate on legislation is no longer in vogue. The PM steamrolls every piece of legislation by force of brute majority in the lower house and the upper house, institutions like CBI and ED are unleased to make those opposing to fall in line. Election after election we have seen opposition leaders and their aids raided by the central agencies, and if that does not work out, a perfect deployment of horse-trading wins the day for the ruling party. Goa, Haryana, MP and Karnataka are fine examples. Weeks before the 74th independence day, the ruling party was hell-bent to bring the Rajasthan assembly down too; but it survived against all odds.

Nehruvian consensus does not have the approval of the ruling dispensation. How article 370 was abrogated and then the manner in which an entire state was converted in an open jail is no secret, a year has passed but still, all the political leaders of the valley have not been released. Those who have come out have had to trade their right to speak about the abrogation on a bond for freedom. The supreme court refused to hear the petition of habeas corpus, as a result, it is pending for over a year; citizens are under curfew without (high speed) internet for nearly a year in the world's most militarised zone and all of this in Bapu's land under a functional democracy.

A wise man once said that 'we have very strict rules but it gets compensated by the fact that none of us is required to follow them all, at all times' - such is the state of our constitution at the moment. If you look closely you'll find democracy is in suspension. Civil rights in recession and the state freedom of speech can be assessed by the fact that a lawyer was found guilty of contempt of the court because he tweeted criticising the CJI; the fact that the lawyer is a harsh critique of the PM and also a political opponent should tell you the rest of the story. The ethnocultural diversity that India recognised and celebrated as a strength has been lost too. We're no longer a land of equal citizenship, for the first time in its history, the parliament signed off on a bill that takes 'religious' identity of a person before granting citizenship, into account- CAA. No prizes for guessing that the Hindu right-wing party in power excluded, Muslims and accepted everyone else, in that piece of legislation. Dissent is being criminalised, poor Dr Kaleef is in jail for 6 months and a day before the 15th of Aug, his stay has been extended by 3 more months, for making a speech criticising strong man CM of the ruling party.

Founding fathers of the nation envisioned an India on the ideals of shared patriotism, but that notion is being challenged by the communal supremacists, who believe India is the place for Hindus and everyone else and especially Muslims are 2nd class citizens. Communal majority under the gab of poplar sovereignty is asserting its right-wing ideology upon the soul of this nation, that was built for all people, on the principles of 'equality before the law'.

Time has come for India to unite again to fight to retain its freedom from - majoritarianism, despotic rule. To re-establish, a humane liberal state one which values civil liberty and liberal constitutionalism. India needs to find its provincialism from the darkness of cultural and religious nationalism, that surrounds it. Constitutional morality is required to be established again, dissent needs to find its respectable space again in the public discourse. Media needs to be freed from clutches of the fascist forces. Indian people have to come together to protect the diversity of the state.

We need to resurrect the India of love, the India of hope and the India of equality again.

My idea of India recognises her identity from antiquity to eternity but not at the cost of freedom of its citizens.

Jai Hind .. Jai Bharat.

Poor, the lesser Indian!

The bloody virus has plagued every aspect of our lives, in ways that we do not even fully comprehend, yet. Our exploratory endeavors educate us of something new, progressively incriminating about the pathogen- we lose to it, every day! But as we’re wired to suppose - we keep reminding ourselves of the need to be patient and to concentrate on our collective survival strengths. We keep reiterating to ourselves that- "we, the humans, are the most superior of all God’s creations and that we will emerge triumphant from it". And it is not entirely suspicious to swear by such a principle if our evolutionary chronicles are any indication, we have indeed withstood. But what is also true and should not be reduced to a ‘nihilism rant’ is that not all of us ever have. Every tragedy claims its share of humans before it fancies to bid us goodbye. So, in that sense, we suffer even when we eventually win.

I sincerely hope and pray that the war against the virus ends in the favour of humankind, sooner than later!

But I can’t possibly overlook, those who have already lost more than they can ever recover, in this fight for no fault of theirs. If independent reports are to be believed those who have succumbed to the stress of displacement, cruel destitution, and painful starvation have far outnumbered victims of COVID19 infection (as recorded in the books of the Government), thus far. At this stage, it will be being unkind to the truth, to escape stating that various journalistic reports have called to question the authenticity of the figures that our elected representatives are putting in the public domain. BBC reports and various other local publications have pointed to alleged underreporting of COVID19 infections and even deaths. The credibility of the Indian administration with respect to the data that it publishes has suffered a huge blow, since they were found tinkering with GDP formula, censoring unemployment figure and subverting farmer suicide data. Assult of truth and facts from the current administration has been so apparent and brazen that Indian PM is often found on the wrong side of the truth when fact-checked; his commentary on India's screening of foreign travelers, providing help to the poor, etc have been very unbecoming of the chair that he holds.

We're the only democracy in which the PM has held ZERO press conference in the last 6 years. Even the horrific COVID19 crisis hasn't qualified in being a worthy enough reason for him to take a break from his resolute abstention of responding to free questioning by the press. This is not to say that he has been silent or absent. He did address the nation, thrice 'spoke a great deal' without saying anything substantive, let along explaining, the burning issues of the current crisis. In fact, his monologues have more in common with his election speeches than giving the nation details of the work that is being done to ward off the risks that the virus brings to the health, wellbeing, and the economy of the country. A few of those questions are:

Why India is among the lowest testing countries? Even the rogue state of Pakistan tests more than we do on a per million basis.

How have we ramped up the medical infrastructure in the lockdown?

What is the nation doing about 162 million people who have lost jobs in the last two months?

Why did he host the US President ignoring the COVID19 threat? We know the heavy price that the city of Ahmedabad is paying his unconcerned and ill-advised showmanship.

Why did the parliament keep running, in March?

How is India responding to the gravest humanitarian crisis that it has faced since partition?

Why has the mighty Indian state forgotten its poor?

When he talks about social distancing why does he not acknowledge that only 5% of Indian households have a room per person? Why does he forget that 18% of the Indian homes have less than 6 feets space between two walls?

When it is being advised that washing hands can save lives, why does he forget that 100 million Indians do not have access to clean water and that 13% of Indian cities are water negative?

India gets its dose of information from a junior IAS officer and occasional sound bites from the health minister. ICMR does its thing too, but they are a body of science and not a communication agency, so I take what comes out of their announcement in that light. There have been over 4.5K guidelines and clarification that have been issued from the Govt on how they wish to conduct the lockdown - such a messy response does not inspire confidence and signals toward lack of organization.

We still do not know why the Govt kept saying that Masks are not essential for common people till March end?

Why does it still publicize Aayush Ministry tips of warm water etc when there is zero scientific evidence of it helping the COVID situation?

You’d wonder why I bring the Government and the PM in the stands; there are two reasons for it. 

I still believe, naively though, that we’re a democracy, in which an ordinary citizen can hold its elected establishment and head of state to account. By asking questions and demanding accountability. 

Secondly, I believe that democracies have worked thus far because, essentially, all democracies shape their character around the principles of citizen welfare. A system in which the state does not become the heartless, evil, and ignorant tax collecting BIG BROTHER but a compassionate friend with social responsibilities towards its citizens. Inequality of opportunity, disproportionate distribution of wealth, social injustice, and lack of individual capacity of the citizen to solve structural problems, makes the idea of electing Governments romantic to the common masses. 

Constitutional representative democracies promise the voiceless a say in the process. It is supposed to be transparent, participative, and nondiscriminatory, everyone above a certain age is allowed to cast their ballot. A careful examination of the demographic of those who vote, reveals that people who are in the bottom half of the economic and social pyramid are the most obedient and responsible in the discharge of their democratic obligations. The bottom half of this country is acquiescent and submissive; they vote, they follow all the rules... most of the time, pay all the taxes and expect virtually nothing in return, and yet, with every progressive election, all they get is a raw deal. They’re also often on the receiving end of police brutality, harassment by local municipal authorities and the insensitive ‘Hafta’ collecting local goons. Every party, all politicians, without any exception, appeals to them, beg for their support and yet forget them after reaching the corridors of power. In the entire political history of independent India, you would not find one incident where a leader would have eloquently not expressed their compassion for the poor.

“For the people, of the people and by the people”; we are the world's largest democracy, a matter of pride for us. When we mention this to our friends in China, Russia, and UAE, they envy us. By way of the introduction we say, we come from a land of progressive, liberal, and humanitarian values, one that is egalitarian, just and runs on the rule of law. We flash ‘freedom of speech’ as a badge of honor. We tell the nondemocratic world we can openly and without any fear, question, criticize, not just the current rulers but also those who were the founding fathers of our nation - such is the tolerance of our society.   

But are we though? 

What formed the defining moment/ picture of the great republic of India, in the last 90 days? Crisis does not weaken us; it only exposes our weakness, which we are either unaware of or we deliberately and deviously ignore. 

I do not wish to present the 'chronology' of events that followed the first confirmed COVID19 case in our country, I assume, quality newspapers (there are not very many of them left, I trust The Hindu though) would have kept you adequately informed. Blinded by his affection for theatrics and his commitment to the principle of 'ruling by shock and awe' our PM locked our continent size country of 1.3 billion people in a heartbeat; he gave the nation a notice of 4 hours. This perceptively resulted in an overnight loss of livelihood for a vast majority of this country; scores of poor people who have already endured the suffering of demonetization, botched up GST implementation, high decibel continuous hate narrative, and limping slow growth on the economy - were left hanging in the balance. They were quietly pushed out of work and thus they had to take to the treacherous roads back home.  

They asked for nothing, no favors as such: any more than transport back home. These hardworking and honest Indians were ready to pay for it as well. But a government drunk on power, that does not get tired in repeating the delusional 5 trillion dollar economy target by 2024, choose to look the other way. Painful visuals of tens and thousands of people walking inhumanly long stretch home on foot with their belongings filled virtually every corner of social media and some portion of the TV news as well. Responsible newspapers and media outlets outraged about it and yet nothing. Well-meaning people knocked at the door of the supreme court and in the first go, the court seemed convinced by the false and utterly shameful argument that the Govt presented in its defense, in April. It said that people are not on the roads and those who are have been instigated by the media. Modi administration even tried using this opportunity to censor and silence the reporting. 

In the meanwhile, the number of helpless and hapless Indians on the highways and roads kept swelling. Civil society/NGOs extended a helping hand. But the capacity of kindness and charity from ordinary citizens does not stand a chance against the restrictions imposed by the mighty state; as a result, things kept getting worse. Heart-wrenching and mind-numbing videos of mothers rolling their kids on broken suitcases, kids cycling their parents across hundreds of KMs, pregnant women being carried on a cart, a lady giving birth to a child while on the journey and then resuming her walk back home anew within hours of delivering a child - filled the mind space of concerned citizens. It cluttered the idea of shiny new India that our rulers want us to believe in.

Add block

Credible international media outlets and a handful of Indian journalists kept showing truth to the power but nothing changed in the all of April and May 2020. 

40+ days into the disaster, news of people dying in inhuman conditions started trickling from all corners of the country. The horrifying accident which killed 11 people on the railway tracks; traumatized the conscience of the country. The tragic incident caused massive outrage in response to which our uncaring and unconcerned Govt announced: some trains and a few buses which were nowhere even close to demand and to make matters worse, they started charging the poor and desperate people even more than the usual fare. The monster was raging at the poor.

Some more outrage got added to the already growing clamor in support of those who were dying and facing the hardship of their lifetime. Financially weak people were robbed of their dignity and were forced to beg. They have no option but to survive on the mercy of charity. In the meanwhile, our PM was busy with his ‘maan ki baat’ and rolling out carefully considered and crafted support consolidation campaigns in which he asked citizens to clap and light Diyas: he gave it the cover of appreciation of COVID warriors.

The country obliged!

Deaths in trains and on the roads became an everyday affair. The opposition proposed to pay for those stranded and then the Govt woke to the possible loss of confidence, that it might cause if the opposition succeeded in helping the poor. The Supreme court too, many say, woke from the long slumber and ordered free transport, food, and water for these citizens, in the last week of May 2020 (this crisis, mind you, began in the last week of March 2020). In the meanwhile, citizens continue to suffer. Democracy is messy and hard but it works when citizens try to make it work. We hope that with Apex court's strong observation, things will get better for those impacted.

We need to analyze the role of the middle class and the rich in this nation, too. 

The indifference of the government does not hurt me as much as the apathy of the middle class and absolute denunciation of the poor, shown by the rich of this country. We, the privileged top 1% of the country, kept tweeting endlessly about how we miss our lives. Some showcased their culinary skills, others binged watched offerings of the OTT till they hated watching any other publication. Many of us picked up new hobbies and also brushed old ones, reconnected with our families, flaunted our riches in every imaginable way by participating in all kinds of mindless challenges on social media. In short, we indulged, while our fellow citizens went without food and water for days on end.

While we worked from home, little did we care about those who built our homes and guard them, those who helped us move around the cities and assisted us in our kitchens? We ignored them as though poor walking on the streets was some kind of pathogen that would infect us too. Our collective morality was as present as the prompt help of the government. Bapu's India happily denounced all its social responsibilities.

I am not overly generalizing, and I am in the know that some of us may have continued to pay our staff and cared about their wellbeing but we were a minuscule minority because if we all or most of us cared, our road would not have witnessed blisters on soles of 5 years old from walking the walk of death. Our governance template is democratic for sure but the social fabric of compassion that holds human values together has certainly been battered. There is no way in which innate class biases, hate, and disregard for the underprivileged can lead us to a better and brighter future, history teaches us that. Our future is more collective than we acknowledge. Capital security that has insulated us from the damage thus far may not always be as intact and solid as it is today and should fate were to look the other way would we ever like to be on the road barefoot under the scorching sun unaided is the questions that I’d like to leave you with?

Do think!

Till we meet again!