Raojibhai Patel        III      

Raojibhai has  touched on the Chinese aggression of 1962. Those days we were very much excited and agitated on account of the perfidy of the Chinese but the Chinese were  playing such a diplomatic game with India which was mixed with professions of friendship with calculated future political strategy.The India Govt. was not ready for such lightening  military moves across the borders which was silent for centuries . now all of a sudden this century old silence was broken with booming guns and swarms of soldiers .Nehru had hoped that this silence was eternal and India  needed  no preparations  for war. He had studied world  history , had learnt historical incidents but had not learnt the  practical Machiavelli an diplomacy .  This lack of training on the part of Nehru cost the  country  very dearly by way of cost in humans, military hard ware and prestige .  

        Those were the days when we held our breath and there was deep anxiety for the shape of the things to come.The Mota does not seem to  be touching these sensitivities as that time had already  passed. He  has philosophized the emotions which is nowhere to be seen in reporting of that time as all where  concentrating on physical aspects of the episode.  Look how he has theorized these emotions. 

    

1.        So far  we were impacted by Gandhian  non-violence and there was a question put by these Gandhians  as to why had  we to maintain  large armies when we have no enemies and that we were the torch-beares  of non-violence and  so  were immune from  violence  by any country. They visibly forgot that Pakistan was the first country , within the hours of getting freedom., that had snatched away large tracks of our territory in Kashmir and that territory was yet to be  won back  and was that task  to be performed by resorting to non-violence ?      

2.        Nehru was always talking of world peace , of Pancha Sheel  ( five principles  governing the conduct of mutual relations among the member states. ) Nehru was putting himself forward as the only world  statesman  who was concerned about peace and that the issues between and concerning the member states were to be resolved through peaceful dialogue without resorting to force. HE WANTED TO MAKE HIMSELF IMMORTALISED  BY PROTESTATIONS OF PEACE  AND CO-EXISTENCE  which looking to the currents of world history was quite impossible as we see that in the world peace has hardly prevailed  and war , battles on large or small scale is always rule of the day. The territorial disputes with China rose well in 1958 when Nehru paid visits to number of countries , elated throwing flowers and wreaths on the mass of human gatherings and children particularly. .The  media gave him wide coverage , his public  speeches , press -conferences , his speeches in the parliament ,interventions during the parliamentary discussions , his foreign tours , the visits paid by the foreign dignitaries – keeping Nehru in the centre-stage  and more the papers were full of his speeches and at times it appeared that there were not any news except his speeches ! T his  caused natural effect  that Nehru was a new Avatar for the people of India   and  the people of India were gripped in this euphoria until one fine morning China smashed this God-like image when India found itself friendless in the world , this is what Raojibhai intends to convey but he has described the anti-climax without  describing  the  ascend to the climax .When some titan falls , it  creates ripples , waves and sometimes  quakes,     Image is like that , apart from the physical destruction or havoc it creates , the damage to the psyche is more lasting and the consequences extend to generations . With the decline and fall of the image of Nehru , India’s prestige as a great nation went down like an avalanche and the nation has till this date not recovered from the shock it received in the defeat of 1962.The division of Pakistan into two  different nations  in 1971.  

3.         One thing needs to be reminded what difference is there between Germany post-II world war and India. Germany was humiliated , its borders were ravished, the winners took away saome portions of territory and kept them for exploitation. The people of Germany did not forget this humiliation and with every passing day they were itching for revenge and taking their lost territory back and this is how a disabled Germany rose like a phoenix  bird and militarized itself in spite of several odds and not only took the lost territory back but  went  ahead to capture all Europe except England which was subjected to incessant bombing for months together. The world took a lesson from this and that was that no country should be so humiliated that it would some day prepare to take revenge  and upset the balance of power , but there is a condition to this lesson that  such people should be self-respecting people and should be  itching for revenge.The people of India do not seem to be so itching in spite of the fact that lakhs of miles of its territory is still under the Chinese occupation and yet China goes on making fresh demands on  India’s other territory . Yet the Indian markets are flooded with Chinese goods, traders are making trips to China to put fresh orders  there . This is the difference between the business community of post I ww of Germany and post-China aggression of 1962 and even to-day. The Indian business community clearly lacks in patriotic spirit and thinks only of maximizing its  profits at the cost of consumers and the  retrenched labour.     

4.            Chapter 3 : Fight for Democracy    :   

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  Some thoughts included in this chapter are worth noting:   1.  The Chinese aggression exposed  hollowness of our thinking in respect of Gandhian ideals and system of our defence. The mixture of Gandhian ethics and Marxist  sociology  had placed heavy burden on our mode of thought.   2. The Gandhian ideal had neither moved the heart of the English nor that of the Chinese.3.Anti-Imperialism is not our problem ( Nehru had created this problem for us by alienating all the super-powers  and China took advantage of this isolation ) and pacifism of the  Gandhian  type is not our ideal.  We should look after our interests and carry out foreign policy to achieve those  interests.

                         Chapter 4 : Nation, Revolution and Renaissance            

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            In this chapter the Mota has described the tussle between the two   intellectual giants of India 1. Gandhi  and 2. M N Roy .  Gandhi was an astute observer of the thinking of common masses and had  used  the Indian traditions as a net  to snare the  masses while M N Roy was a revolutionary and wanted to upset the entire social structure of Indian society in order to  put it on the path of progress. Gandhi was an enemy of industries and technology  and he had no idea as to how to alleviate  the poverty of the people so , he advised the people to keep their needs to the minimum and seek solace  and satisfaction in their poverty. More , he propagated from house-top that he was a sanatani ( orthodox ) Hindu and that he believed in  chaturvarna  . This meant that those who were at particular station in the hierchical social structure had to remain there for ever and had no chance to  rise in status . Importantly look to other aspects of his theory , the Muslima a Christians and Parsis w did not form part of the Hindu social structure and so this  bondage was not appliocable to them . As a result the percentage of literacy in the Hindus was lower than the Christians , Muslims and the Parsis.  The literacy classification  as mentioned by sociologist M N Srinivas in his famous book   India : Social Structure page No. 23. As under :        

   Census        Muslims         Hindus        Shikhs         Christians        Jains            Parsis       

   1891             4.2 %             6.3 %           6.8 %             26.5%             32.6 %         66.2 %   

   1901               4.4 %           6.5 %           7.5 %              26.6%             30.9  %       76.2 %   

   1911             5.2 %              7.3 %           8.8 %             28.5 %             34.8  %       82.7 %     

    1921             6.2 %             8.6 %            8.0 %             31.7  %            37.8 %        83.7 %    

    1931             7.2 %             9.3 %            10.2 %            30.5 %            38.2  %       83.0 %  

                        The Parsis , Jains and Christians remained in the forefront as far literacy was concerned and as a result  standard of their livelihood was  better , their   living conditions , consumption of food , clothings etc were better and their status in general public was enviable  in comparison to 80 % of the Hindus . These figures of Hindu literacy were from the dominant castes , Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas as the rest of  Hindu society were prohibited from acquiring education under the dictates of  Hindu epics ! These dictates were not applicable to Muslims, Christians , Jains and Parsis.     
Under the Gandhi scheme the backward castes were to stay where they were .It was this illiterate mass that  flocked  on streets ,Rly Stations and prarthana  sabhas to have a glimpse of Gandhi and hear him . This contributed to a very large scale forming his image as undisputed leader of the Indian mass.Most  were uneducated , see the figures  between 1901 and 1931 , there is hardly increase of 1.8 %  of increase in literacy of the Hindus  but the figures for the parallel period for Muslims are 2.8 % for Sikhs 2.7 % for Christians 3.9 % , Jains 7.3 %  and Parsis who were already on top in respect of literacy further consolidated their position by 6.8 % ( from 66.2 in 1891 , and 76.2 to 83 % in 1931.Gandhi’s contribution to spread of education among the Hindus was  nil and I have referred so many works of Gandhi and have yet to see  he prompting the poor , backward castes of the Hindus to send their children to school , while the ground facts were such that even if the parents attempted to send their children to school, the dominant castes resisted  this  misdemeanour   and challenge to the dictates of the sastras. There were cases of assaults on colonies of the backward people when a student was admitted to a school . In a recent case  written by one Retd. Collector Vasant D Parmar , IAS ,  as mentioned by him in an article in a dalit magazine “  Samaj Saurabh “ published from Rajkot , he has narrated his plight as a  pupil . Now read his story in his own words . This is the story of Feb 1943 when Gandhism was on top of the Indian firmament. “ My father was illiterate but he thought that the children of the new generation should be imparted education ,  so he put me and my two cousins in the  school of our village Kothamba ( Panchmahal dist , Lunawada desi Rajwada ) on 6.2.1943.  We were the only 3 harijan  pupils  and were prohibited from  stepping  on the varanda of the school and as such  we had to carry a gunny bag from our house and spread it under a neem tree  and learn the lessons from  whatever fell on our ears and yet all three of us stood 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd when Dy. Inspector  from Lunawad would come and examine us , that too from a distance. If by any mischance and bad luck , we  happened  touch a savarns ( high caste ) student, we were profusely abused and beaten. After such touch , we were expected to touch a Muslim student who was quite well nourished and fat , and were obliged to touch that muslim student so that the  pollution attracted by the  high caste  pupils   could  be washed away  and they would be purified ! Now it so happened that even that muslim student used to beat us up on account of touching him , that way we were subjected to beating from two ends.  We were fed up with this indiscriminate and inhuman treatment and so my two cousins dropped out from the school and I also dropped out on account of the fear of being frequently beaten up and I  joined as   a  farm labourer  from the year 1947. “ Gentlemen, this was the year India gained freedom but the backwards  could  not gain education. The Muslims, Christians and Parsis could because they were not Hindus . This was the punishment for being Hindu in an orthodox society. I had  an  experience  different from V D Parmar , I was beaten up by my teachers for  abstaining from the  school . The teachers were  sincere to teach us  , as the school where I was put by my illiterate parents was a Missionary School and the teachers were convert  Christians who in their lives were stung by this  orthodox Hindu society. I salute those Christian teachers who beat me up for  my abstaining in  the  class so  I could reach M A  and could appear for IAS direct exam and could one day , this day , take  Gandhi  to task who betrayed the cause of the dalits while coercing Ambedkar to  sign an agreement at Poona in the year 1930 which he had no intention to enforce and his  co-religionists  totally forgot about the existence of that agreement .  Education was the sphere where Gandhi’s social programme should have begun but that was not on his agenda as he was very much eager to capture reigns of power   without   reforming the backward Hindu  upper castes.  .  He commenced agitation for entry for Harijans in the temples but did not do anything for imparting education to them  . God was more important  than education, the Gods who did not do anything for them for generations.  Now the concept of Humanism comes up, how M N Roy viewed this deceipt   of empowering the dominant castes at the cost of deprived sections of society . Here M N Roy’s contribution to the Indian polity shines with full glamour.

     

       Gandhi did not study the changes that took place in the wake of the Industrial Revolution  in Europe , the effects it left on the daily life of the masses ,creation of  middle-class and class-conflicts their change in culture , behaviour , social status etc.  While M N Roy had deeply studied these  aspects as he had travelled far and wide , had found friendship with top elite of the Russian Revolution including Lenin, Stalin , Trotsky  Bukharin etc and  had framed definite   road map  for the uplift of the trodden masses. Gandhi  erred here and had no specific  strategy for increasing wages , imparting Roti _ Kapda _ Makan  , abolishing discriminations among the people. As regards  M N Roy’s   blueprints  for the future shape of India let us note the following places where he stayed , studied their social, economic   problems and their solutions .  Let us study his movements across the globe :      :

               M N Roy left India in summer of 1915 and travelled in In donesia, China , Japan , Philipines , then passed one year in USA , passed two and half years in Mexico, he remained in Russia from 1919 to 1928 ,  was very active in Communist International movement . He  was   elected to the highest policy making body , the Presidium of  communist International Movement .He was  entrusted with  organizing and training communist agitators in Asian countries and was imparting training to such workers in the Moscow University . On account of some differences with the leaders of Russia he resigned from the Communist Party and came over to India was arrested in Kanpur Conspiracy case and was jailed for 6 years. He was a freedom-fighter in true sense of the term . He joined the Congress and was made member of AICC. Since Congress supported war efforts of the British Government he resigned from the Congress . He established  Radical Democratic Party in 1940 and propagated the cause of radical humanism. We see this name frequently in the writings of Raojibhai Patel and so see how Raojibhai also came under the spell of M N Roy.He founded Indian Renaissance  Institute  at  Dehradun .        

               He wrote many books including  1. India in Transition ( 1922 ) 2. Revolution and Counter Revolution in China ( 1930 ) 3. Reason, Romanticism  and  Revolution ( 1930 ) 4.The Future of Indian Politics  5.New Humanism  6.The Russian Revolution  7. Fragments of  a Prisoner’s Diary  8. From Communist  Menifesto  to  Radical Humanism. Sri Arunkant  Divetiya has translated 12 chapters  ( lectures )from the book “ Reason ….  “ listed 3^rd above and the Gujarati book is titled  “ Saamyavadthi   Nav- manav vad  published by Indian Radical Humanist Association at Aatman, 4, Sanmitra Society, Near Malav Talav , Jivaraj  Park , Ahmedabad 380 051 .                                           

                Compare above list with some of Gandhi’s works .They are and  1. Mari Aatmakatha  ( My Autobiography )  and another  2. is translation of Bhagvat  Geeta in Gujarati  There would be score of books on Gandhi by variety of authors including English, but  countable by Gandhi himself. One thing has  perplexed intelligent observer of Gandhi , that what was really notable in the character of Gandhi , his contribution to nation-building , his reformation of the mentality of general people, his  inability in making the dominant castes to forgo their  age-old privileges in favour of the deprived , the land-reforms which were necessity of the moment , in respect of increasing incomes of the poor  as without increase in incomes the  poor could not  enjoy higher  standards of living and without large-scale industrialization this was not possible at all ,  he gave  Rentiyas  , in true sense this instrument was  advance technology in comparison to olden times as  there is no mention of rentiya in the scriptures ,and yet Gandhi prided in identifying himself as  enemy of technology ! He used all new innovations of science like fountain-pen , spectacles, motor-cars ,trains to travel ,loudspeakers to address the rallies ,posts for communications and even telephones and telegrams which were not  there in olden Indian  situations .He did not mind if the well-to-do and the upper- castes used mthese  modern facilities but when the time for common people came he stated burning cloths  produced by the mills and made bonfires of the foreign made commodities to the  inmates of the Ashrams who were supposed to carry these Rentiya  which could not generate  bare subsistence –wages , to the poor  for augmenting their incomes ! He boycotted cloths  produced by mechanized mills  which resulted in unemployment of mill-workers , where there was need of increasing employment opportunities he reduced the already existing employments , there was need for preparing coming up and existing generations  for  shouldering  responsibilities in future  as ultimately it would be the educated citizens who would carry out Govt’s social policies  he gave a call  for boycott of schools and colleges , his call was responded to by by students of North India and thousands of students left their education .This thoughtless call was not acceded to in South India as a result the South-Indians continued with their studies and surpassed  the North-Indians in respect of educated professions . This created  such an imbalance between the two parts of the country that the IAS ,IPS ,IFS Central Services came to be monopolized by the South Indians which is not corrected even today also . The damage done by this call of leaving schools and colleges was known during formation of Central Government when enough number of qualified Congressman were not available to man important ministries and Nehru was obliged to induct non-Congressman as ministers at the  Centre. Those who left their schools were stranded and their families uprooted , the gainers were the South Indian Educate d Class who were 99 @ orthodox Brahmins and who carried out the agendas   of their caste all over India  .In the Centre and the provinces they  behaved as braking obstacles in carrying out even willy-nilly social reform measurements and in some cases the draft Acts collected dust for want of framing rules under such Acts and approval of the Central authority.  I have a very bad experience of such casteist-zealots who happened to  post  themselves in Ministries like Home , Industries , Communications , Revenue , Finance.    Gandhi  did not understand  the magic of industrialization a and  always resisted  it and was hell-bent on  preserving  old social structure of Hinduism without giving thought to the fact that now Non-Hindus like Muslims , Christians , Parsis also lived in the sub-continent and for them this Hindu way of social structure was meaningless  .His speeches  are compiled and detailed chronicle is published by his private Secretary Pyarelal but therein we do not find any deep thinking on  human problems and systematic presentation with bibliography of books read  by him and  method of arriving at certain conclusions are always missing in these materials.      

 ( Continued )

5.