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 :
--------------------------------------------
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
---------------------------------------------------------------
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 sapects 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 fermament. “ 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 1st, 2nd and 3rd 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.
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 fermament. “ 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 1st, 2nd and 3rd 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 3rd
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 Noth-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 Congreeman 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 castist-zealots who happened to post themselves in Ministries like Home ,
Industries , Communications , Revenue , Finance. Gandfhi did not understand the magic of industrialization a and always resisted it and was hell-bent on preserving old social structure of hiduism 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 Secretatary 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.
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