India is said to have become a nation-state on 15th August 1947, as if until then there was no idea of what is represented by a modern idea of nationhood. The idea of ‘rashtra’ which has wider meaning compared to ‘nation’ has existed in India from time immemorial. The idea of ‘Bharatvarsha’ is not an 18th or 19th century concept, but for millennia. Emperors Asoka and Chandragupta and even some of the Mughal rulers envisioned one India bound by common history and heritage.
There lies the delinking of past, present and future of India. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of newly independent India, a romantic person indeed, in his famous ‘Discovery of India’ tried to understand India, but still missed much of the nation’s history since he was too much influenced by the British education system. ‘Discovery of India’ differs significantly from Veer Savarkar’s ‘Six Golden Epochs of Indian History’ where he painstakingly did research to find the truth behind the propaganda of British colonial forces. As chosen by Gandhiji, Nehru envisioned building a modern India, perhaps, with his limited knowledge of the past that also curbed his vision for the future of India. However, Nehru did not fail to recognize that Swami Vivekananda, the gigantic bridge between past and future, east and west, science and spirituality was the architect of modern India. Swamiji’s call to the countrymen in 1897 to give up all other deities but to serve Bharatmata for next 50 years actually culminated prophetically into the freedom of India from the British yoke.
A vision is not an imagination of a poet, but to see it beyond the eyes can see, to hear it beyond the ears can hear and to go beyond the deepest realm of past and present and see the light of future. What India needs first and foremost is a clear vision for tomorrow with a mission for today.
However, only vision cannot help the cause. Scores of freedom leaders from Bankim Chandra to Abdul Gafur Khan, from Lal-Bal-Pal to Bhagat Singh to Sri Aurbindo to Gandhiji to Netaji – all had contributed and dedicated their lives for one thing: Freedom. Netaji even said, his only goal in life was India’s freedom. Getting a country free from political oppressors requires specific skills, methods and leadership. And similarly to build and develop a nation from the ruins of the past once its people are free to chose their form of government and leadership, requires a different type of skills and leadership. India direly needs this second type of leadership to protect not only the political freedom, but to provide both economic and cultural freedom to people where the nation is seriously lagging behind. There must be a mission to serve the nation by serving the people.
There are very few leaders in post-independent India who took nation building as a mission. Nation building means to help millions of people to lift from illiteracy, poor healthcare, hunger and course poverty. However, Indian politics has become a field of caste-religion and power-seat based politics, only to be played by a privileged few.
The current government in Delhi is basically on auto pilot. No real decision to make, no visible responsibility to people – the goal is as if to just stay on power until it lands or crashes, while the rich and powerful beneficiaries enjoy their freedom to enrich themselves. In the nation’s capital a second grade girl is being raped, economy is going down, price of everything is sky-rocketing, yet, no real worries among the elites are visible to solve the challenges and worse, media is dishing out only reports that would keep politicians busy and show no real responsibility for people.
India has a responsibility in this polarized world and downfall, destruction and disharmony. The nation through the ages has been the light in darkness. But alas, India is passing through an era of darkness itself, no matter what the pundits and politicians claim! In order to steer the nation out of this the nation needs a pilot. India needs new leadership. Many people see that in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Yet, perhaps he must be most abused leader in any democratic society.
Let us see few overrated assumptions and mythologies, mostly created by his political enemies and media fairs.
First assumption: Gujarat development is not a big deal!
Those who say that Gujarat was already a prosperous state and it was no big deal to keep the growth must check their numbers. It is well-known that Maharashtra and even before that West Bengal was a leading state in India. We know today what is happening in rest of India and the world economy. The fact remains, Gujarat has become an enviable growth engine not just in India, but abroad as well, even some aspects of this development are compared with other developed and developing nations.
Second assumption:- India is complex, and Delhi is not Gandhinagar. Yes, indeed. India is a very complex country. No other nation on earth, even the European nations do not speak as many languages, do not have so many customs and cultures and religious sects. It is a complex ancient civilization, epitome of unity in diversity, pluralism of thoughts and freedom of practice and expression. No matter how complex the challenges are, no matter how difficult the running of a district, state or a country is – only thing that can take it forward is an able leadership with a clean vision dedicated for the people.
Third and most vilifying one is about communalism. It is an irony that since independence there have been many unfortunate communal riots and most of them are under the Congress government, including many major riots in Gujarat. None of those got much attention and responsibility was not rested on the then leading personalities whereas the Gujarat model has been amplified and dragged on for years. People, especially media, appear to have special attachment to this incident perhaps due to Modi-phobic psychology even after the Special Investigative Team (SIT) of the Supreme Court could not find anything incriminating against him. The fact that there are no religious riots in the longest time of Gujarat’s history is not just a proof but also an inspiration for the rest of the country. Those who love to live in the past, they are welcome to do so, but rest of the nation has already buried it and moved on.
It is very much visible that in last few decades the dictatorships and theocracies are crumbling around the world. India is a vibrant democracy, but as typical of a society which just has come out of hundreds of years of foreign rule and oppression, looting of national wealth by many nations, destruction of all indigenous industries – all are responsible for massive poverty of the society, India needs nation builders and leadership.
With the new era of democracy and freedom – all together has opened up the doors to make fortune for millions. But unfortunately, only a class of people has been reaping the benefits of it by breeding a massive system of corruption and nepotism under which the poor and even the middle class reeling under tremendous pressure and praying for a savior of some sort. India needs to recover its pristine glory, and also take care of millions of poor and illiterate masses. The task does not necessarily need a Harvard economist; it does not even require complex sets of ideas to implement. It should be very simple process where government, public sector and people join hands together to develop, to restrict corruption and power the nation to greater heights and glory.
What India needs today is leadership change. India requires a new vision with true governance. India’s age-old dictum of a ruler is nothing less than ‘raj-dharma’ – duties of the ruler towards the citizens which includes their all-round welfare, safety and security and full opportunity to realize full potential and to prosper. Time is ripe for that shift and the world is finding that new leadership in Modi.
Thanks to the western powers – the fascism was defeated in the last century. We have seen how communism has failed miserably after the tragic demise of millions and also excessive degradation of environment from massive usage of harmful materials for food and energy and overall loss of human culture and heritage in those parts of the world which in times of challenges provide resources to regain continuity. The extremist communist outfits in India are still holding ground. The religious fanaticism is clearly visible force today after each terror act around the world. The capitalism in the west has crumbled and yet to recover.
India’s vision has been embedded in two Sanskrit words: kalyanam and mangalam. These does not stand for any theory or thesis, do not stand for any trickle down or privilege or favor to any particular section of the society nor does it call for larger or more expensive governance. It simply stands for true governance for welfare, prosperity and opportunities for all. The world needs leaders and people dedicated to with these two mantras for the citizens and not for themselves. Chanakya, one of the greatest thinkers and political scientists of ancient India, had said about Raj Dharma: Economic prosperity of the state create prosperity for the people. ‘A prosperous ruler will govern the state well , take up welfare activities for the people and promote commercial activities with the result that soon the people also become prosperous. In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good.’ Once these simple rules are followed by a leader, the ‘how’ falls in place as long as the capabilities are there.
The world needs a visionary leader who can assume these responsibilities. Ask any average person in India and abroad with an impartial mind, there is only one name today: Narendra Modi. However, time will tell if he gets that opportunity to lead and can match up with the millions’ hopes and aspirations.
