By Jamal Khwaja
The ancient ethical Hindu doctrine of Four Stages of Human Life and their corresponding duties is well known. It appeals to me, with some modifications while applying it in modern times. Having crossed 90 I am well into my last stage and aspire to dedicate the remaining moments of my earthly existence in serving the people of India without any fear or favour.
It greatly pains me that a large number of intelligent and aspiring members of the younger Indian generation today belittle Gandhi, Tagore, Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, and their tremendous contribution to India and the world. Indeed, the great Bengal Renaissance produced a galaxy of Indian thinkers, intellectuals, poets, sages, scientists and social reformers in different regions of our motherland. They slowly built a solid foundation of modern concepts and values enshrined in the directive principles of our constitution. The electoral victory of the BJP in 2014, could not have come about without the tremendous work and creative vision of team Nehru.
It is understandable if the ruling party today has other sources of inspiration and guidance. However, to proclaim that the great architects of Indian thought and culture in the modern era were mere imitators of the west or slaves of foreign ideas and values betrays a severely blurred vision. This approach is an invitation to stagnation in the future.
A few political and cultural leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Sardar Patel, SP Mukerjee are venerated in the corridors of power in India today. Ambedkar’s name has just been added as a post-script. However, the new entrants into the corridors of power hardly realize that Vivekanand was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, the great saint of modern India. And this great saint taught universal love and compassion, not fear and hate of ‘the other’. Sardar Patel too was a devoted disciple of the saint-statesman of Wardha rather than a follower of Shivaji. The Sardar gave sincere and full support to Nehru on the issue of Babri Masjid. Ambedkar’s razor–sharp intellect and rare moral courage were not given due recognition in the heat and dust of the freedom struggle. I am happy this is happening now.
Vivekananda would have been the first to condemn those who kill innocent human beings in the name of cow protection. He would also have opposed the destruction of a Muslim shrine in the name of restoring the glory of Hindu India. In fact, Vivekanand was a universal Vedantist, not a Hindu nationalist. The truth is that Hindutva, as defined by Savarkar and Golwalkar, differs from the authentic and time honoured ‘eternal religion of the spirit’ enshrined in the Iso Upanisad and the Gita, exactly as the ‘Talibani Islam’ differs from the pure Islam enshrined in the Holy Quran.
Deen Dayal Upadhya, Rajendra Singh and Bajpai considerably moderated the extreme views of the earlier period. But the fact remains that both Talibani Islam and Hindutva, basically, derive from fear and hatred of ‘the other’. World renowned impartial and objective researchers, sociologists and historians, (Indian and western) after rigorous research have completely demolished the distorted views of some blinkered ideologues who paint Indian Muslim rulers as looters, rapists and destroyers of temples. Unfortunately, some political and cultural quarters cling to this self-destructive blinkered vision. This leads raw Hindu youth to defensive and compensatory aggression.
Our leaders must have moral courage to be intellectually honest in matters dealing with the past, and also about the rational methods and economics of cow welfare. They must educate and lead rather than agitate and appease. Plunging into ill-considered and hasty schemes of cow welfare is imprudent and harmful for the country as a whole. The Indian farmer is, at bottom, more honest and prudent than several political pandits and rash Bajrang Dal and other activists who seem to be more Catholic than the Pope.
The first priority of our government must be the protection and welfare of its citizens with zero discrimination. The welfare of cows, obviously, has a special significance in India and need not be questioned. But, equally obviously, the welfare of humans should be accepted by all as a higher value. First things simply must come first.
As a gifted orator possessed of incredible energy Our Prime Minister has galvanized a large section of our people. His magnetic voice and dress sense, his direct heart to heart speeches and his reputation as a puritanical, clean and strong administrator has captured many minds and hearts. But on the issue of traumatic killings and lynching of innocent persons on mere suspicion of beef eating or transporting cows for slaughter the Prime Minister has remained either silent, or just spoken from the head, rather than from his heart. Even open admirers of Modi are puzzled by his insensitivity to the deep angst of millions of Indian citizens. Fear and insecurity are spreading.
I submit that the tears and blood of a tribal/Dalit/ Muslim /Saraswati Brahman or Rajput are the same. The Directive Principles of our constitution seal this universal truth. The test of patriotism is not whether we sing the bande mataram or jana gana mana, whether we say Jai Ram, Jai Krishna or Jai Hind. The test is whether we freely and lovingly serve and care for all India’s children, without any discrimination.
There was a time when the great Gandhian patriot and statesman, JP Narayan, had lovingly advised the then rulers to get in touch with grass root realities of politics in the country including Jammu & Kashmir. But his advice went unheeded. I wish Modi could undergo an inner spiritual transformation in the manner of some famous figures in history- Saint Paul, the Muslim Khalifa, Omar, Tolstoy, Sri Aurobindo, et al and emerge as a genuine democratic servant leader, who not merely coins captivating phrases or slogans, but delivers.
Let us honestly examine whether the Gandhi-Nehru Congress in the past was really as evil and corrupt, and as guilty of vote-bank politics or appeasement of Muslims, as the BJP alleges? Is the present ruling party really ‘a party with a difference’? Hindu unity and solidarity are, certainly, very desirable. But, I submit, a lasting union of the heads and hearts of the people of India is a still higher value.
After the dark days of the British reverse at Dunkirk Churchill made the famous remark ‘Hitler may win the battles but we shall win the war’. I beg to say, the strategy of ‘Hindu solidarity’ may win a few elections, but only the strategy of ‘equal care for every Indian’ can win the peace.