Mao to Modi
Introduction
About a month back while talking with my nephew of Bangalore over phone, he suggested why not you start recording your transformation from the extreme left to the Modi support. This clicked and I thought sitting at home due to lockdown why not put this in black and white so that some people may understand the logic and reason of disenchantment of the youth of my time from communism and wondering to other direction. He even suggested a title, my journey from Mao to Modi , rather from Bam (left )to Ram.( Right).
This is my attempt to recollect the thoughts and actual incidences of my life for shifting from the communist ideology towards the conservative nationalist ideology. It may attract lot of sniping and criticism but things recorded are honest factual things with proof and references and I would request the reader to keep this in mind while reading this booklet. Remember this is not a political literature.
My Journey from Mao to Modi
Why was I a Communist ? why Marxism attracted us ? The reply is very simple. To a teenager with reasonable educational background and intelligence, growing up in a society with poverty, social injustice, hunger and above all struggle for existence - all these attracted our generation towards communism which promised for a better brighter life showing examples of USSR and of other communist countries. It is a different story what at later years developed , all these flopped miserably leaving all of us disillusioned, many lives destroyed.
Prevailing
atmosphere at our youth - extreme poverty and struggle of life , any young
person would become rebellious and would start asking the questions - why this
situation ? why should we not fight to
change this so that can have a better life for self and the next generation ? And
give equal opportunity to all in different areas and all fields of life.
Communism spoke exactly all these points which spread widely in the decades of
1950s / 1960s and 1970s when a wave of socialism swept in the country and many
other countries in the world as well.
At this stage of life, end of graduation stage, got inducted to political ideology – primarily Marxist philosophy. For a young & intelligent and poor youth socialism was a dream and aim of life. 1950s & 60s were the peak years of Marxist ideology sweeping in developing countries which was seen as the main tool to come out of the existing state of backwardness & poverty. I was fully involved in this and spent time in such activities and studying the philosophy & history along with my University education.This conviction continued for next about three decades before disillusion set in. Shall talk later on disillusionment. University life was full of activity – during 1956 – 60. Studies, Sport, Political matter, literature and working in the evening to earn to support the study expenses kept me busy for these years.
Moving over to Calcutta, the biggest Metropolis of the country at that time, from a smaller backward city of Banaras gave further exposure to all these matters. Marxist and Communist activities was on the pick in Calcutta at that time. With CSIR research scholarship I moved to the then most famous research institute of India namely " Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science" for my PhD degree. At that time Calcutta was charged with high fever of socialism in different forms and obviously these impacted young mind with higher education and wider knowledge.
Communist ideas
and activities pervaded all areas of literature / art/ cinema/ theatre etc IPTA
was highly popular and it was spreading these thoughts which obviously impacted
all the young mind. Communist Party of India divided in 1964
subsequent to Chinese aggression in 1962 resulting in the formation of
Communist Party Marxist ( CPM ) and Communist Party of India ( CPI) . Since
division, 1971 onwards both Communist Party came up as an alternate to
Congress. Unfortunately, both the groups in India depended on Caste instead of
Class struggle, living aside some factors. Big Communist Netas became Casteist
and at the end family oriented party politics.
In Bengal, Communists made alliance with Congress and Muslim organization "Indian Secular Front" which indicates perhaps that Communist have problem of existence and survival. Earlier, like other political parties, Netas never used to photograph along with the flag etc. Party was always bigger than individual- example are Jyoti Basu not becoming PM and Somnath Chatterjee not getting a ticket. 1974 JP movement is a big example. Russia supporting Communist Party opposed this movement telling that JP is an American agent. 1977 onwards Communists struggled for their existence. They got some life on return of Indira Gandhi in 1980. Extending support to Manmohan Singh Government in 2004 Communists dug their own grave. MP seat of 43 in 2004 reduced to 16 in 2009 and 09 in 2004. Once their strong hold Bengal could not even open account in 2019.
Greatest Killer of 20th Century – Communism
If common man is asked to name greatest killer / killing event, they most probably will tell about natural disaster like tsunami or an earthquake or may be World Wars. I think the greatest killer of 20th century has been the “Communists” & “Communism”. Common man will never name Communism as the greatest killer as very few cares to go in depth about such ism and the country practicing this.
Natural disaster has no enemy – it is impartial in devastation. World wars or any war had / has specific enemy and killing in the name of some “purpose or cause”. But killing of own people (own national or own party member, friends – of any age) without any cause based on so called crime / blame / allegations has been the speciality of communist states over many decades.
We have read a lot about “Nazis” & “Fascists”, their secret agencies (Gestapo, SS etc.) & gas chamber killing of Jews which shook faith on humanity. Hitler systematically eliminated his perceived enemy (Jews) over about a decade but killed few Germans except those who tried to oppose (socialist, communist, democrats ) the maniac.
Compared to this Stalin, Mao Zedong, Hoxa, Ho Chi Minh, Lon
Nol, Pol Pot, Ceausescu, Fidel Castro, and our own communists eliminated their
own followers, simple peasants & workers, countrymen and above all
intelligentsia systematically wiped out over decades.
Nothing were known in those days as the communists had perfected the art of propaganda ( dis-information ) and killing by secret agency like KGB. Some information started coming out during 70’s & 80’s (Boris Pasternak – Dr. Zhivago Aleksandra Solzhenitsyn – The Gulag Archipelago, Physics Nobel laureate Shakharov are well known).
With crumbling of communist states & Berlin wall,
information coming out from the cupboards / archives of KGB & other
agencies put horror stories in pale shade.
Stalin said the death of one person was tragic, the death of a million a mere “statistic”. Stalin (also Lenin) hated intellectuals and persecution of writer, playwright, scientist – any kind of intellectual was a regular affair with him.
How many died on account of the Soviet exported Hungarian revolution of 1919 nobody knows. Also when Soviet Tanks rolled in Czechoslovakia to remove Dubchek. Or later in Rumania and soon.
The horror of “Long March” and “Great Leap Forward” &“Cultural Revolution / Red Guard menace” of great leader Mao Zedong and incidence of Tiananmen Square few years back in China is too fresh in the memory of people world over, including China. Statistics cannot tell the suffering & displacement & killing of rivals and ordinary people throughout China. Children were put against parent, wife against husband, pupil against teacher – whole nation was in turmoil under Red Guards. Anyway, as per Stalin “death of a million a mere statistic”.
Subsequent communist leader’s world over created new
records. Lon Nol and Pol Pot competed against each other in brutality &
mass killing in Cambodia. What they achieved in a short period of few
years will put Hitler / Stalin / Mao in
shame. Worthy successor to worthy leader. All these are killing of own people –
innocent ordinary people.
Killing of common people by communist Militia in civil clothes in early days of Soviet regime was common and on regular basis which are recorded in many document (e.g. Koba The Dead by Martin Amis). Stalin famously said “Death Solves all problems. No man, no problems. After the death there would be no man and no problem, but there would indisputably be a corpse . To die in Russia in these times is easy , but to be buried is very difficult. After nationalization of the graveyards , burial depended on bribery.
The entire families of the “Kulaks”, the targeted peasants, were deported and encamped in their millions during the early 1930’s alone. About 1 million children died in the Holocaust. About 3 million children died in Terror-Famine of 1933. (Martin Amis ). During the early 1930s every non-apparatchik in the USSR was hungry and the peasants were starving in their millions . Naftaly Frenkel argued that slavery could work economically – so long as the slaves died very quickly – “we have to squeeze everything out of a prisoner in the first three months – after that we don’t need him any more” (Martin Amis).
Even if we add the total losses of the Second World War
(40-50 million ) to the losses of the
Holocaust ( 6 million ) we arrive at a figure which apparently,
Bolshevism can seriously rival. Civil war, Red Terror , famine,
collectivization accounted for perhaps 11 million, conquest suggests;
Solzhenitsyn gives a figure ( a modest estimate ) of 40-50 million who were
given long sentences in the gulag from 1917 to 1953 ( and many followed after
brief Khrushchev thaw ) and then there
is the Great Terror , the deportations of peoples in the 1940s and 1950s ,
Afghanistan --. The twenty million begins to look more like the forty million
(Martin Amis).
They intended to break the peasantry , they intended to break the Church (any religious place), they intended to break all opposition and dissent. And they also intended to break the truth .
Man made famine due to wrong and dictatorial planning by Stalin (USSR) & Mao (China) – more people died than world war II. Communist will say there wasn’t a famine, there may have been occasional shortages.
Horror of killing own people was spread over all communist states – also to Vietnam , Laos, Cambodia and even to our communist province – West Bengal where cream of youth were eliminated in the name of Naxalite & inter party rivalry. This movement has put West Bengal at least two decades behind and resulted in severe brain-drain to other states.
Follow any communist state – Hungary, Rumania , Czechoslovakia, Albania , Cuba – Story is same – killing own people in the name of revolution.
Opportunistic alliance by communists ( Stalin – Hitler Pact ) and dumping of friends (?) without hesitation – not supporting Republican in Spain, dumping of Cuba after creating Missile crisis, Patrice Lumumba ( Congo ), Kasem ( Iraq ), Communist Party in Indonesia and ultimately Afghanistan leading to massive killing of communists are the creation of revolutionary communist leadership on whom these people believed.
Marxism was the product of the intellectual middle classes, Nazism was yellow , tabloidal , of the gutter, Marxism made wholly unrealistic demands on human natures; Nazism constituted a direct appeal to the reptile brain. And yet both ideologies worked identically on the moral sense (Martin Amis).
Disillusion
started early 1980 with the Communists and Marxism. This is due to many
factors. Like visiting different Communist countries in Europe, going from the
Capitalist countries of the Western Europe and seeing this stark difference in
the life pattern and the facilities to the common man which was once thought to
be the main strength of communism, giving equality to all the population. In
reality this was not observed or existed.
In addition, the all-pervading corruption, both moral and economic, was widely sprayed over in the society, especially in Soviet Union. This I am talking from my personal experience, repeatedly over the years. Black marketing, conversion of currency in the shadow market, getting facilities by small gratis to the concerned people were very common. Most shocking experience was travelling inside Soviet Union without visa by putting a 20 USD buck inside the Passport. Those days Visa was issued for specific cities and to travel from that place to another place one needed additional visa permission.
I had regular work at a place called Nizhnekamsk , about one and half hour flight from Moscow, in Tatar Republic. Once suddenly had to visit that place but did not have additional visa. However, my companion assured me nothing to worry ,give me your Passport and 20 green buck.This was placed inside the Passport at the immigration check and everything flowed smoothly.
Even after 70 years of communism the social and economic standard of all these countries were lagging far far behind the so-called Capitalist countries whom we used to condemn at every opportunity. Whenever we visited Soviet Union or other communist countries, we had to carry with us different things which was requested by our friends as these were not easily available or costly or in the black market in those countries.
Mao The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
Mao did not
believe in anything unless he could benefit from it personally.A good name
after death ,he said ,cannot bring me any joy because it belongs to the future
and not to my own reality .People like me are not building achievements to
leave for future generations. Mao did not care what he left behind. He agreed
that conscience could go to hell if it was in conflict with his impulses. (p 16)
The other Central element in his character which Mao spelt out now was a joy he took in a upheaval and destruction. Giant wars, he wrote, will last as long as heaven and earth and will never become extinct .....The ideal of a world of Great Equality and Harmony is mistaken .This was not just the prediction that a pessimist might make , it was Mao's desideratum, which he asserted was what the population in large wished" Long lasting peace" he claimed. (p 17).
Some of Mao's friends went to France.Mao did not . The prospect of physical labour put him off.And another factor seems to have played a part - that requirement to learn French. Mao was no good at languages and all his life spoke only his own local dialect and not even the "putonghua" common speech -that his own regime made official language. (p 19).
Unlike most founding dictators – Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler –
Mao did not inspire a passionate following through his oratory, or ideological
appeal. He simply sought willing recruits among his immediate circle, people
who would take his orders..(p
34)
Mao
was doing nothing about another major task, Which was to organize labour
unions. He felt no more sympathy for workers than he did for peasants. Writing
to a friend in November 1920, in which he complained about his own conditions
as an intellectual, he remarked: ‘I think laborers in China do not really
suffer poor physical conditions. Only scholars suffer.’ (p 35)
He
is extremely devious and sly, selfish, and full of megalomania. To his
comrades, he orders them around, frightens them with charges of crimes, and
victimizes them. He rarely holds discussions about Party matters … Whenever he
expresses a view, everyone must agree, otherwise he uses the party organization
to clamp down on you, or invents some trumped-up theories to make life
absolutely dreadful for you … Mao always uses political accusation to strike at
comrades. His customary method regarding cadres is to … use them as his
personal tools. To sum up … not only is he not a revolutionary leader, he is
not a … Bolshevik. (p
114).
Once
Mao came to power, Gui-yuan, Who had by then long ceased to be Mao’s wife,
tried desperately to find Little Mao being tragic results.(p 153)
Mao
did not come to see Gui - yuan, although
they were in the same town. It was not till later, when their paths happened to
cross, that she told him she had left the baby behind. Mao said blandly: ‘You
were right. We had to do this.’(p
182)
This charge – that Mao and the other leaders had ‘sat in sedan chairs’ all through the March – was the sorest issue of them all. A Long Marcher told us how angry the ordinary soldiers had felt: the leaders ‘talked about equality, but they lounged about in litters, like landlords. We talked in whispers …’ the soldiers were told that ‘the leaders have a very hard life. Although they don’t walk, nor carry loads, their brains and everything have it much rougher than we do. We only walk and eat, we don’t have cares.’ Not surprisingly, this low-level sophistry failed to assuage the rank-and-file.(p 194).
On 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany, and the following month the two countries invaded Poland and divided it up between them. Many in China were outraged by Stalin’s deal with Hitler. These feelings were perhaps best articulated by the founding father of the CCP, Chen Tu-hsiu, the man who had set Mao on the path of communism, but had been expelled from the Party for being too independent. (p 268).
In 1948, when Mao planned to go to Russia, he was concerned about what Wang Ming might get up to in his absence. So Wang Ming was given lysol, ostensibly for his chronic constipation. Lysol was a powerful disinfectant used for cleaning urinals, and would wreck the intestines. Wang Ming survived because his wife immediately stopped administering it to him after he cried out in agony. (p 319).
Peng De-huai, the acting commander of the 8th Route Army , had opposed Mao in the 1930s.‘Democracy, freedom, equality and fraternity’, Mao said, were concepts to be deployed only ‘for our political need’. He berated Peng for ‘talking about them as genuine ideals (p 320).
Mao’s terror campaign made him so many enemies, from raw recruits to veteran Party leaders, that he came to feel more unsafe than ever, and redoubled his personal security. In autumn 1942 a special Praetorian Guard was inaugurated. Mao gave up his public residence at Yang Hill altogether and lived full-time in Date Garend, the isolated haunt of his KGB, several kilometers outside Yunnan. Surrounded by high walls and heavily guarded, the estate was a place to stay away from. Anyone venturing near could easily draw suspicion as a spy. There Mao had a special residence built, designed to withstand the heaviest aerial bombing. (p 322).
The German invasion of Russia in June 1941 made Mao look round for an alternative source of funding in case Moscow was unable to continue its subsidy. The answer was opium,Within a matter of weeks, Yunnan bought in large quantities of opium seeds. In 1942, extensive opium-growing and trading began. (p 337)
Mao did not like getting into baths, or showers, and did
not have a bath for a quarter of a century. Instead, his servants rubbed him
every day with a hot towel. He enjoyed daily massages. He never went to a hospital. The hospital
facilities, along with the top specialist, came to him. If he was not in the
mood to see them, they would be kept hanging around, sometimes for weeks.(p 406)
And all the while, Mao was indulging in every sexual
caprice in well-guarded secrecy. On 9 July 1953 the
army was ordered to select young women from their entertainment groups to form
a special troupe in the Praetorian Guard. Everyone involved knew that its major
function was to provide bed mates for Mao. Army chief Peng De-huai termed this ‘selecting imperial concubines’ – a complaint
that would cost him dear in time to come. But his objection had no effect
on Mao, and more army entertainment groups were turned into procurement
agencies. Apart from singers and dancers, nurses and maids were handpicked for
Mao’s villas to provide a pool of women from which he could choose whoever he
wanted to have sex with.
On returning back to India, still for many years, I was trying to get rid of my attachment towards communism, though I was heavily disillusioned. However, after seeing the situation in India and specially the leftist parties behaviour and their disloyalty to own country, my disillusionment deepened further. (p 407).
I started realizing the importance of Democracy and that is perhaps the best way of developing any nation. It is well known that Communist countries are autocraticand they do not have any democracy. The prevailing Congress government for many decades were giving lip service to socialism but in reality things were only for the vote bank and very little up-liftment of the lower end masses took place overall these decades.
In the name of secularism and socialism there was a fad to ridicule the Hinduism and the real history of the nation was distorted .History taught was written and dictated by the colonial era historians and the pseudo secular intellectual people ,who were at the helm of such affairs and prompted by the Congress government.
Now started murmurs which became more vocal in subsequent years to show India in bad light all the time and try to glorify the others. Questions were raised why Hinduism has to be ridiculed and it is very well known that the past history of India, the literature the teachings and achievements in different areas of science and technology, architecture, painting, literature are to be recognized, not to be ridiculed. Gaining momentum of such thoughts started bringing up The Hindu parties,primarily The Bharatiya Janata, Party, which started openly questioning such Hindu battering and trying to establish the past history and glory of the nation.
On the turn of
the century things started changing and Congress was defeated squarely in different elections ,both at centre and in different states. A new leader Narendra
Modi emerged. He was single, had clean image, totally un-corrupt, did not side
with anybody,neither allowed to anybody to get cut money and started gaining
high importance and simultaneously attacked from different angles in nasty words and insults which did not
disturb him and he went ahead singular
minded on the prestige of the country and its development.
This attracted many intelligent people and Mr. Modi started getting support from different areas and new era started.
Pathetic state
of affair of present day
The recorded history of India began with the composition of the most ancient hymns of the Rigveda around 3100 B.C., when the Aryans made their first appearance in India. The composition of these hymns and the later Vedic literature, together with a floating literature of a secular genre called Purana, continued for a period of about 2500 years till the dawn of new era with the birth of Gautama Buddha in 624 B.C.
Basics of Hindu Philosophy
There
are six schools of thought on Hindu philosophy.
1. Vedanta
philosophy founded by Vyas.
2. Mimansa
(Commentary on Vedant )
3. Nyaya
– founded by Gautam
4. Sankhya
– founded by Kapil
5. Vaisheshik
– founded by Karnand
6. Yoga
– founded by Patanjali
All
except the Sankhya, proceed upon the supremacy of the four Vedas namely : Rig
Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda which are recognized both as
eternal and as revealed. Vedas contain no philosophic discussion, being merely
concerned with sacrificial rituals and hymns. All these systems exposed their
principles in ‘Sutras’.
The
essence of Vedic doctrine, so far as it can be gathered from its disjointed references,
is pantheism which simply means that God is the universal spirit. It is impassive and impersonal, unconscious,
changeless and without any attributes. Three divergent philosophies fall under
the Vedantic system.
a) Advaita
Philosophy (Monoism)
b) Davita
(Dualism)
c) Vishist
– Advaita (Qualified Monoism )
The
general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries
in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly
unheard of, or new. In Buddhist and Hindu thought they have a considerable and
central place. What we shall find is an exemplification, an encouragement, and
a refinement of old wisdom - Julius
Robert Oppenheimer.
Indian
mysticism and Hinduism in particular, clothes its statements in the form of
myths, using metaphors and symbols, poetic images, similes and allegories. Mythical language is much less restricted by
logic and common sense.
It seems, then, that Eastern mystics and Western physicists went through similar revolutionary experiences which led them to completely new ways of seeing the world.
In
the following two passages, the European physicist Niels Bohr and the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo both express the depth and the radical character of
this experience.
The
great extensions of our experience in recent years has brought to light the
insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has
shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was
based - Niels Bohr.
Buddhist Philosophy
The
first expounder of the Mahayana doctrine, and one of the deepest thinkers among
the Buddhist patriarchs, was Ashvaghosha,
who lived in the first century A.D. He spelled out the fundamental thoughts of
Mahayana Buddhism.
Ashvaghosha
probably had a strong influence on Nagarjuna,
the most intellectual Mahayana philosopher, who used a highly sophisticated
dialectic to show the limitations of all concepts of reality. With brilliant arguments
he demolished the metaphysical propositions of his time and thus demonstrated
that reality, ultimately, cannot be grasped with concepts and ideas. Hence, he
gave it the name sunyata, ‘the void’, or ‘emptiness, a term which is equivalent
to Ashvaghosha’s tathatatha, or
‘suchness’, when the futility of all conceptual thinking is recognized,
reality is experienced as pure such -ness.
If
we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we
must say ‘no’, if we ask whether the electron’s position changes with time, we
must say ‘no’, if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say ‘no’, if
we ask whether it is in motion, we must say ‘no’(J.R.Openheimer , Science and common understanding).
The reality of the atomic physicist , like the reality of the Eastern mystic, transcends the narrow framework of opposite concepts. Oppenheimer’s words thus seem to echo the words of the Upanishads,
It moves. It moves not
It is far, and It is near
It is within all this,
And it is outside of all
this.(Isa-Upanishad).
Niels Bohr
was well aware of the parallel between his concept of complementarity’s and
Chinese thought. When he visited China in 1937, at a time when his
interpretation of quantum theory had already been fully elaborated, he was
deeply impressed by the ancient Chinese notion of polar opposites, and from
that time he maintained an interest in Eastern culture.
Modern
physics has confirmed most dramatically one of the basic ideas of Hindu Philosophy
; that all the concepts we use to describe nature are limited, that they are not features of reality, as we
tend to believe, but creations of the mind; parts of the map, not of the
territory .It took an Einstein to
make scientists and philosophers realize the geometry is not inherent in
nature, but is imposed upon it by the mind.
Indian
philosophy, unlike that of the Greeks, has always maintained that space and
time are constructs of the mind. The Eastern philosophy treated them like all
other intellectual concepts; as relative, limited, and illusory.
It
was taught by the Buddha, oh Monks,
that …the past, the future , physical space,.. and individuals are nothing but
names, forms of thought , words of common usage, merely superficial realities.
(The Central Philosophy of Buddhism).
The literature of ancient India can be divided into two classes, the religious and the secular. The religious literature, which is more and has been more carefully preserved, is called the Vedic literature. In chronological order it consists of the Samhita, Brahmanas and Upanishads.
Famous Physicist Stephen Hawkins admitted “ its seems very reasonable to suppose that there may be some unifying principles , so that all laws are part of some bigger law. So what we are trying to find out is whether there is some bigger law from which all other laws can be derived. I think you can ask that question whether or not you believe in God (New York Times magazine, 23 Jan. 1983, p 53).
When the first atom bomb trial was carried out in the desert of Alamogordo a huge dazzling conflagration emerged up in the sky, from where Oppenhemer was standing far away, started attiring the lines from the Gita.
If the
radiance of a ten thousands suns
Were to
burst into the sky
That would
perhaps be like
The
splendour of the Mighty One.
That was a
moment of great significance when Western science converged towards Eastern
Vedanta, as A.D. Reincourt says in
his book , The Eye of Shiva.
Novel Physical Schroedinger, writing on the growing importance of consciousness in Quantum Physics, declared :
In all the world there is no kind of framework within which we find consciousness in the plural. This is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of the individuals. But it is a false construction….The only solution to this conflict, in so far as any is available to us at all, lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanisad. (My View of World – Erwin Schroedinger).
…Can a connection between the scientific and mystical frames of reference be established over and beyond a certain metaphysical parallelism ? The answer lies in the fact that Indian mysticism, at least as far as its leading representatives are concerned, has evolved as much in the past hundred years as the science of physics itself, in a direction that points towards an inevitable convergence of the two. (The Eye of Shiva).
New
particles are created by collision of non particles at extremely high velocity
nearing to that of light ( Feynmann’s
diagrams ) . The endless process of destruction and creation of sub atomic
particles is going on at outer space. Prof.
Capra has compared this with the dance of God Nataraja Siva who is the
protector of Uma (means Earth ) and all the creatures with hisfour hands.
Says Swami Vivekananda :
“One atom in this universe cannot move without dragging the whole world along with it. There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming everyday clearer that thesolution of any problem can never the attained on racial, or national, or narrow ground. Every idea has to become broad till it covers the whole of this world, every aspiration must go on increasing till it has engulfed the whole humanity, nay the whole of life within its scope.”(Ref. 17, Vol 3., p 269).
While Heisenberg was working on Quantum theory, he went to India to lecture and he was a guest of Tagore. He talked a lot with Tagore about Indian philosophy. Heisenberg told me that these talks had helped him a lot with his work in physics, because they showed him that all these new ideas in Quantum theory were in fact not all that crazy. He realized there was, in fact, a whole culture that subscribed to very similar ideas. Heisenberg said that this was a great help for him. (Niels Bohr had a similar experience when he went to China).
A lot has been written by different authors on
Indian civilization over a long period of time. Cynic views have been always
associated with early authors, during colonial period and later by the so
called leftist historians / intellectuals (?) about the civilization oldness of
Bharatvarsh ( India ). Feeling of contempt from the western / colonial
historians / archeologist are clearly felt while reading such reports. Even
after independence, leftist & pseudo-secular intelligentsia continued with
such attempt. It seems those were assigned to malign India for certain purpose.
Picture started changing when honest Indian
historians / archeologist started to look into the facts about ancient Indian
civilization objectively. Initially these sponsored leftist &
pseudo-secular intelligentsia started ridiculing such attempt but soon they started
fading out.Harappan Civilization ranged in date from circa 2600 to 2000 BCE.
To define the basic scope of ‘nationalist
archaeology’ in India. The pursuit of a nationalist goal in archaeology is
entirely justified as long as this does not bend archaeological data and is not
used as an intellectual support for chauvinism.
The old framework persists even in the
post-colonial context. Archaeology is still not a major role in the
identity-formation in most of the Third World countries. The starting
discoveries like the one made at Mohenjodaro and Harappa in the early 1920s had
certainly played a role in the identity-formation of the Indians.
Nehru Dynasty – Curse on India
It
is the misfortune of the country that on independence, leadership of the
country was given in the hands of a weak personality by Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru
attached more importance on outward show – dress / etiquette / manners etc. and
pseudo secular & intellectual credential than picking-up the reign of the
country with strong hand. He was more comfortable in the company of Mountbatten
than the struggling poor mass of the just independent Nation. In fact, all
leaders of the countries, which became free in that period, attached more importance
to their own image than pulling-up the country in different areas. And all of
them, Tito / Nasser / Suekorno / Nkrumah etc., failed their country as Nehru
did.
Let
me start with Jawaharlal Nehru,
Indian’s first Prime Minister. I will not touch about his philosophy or
politics but raise only those points which affected bitterly India’s future.
Blunder
of Kashmir matter – stopping Indian army
against Pakistan Army in the garb of Rangers to throw out from total Kashmir
and approaching UN to create a permanent bone in the throat of the country for
which we are still paying heavy price. Sardar Patel tried to stop going to UN but
of no avail. Much water has flown through Kashmir rivers, but Indian blood is
still flowing for the safety of Kashmir. This is perhaps one of the greatest
blunder of foreign policy in the world. Like Palestinian matter this is another
example of world (nasty) politics.
In
1948 hordes of Rangers along with regular Pakistani Army invaded Kashmir.
Maharaja Hari Singh was still undecided about joining Indian Union. His small
& poorly trained army was no match for these invaders who nearly reached
Srinagar. Nehru was reluctant to intervene till Maharaja Hari Singh joins
Indian Union. It was Sardar Patel, the then Home Minister , who literally
forced Maharaja Hari Singh to sign the Agreement to join Indian Union and
simultaneously flown Indian army to Kashmir who pushed back the invaders. After
sometimes these invaders were on run and Indian army progressed fast to take
over full Kashmir. And then blunder done. Nehru approached UN and the problem
is permanently on India’s throat.
China
Blunder
Most
crowning blunder is policy & actions followed in 1950s & 1960s with
China for which we paid heavy price by sacrificing life of large number of our
army personnel and area of our country.
In
1959 China moved and took over Tibet. Dalai Lama fled and was given asylum in
India. Tibet was a buffer state between India & China giving big safety
barrier for India. Nehru didn’t oppose Chinese occupation of Tibet, rather
justified China’s claim on Tibet. But simultaneously gave asylum to Dalai Lama
who was supposed to be an enemy for China.
Abhijit
Bhattacharya in his book “China in India” (Pragati
Publications, Delhi, 2018) made quite a few interesting observations.
1962
speaks volume of the rickety Indian system as the secret report on the cause of
war debacle prepared by a serving Indian
Lt. General ..............(Preface, XIII)
“The
initial problem of this brazen Chinese aggression, from Indian point of view,
however rose not from China but within India. Both Prime Minister of India and
Indian Ambassador to Peking, Panikkar, along with plethora of foreign office
mandarins failed to read the impending crisis and regrettably adopted a weak
policy of a appeasement born out of fear, it appears. It was left to the then
Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel, to try to explain the
reality...............(p. 32.)
The
limited knowledge and poor judgment of Delhi Mandarins and Indian system were
brutally exposed by Brig. Dalvi’s vivid
description of the “real life “ of his times in 1950s. (p.40 )
Nehru
hereinafter would always be cursed and criticised for his failed Chinese policy
to this day.(p.42) “.
Due
to Nehru’s failed policy India has a Himalayan problem with China necessitating
huge defense expenditure against Chinese aggressive plan. Recent Dokalam
incidence is poof of this.
Next in line is Nehru’s Himalayan UN gaffe
Mr. D. P.
Srivastava, former diplomat, who headed the MEA’s UN Desk , wrote in his
article published in Times of India on 15.09.2019
Without going into details of the file at this stage,
we can revisit the issue on the basis of considerable material declassified
since then. This includes records of Nehru’s exchanges with Soviet leaders in
1955, and Vijayalakshmi Pandit’s correspondence with her brother earlier during
her tenure as Indian ambassador to the US. The file on the question
referred to the Soviet offer of mid-50s. Papers on the earlier offer are
available in Vijayalakshmi Pandit collection in the Nehru Memorial Library.
Anton Harder of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Relations has
published a research paper, ‘Not at the Cost of China: India and the United
nations Security Council, 1950’, on the subject.
While the Soviet offer was for India to be inducted
as sixth permanent member, the earlier US offer was for India to replace China
in the Security Council. Nehru and Krishna Menon suspected the American offer
as a Western ploy to set India against China, and therefore were opposed to it.
The Soviet offer of India joining as a sixth permanent member did not pose any
such dilemma.
Nehru’s Selected Works contain a record of Nehru’s
discussions with Russian Prime Minister Nikolai Bulganin on the subject:
Bulganin: “While we are discussing the general
international situation and reducing tension, we propose suggesting at a later
stage India’s inclusion as the sixth member of the Security
Council …”
Nehru: “Perhaps Bulganin knows that some people in
USA have suggested that India should replace China in the Security Council.
This is to create trouble between us and China. We are, of course, wholly
opposed to it …”
Bulganin: “We proposed the question of India’s
membership of the Security Council to get your views, but agree that this is
not the time for it and it will have to wait for the right moment later on …”
Pandit Nehru did not respond to
Bulganin’s suggestion to include India as a sixth permanent member;
his reply was in the context of an earlier American proposal for
India to replace China. Bulganin could not have been part of any Western ploy.
Induction as sixth member would have finessed the issue of Chinese
representation. Other scholars who have quoted this exchange have missed this
important distinction.
Bulganin agreed not to push the matter after Nehru
had unequivocally rejected Bulganin’s offer.
The US proposal for permanent membership for India
pre-dates the Soviet proposal. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, as India’s US ambassador,
reported to Nehru in August 1950 about a move in the State Department to
replace China with India as a permanent member in the Security Council. She
said, “Dulles seemed particularly anxious that a move in this direction should
be started.” She described the episode in derisive terms as being “cooked up in
the State Department”, and advised her American interlocutors “to go slow in
the matter as it would not be received with any warmth in India”. This was
extraordinary that an ambassador could decide and convey India’s views on such
an important issue even before reporting and receiving the government’s
authorisation. Nehru of course ratified his sister’s view in his reply, as it
would mean “some kind of break between us and China”.
Nehru’s anxiety not to disturb India’s relations with
China did not prevent deterioration of relations in the next decade. This was
not the result of American machinations, but Chinese aggression. India came to
depend on Soviet veto since the 50s. It was strange we did not want to have
this choice for ourselves as a permanent member of the Security Council.
The Chinese leadership relentlessly followed a policy
of ‘China First’. The People’s Republic of China replaced Taiwan in the United
Nations in 1971. They exercised their first veto over admission of Bangladesh
in the United Nations in August 1972 to neutralise geo-political gains during
the 1971 war.
After
Nehru India had a brief respite from this family rule but unfortunately an
honest Lal Bahadur Shastri did not survive long. Do not intend to go into
details of this.
Then
Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru’s
daughter, took over the Prime Ministership of the country. Destructive action
continued. For populism she nationalised Banking and Insurance sector opening
the gate for corruption. In-efficiency and corruption history of the period is well
known. Incidence of Nagarwala / SBI case
is still in the memory of the elderly people. One after another death of
concerned persons created mystery on the matter. Due to her action economy of
the country suffered ultimately pawning plane load gold to meet import fund
requirement. She did a good job by listening Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and
divided Pakistan and created Bangladesh.
All
the good jobs were washed out by clamping down Emergency and all excesses associated with it. Only time that
Democracy was suspended, and authoritarian rule imposed for the first time in
India’s history.
Now
let us look to third generation Prime Minister, that is Rajiv Gandhi who became PM by default by - passing far more
experienced and senior Congress candidates who were more suitable for the post.
On the sympathy wave of Indira Gandhi’s murder Rajiv Gandhi won the election on
thumping majority. And the blunder making continued. Most prominent are the
Bofors case and interference in Sri Lanka’s civil war and sacrificing Indian
soldiers’ life for no gain. Sri Lanka remained and till today against India,
more and more hobnobbing with China creating Naval Base in this country. Sri
Lanka also made a genocide of the Tamils of Sri Lanka. Rajiv Gandhi paid the
price with his life. He was assassinated by Tamil LTTE group. Another vote
catching action was Shah Bano case , superseding Supreme Court’s judgment to
appease minority.
Next
in line was Rahul Gandhi. He was too
young at that time and had no kind of experience. Sonia Gandhi’s candidature
could not be pushed by the family loyalists due to different factors like
citizenship. Hence Congress had to settle for Narshimha Rao, an efficient
politician. He ushered the opening up of economy, introduced globalization
which benefitted India tremendously.
In a recent article in Times of India,Delhi Edition , 16.05.2019 Mr. Vaibhav Purandare wrote about “ Obsessing on the Nehru-Gandhis”
A
recent visit to the Nehru Memorial Museum in New Delhi made me think of how,
after the death of India’s first Prime Minister, his successor Lal Bahadur
Shastri wasn’t allowed to move into the PM’s official residence – Teen Murti
Bhavan – owing to Indira Gandhi’s insistence that the house be converted into a
memorial for her father.
Rahul
was chosen to contest the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2004 because he was a member
of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, and he was later appointed Congress general
secretary, vice-president and president on the same grounds, becoming the fifth
member of the clan to occupy the party’s top post. If he’s making a claim to
power today, it’s again on account of his being the son, grandson and
great-grandson of former PMs.
Moreover,
if the family’s been in power, directly or indirectly (counting the terms of
Congress PMs like PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh and non-Congress ones
like Chandrashekhar, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral) for over 50 years out of 72,
an audit is both inevitable and imperative.
The
Nehru-Gandhis and the so-called ‘left-liberal’ social-political-intellectual
elite they’ve patronized are more than approving of a discussion on the
dynasty’s legacy so long as it doesn’t get inconvenient. When Rahul and
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra talk of their forebears’ contribution to India and their
sacrifices, their admirers want more of it. When the Marxists, who’ve had a
neat and successful pact with the Congress establishment on the capture of
institutions and creation of national narratives, hold forth on the Nehruvian
order and how it nourished institutions, the inheritors are delighted.
The
‘cultural synthesis’ of the Marxists and the ruling establishment saw to it
that the Nehru-Gandhis virtually monopolised free India’s consciousness.
Textbooks were written to maximise their role in building India, while that of
other eminent Indians was minimised; roads, places, landmarks and institutions
named after members of the dynasty further amplified this image.
They
themselves aren’t known for linguistic restraint either. In his first speech as
Congress president, Rahul referred to VD Savarkar as someone who kowtowed to
the British, and he’s kept up this criticism; Congress on Twitter labeled
Savarkar a “traitor”.
Or
if, whenever Rahul mentions poverty, he’s told about a slogan raised nearly 50
years ago which had promised to end “garibi”? If national security’s an issue
and 1971 a year to talk about, then 1962 can’t be too far behind; and if
Hindu-Muslim tensions are up for discussion, then rivals can hardly be expected
to help Congress skirt issues like Shah Bano, the ban on ‘Satanic Verses’ and
reopening of the Babri Masjid’s locks. The same goes for a slur like “traitor”,
thrown about carelessly by both sides.
When
Congress won the election in 2004, had an accidental Prime Minister ( toborrow
from Mr. Baru ) Manmohan Singh , renowned Economist. However, media was full of
news about remote control PM. He was supposed to keep the PM chair warm for
Sonia Gandhi’s take over till it can be given over to Rahul Gandhi. Narendra
Modi’s drubbing to Congress (lowest ever seats in Parliament) in 2013 election
upset their plan. Now, Rahul Gandhi is trying hard to recover the situation for
putting again one of dynasty, fourth generation, on that chair. But the
possibility looks to be dim.
Many communist
leaders sitting on high pedestal had questionable character. It is reported
that the supreme leader Vladimir ilyich Ulyanov ( Lenin ) died of
syphilis. Joseph Stalin also had enough to be talked about.His daughter Svetlana
wrote about such things about her father in her book. She escaped from USSR to India
and sought asylum but the Indian government was not strong enough to stand
against Russia and she finally got settled in the west.
Stalin , Mao also followed later , specialized in eliminating all opponents whoever was a challenge to his power. The most well-known is the affair of Trotsky,how he was chased and killed in foreign land.
Congress government,especially Pandit Nehru,followed the Soviet method of socialism and chose the path of establishing government undertaking,public sector undertakings( PSU ), which later became White elephants , subsequently pursued bank and insurance nationalization .All these proved to be disaster on country's economy. Inefficient working , political interference ,corruption ,trade unionism in all these organizations which was useful for vote bank but brought the country to the brink when Indira Gandhi had to pawn gold reserve to London bank to meet the immediate import bill.
Finally early 1990 PM PV Narsimha Rao had the guts to open the economy and save the country's economy.Bajpei pushed this further in the right direction for the interest of the country.
Unfortunately the next PM , the so-called remote controlled PM ,could not guide the country to a stable and respectable state though he was well known economist and had worked efficiently with earlier PM Narasimha Rao. This was primarily due to Madam Sonia Gandhi 's non-stop interference and direction to the government for the interest of the dynasty.
Then came a tea seller and enthused Indians and India was looked upon respectfully internationally .Thus emerged the later successful prime minister Shri Narendra Modi.
During stay abroad, in general we and India were looked down , often ridiculed. India had no International respect and standing. The then government also never bothered to take necessary actions in this direction and obviously we suffered.
This changed drastically with the arrival of Narendra Modi as the PM of the country . He instilled self respect among Indians and built up International standing and respect for the nation. He undertook a series of actions for social changes like opening of Guinness book of record number of bank accounts for the masses , delivered gas connection and burner to the villagers to get rid of the coal based Chullas which was a great relief for the women of the villages,introduced Aadhar identification and payment direct to account eliminating the middle men and the possibility of corruption , Ayushman Bharat health insurance system for the poor, Atal Pension Yojana for the poor class of people,Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana at Rs 330 per year, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Jyoti Bima Yojana at Rs 12 a year, insurance schemes are extended to all savings account holders of all banks for the amount of Rs 2.0 lacs.Further, introduction of Kisan Bima Yojana in addition to the Atal Pension Yojana and Ayushman Bharat helped tremendously the rural people.Also Sukanya Nidhi Yojana to promote the girl child was of great help.
Reformed income tax sector eliminating the corruption and direct contact between the officer and the taxpayer , heavily came down on corruption His Moto "na khaunga na khane dunga " brought great relief for the common man , eliminating middle man who were thriving on such corruption. Improved the ease of doing business , standing of India in the Transparency International on different subjects improved drastically over these years.
Maintaining complete democratic process and following secularism he gave respect to Hinduism and Hindu culture which were neglected intentionally by earlier Government and helped India to bring up cultural activities in the international arena. Two notable actions namely removal of Article 370 thus integrating Kashmir with main India and implementation of Triple Talaqu Bill to free Muslim women was the biggest achievement during his second term.
He pushed the
Nation and the Society to a cleaner and healthy life by his Swachh Bharat
movement through which started getting every places cleaned, even doing himself sometime like at Sea beach
collecting the trash etc. Great achievement was construction of Toilets in
hundred thousand all over the country, especially in villages which had a
direct impact on the cleanliness and health aspect as most of the people in
rural areas used to go for open defecation which was spreading disease.
Additionally, thrust towards the supply of piped water to the villages gaining
strong momentum.Also construction of roads and highways for better
communication and connecting inaccessible areas. This road construction had a
serious impact on the defense aspect of the country as connection by roads in
the Northern and Eastern Chinese border areas was very poor and in case of
emergency movement of army took long time.
Karl Marx once
said.
"Remove one
freedom per generation, and soon you will have no freedoms and no one will have
noticed."
One day while the
class was in the lab, a professor noticed one young man, kept rubbing his
back and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor
asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him that he had a
bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his
native country, who were trying to overthrow his country's government and
install a new communist regime.
Then, the student
looked at the professor and asked a strange question,
"Do you know
how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor
thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it
was no joke.
"You catch
wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the
ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food.
When they are
used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they
are used to coming. At first, they are scared, but when they get used to the
fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the
fence.
They get used to
that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the
fence up with a gate in the last side.
The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly, the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."
The young man
then told the professor,
"That is exactly what he sees happening in many countries. The governments keep pushing us towards Communism/Socialism and keep spreading the free corn out in the form of programme such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time."
One should always remember two truths:
1. There is no
such thing as a free lunch, and
2. You can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy, there is hope.If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then God help you when the gate slams shut!"Most of the problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living!
As Chief Minister of Gujarat for 10 years Narendra Modi achieved notable development and improvement of the state, both industrial and infrastructure direction. Leadership and good organizational capability led whole state towards improvement to the benefit of the people. During this period developed Somnath temple, of course initiated by Advani,Dwarka and bet Dwarka temples and the route connections to these places developed to a very high level. His opponents tried to throw mud on him for Godhara incidents and attempted to malign him but all accusation fell flat with subsequent enquiry reports ,Court judgments and many other factual information .Western media was motivated, tried hard to distort the facts and malign Narendra Modi but their game were exposed.
For the first time during his present Prime Ministership names of other heroes like Subhash Chandra Bose,Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Veer Swarkar and many other such freedom fighters and nationalists were brought to the picture and recognised their contributions which was neglected over the decades during the Congress regime who promoted only the dynasty members.Also the heroes like Shivaji, Maharana Pratap,Prithviraj Chauhan and many such national heroes are projected and honoured after Narendra Modi took over the reign of the nation.
Such success
brought confidence among Indians to be proud as Indian and nationalistic
feeling spread over the society. He acted firmly against terrorism and internal
groups trying to subvert Indian democracy and the Republic character of the
constitution.
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