The
Gandhi and J. Nehru’s fiasco called Independent India
Or
By
hero worshipping Mahathma Gandhi and J.Nehru we have retarded our economic
developmental agenda by at least half a century.
The article by
P.P.Hegde is
very interesting[1]
Here is my rejoinder
There is something
known as Burr’s Law: You
can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the
time, and that’s sufficient.
There is also other techniques like brain washing,
propaganda etc all the more easier when operated through a popular figure whom
people are willing to believe and follow as a flock of sheep and/or through
mediums/subjects which are of common interest to the people in that particular
period of time.
This is not unique to India but all over the world. Allowing
certain preferred images and conditioning to prejudice our perception or even
the very perception being carried on through a prism of such preferred images
and conditioning.
I am not passing any judgment but placing on record my
observation of facts.
Outward show of humility, simplicity, generosity and
religious affiliation were hot cakes of 1940s. It is like Pizzas/cokes/jeans of
present day or promotion of any of them by popular stars like a Sachin
Tendulkar, Amitabh, Rajnikanth etc .
Certain personalities realize consciously this weakness
of the masses and capitalize them or use them occasionally. Even they
[personalities] start it off as an intentional hypocritical tool imbued with
artificial posturing [sometimes justifying it as a part of necessary
grooming/identification etc] but gradually for some of them it becomes a second
nature and then it becomes their very nature and priority or preoccupation.
This is actually a natural hormonal aberration in
adolescents. Normal human beings grow out of it but
public figures do not because they are subconsciously aware of the fact that
they are the cynosure and therefore presume that they have to necessarily carry out certain
image make- over physically, psychologically, sociologically etc.
So, we had stories of J.Nehru’s father donating things
making J.Nehru seated on one side of the balance and provisions on the other.
We had pages and pages of Gandhi’s religious ways of
life, strict austerities that he was observing much greater than the sages, his
reading of Bhagawath Geetha etc. All said and done Gandhi had lot of great
qualities as an extraordinary human being unlike J.Nehru.
But we Indians more than any other nationality have a
peculiar weakness at least to a very great degree compared to others, that is,
we view, review , judge, analyze, criticize, love etc personalities for irrelevant reasons, though this is prevalent all
over the world, we end up forgetting the main role of those personalities.
If it is M.S. Subhulakshmi we start admiring her
Diamond earrings and silk sarees, nothing wrong in that, but we end up discussing
only about her Diamond earrings and silk sarees forgetting that M.S.
Subhulakshmi is primarily a caranatic vocalist. I can go on and on with
examples in all walks of life. Even last year during music season this
stupidity was accorded importance by The Hindu newspaper.[2]
Herd mentality, some 20 years back one Shankaracharya
said it is auspicious to wear green color sarees in that particular year [
probably he was trying to be secular in selection of color or some weaver at
kancheepuram must have had excessive stock of green fabric].Many women cutting across
caste, religion etc were buying crazily green colored sarees
Coming to the subject of Gandhi and Nehru,
there is hardly any record anywhere of their skills or achievements in
Governance, Administration, Economic development etc which are the most vital qualities/aspects/concerns
of any political leader of any civilized society /country/nation state at least
after 1930s.
But for leaders of tribes, clans, religions, sects etc
these things are not required as they are propelled by different parameters.
So going by the normal standards of
matured political leadership with at least those three primary requirements
namely Governance, Administration, Economic development etc neither Mahathma
Gandhi nor J. Nehru can be termed as leaders and in fact hero worshiping them
and thereby pushing aside others who were immensely qualified and capable we
have retarded our economic developmental agenda, failed to prioritize modern methods of
governance, failed to develop region specific/relevant administrative models etc by at least half
a century .
In the early 90s a sane leader outside of the Nehru
clan who was allowed to rule for a full term of five years called P.V.Narasimha
Rao showed us what real modern leadership is but then by opting for Nehru
clan/tribe again from 2004 we have set our progress on rewind mode.
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