In the heartland of chaos- Finding Patterns

In my quest to know more about the patterns of an incredible land that I am fortunate to be born in, I stumble upon a lot of things each day. I am bemused in the same manner when a rickshaw driver who inadvertently breaks traffic rules to cash in on a waiting lady, near the bus stop and when the Prime Minister who waits for the lady’s aye, before he opens his mouth. India is a nation of many paradoxes. Many people have molded and adjusted this paradox to their own convenience. This leads into another paradox. This is what makes my motherland, the mother of all magical existences. There are only 2 places where in 2 negatives make a positive. One is in the mathematics work books and the other is in India. My perceptions, understandings and their perpetual deductions have filled in me a varied look of the land I live on. I cherish, thinking about my country; for it’s always a rewarding exercise. It has helped me to reinvent myself as it has helped millions of others who came in search of the pattern in India; homegrown and foreigners alike.

After covering some ground in my previous essays, I come to the most dynamic and important part of my search: Finding the leadership pattern in Free India.

The leaders of free India:

As are the leaders so are the men who are lead by them. This is one of those statements for which the corollary also holds equally good. India has seen a total number of 15 prime ministers till date and an equal number of Lok Sabhas being formed. Much of India’s progress can be associated with the way the prime ministers have functioned and performed. There have been many compelling works written about the history of free India. But very few of them talk about the ideological history of free India. A nation’s ideology is primarily shaped by its leader. In the course of this essay, let’s see how we as a nation were metamorphosed and then defragmented into a liberal-democratic republic from a social-goonda raaj-democratic republic. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime minister of India, was a man of scholarly attitude and a person born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Inheriting a land, which was ruined by foreign oppressions for a thousand years, he did a very brave job of giving a direction to an otherwise misdirected nation. He had a very knowledgeable and ideologically strong team of ministers with him. This was an added advantage, nevertheless. Nehru’s cabinet included luminaries like Babasaheb Ambedkar, Vallaba Bhai Patel, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who gave a definite outlook to a then, reinvented nation. Each one of them  had a profound understanding of their respective ministries. India was very fortunate to have these men take over its initial days of sovereignty. Unlike what Churchill predicted in the British Parliament, India saw the light of the day because of the intellectual and leadership capabilities of its early leaders.  They could lead because they had earned the respect of the masses due to their intellectual and ideological stronghold.  If I can draw a corollary here, these leaders commanded respect just as the elder members command respect in every Indian house hold. The elders are known for their experience and decision making. The early leaders were mass leaders, who came directly from the masses. These leaders were one among the masses; they represented the face of the common man and placed his needs before theirs. This, I believe led to the emergence of an India, which could tolerate future shocks, attacks, crisis, internal rebellions and foreign attacks. On the contrary, Jinnah an extremely gifted and foresighted leader that he was, failed to lay down a protocol of placing the masses before oneself, in matters of national importance. Though he went to Karachi taking a happy pie of an otherwise large land, his was an emulation of the British style of ruling. Having studied in Cambridge and Oxford, he was immensely influenced by the life style of the Britons. The leaders who followed Jinnah, who lacked a clear direction to take an otherwise inefficient nation forward, faltered and thus the disintegration of the state of Pakistan started. Today’s political results are always based on yesterday’s political leadership.

India after the incubation days:

Both Nehru and India were fortunate enough for the first government to be in office till 1964. In this period of 17 years, Nehru and his team had got enough time and space to play around with their ideas. Various innovative programs were introduced and we were on our road to stability. The detractors of Nehru would argue on various points of inconsistencies, but then without Nehru, India would become another Indonesia or any African country for that matter. The biggest contribution of the first leader I believe would be to carve a path for future men to walk upon. Be it any walk of life, it’s the prime duty of the early birds to show a path to tread.  Lal Bahadur Shastri, followed Nehru at the helm. The man known for his intellectual and ideological integrity stood firm against detractors and carried his predecessor’s welfare programs forward. Due to his untimely demise, and to everyone’s dismay, Nehru’s daughter who was otherwise passive till then pushed herself to the forefront. And thus started a renaissance in India.

Indira’s India:

Indira’s historians describe her as the only “man” in her cabinet. This explains the power with which she wielded authority. Criticized as ‘ghoongi-goodiya’ by her detractors before she got into the PMO, her governing style saw to it that all noisy mouths were sealed either by fear or with shame. Most of her male colleagues in her initial days, were unhappy for the fact of being ruled by a woman, but then it wasn’t long enough that she showed who was the real ‘man’. No wonder the country, irrespective of the societal cadres was impressed. She molded herself into Indraji, Indiramma, Indrabayi, Mother or just Amma, which she is even referred to as now. During her 2 decade rule with breaks in between she changed the direction of the ship. Nationalizing banks, was one of the most significant steps in governance that she took. With respect to the economy, she bought in what is famously referred to as the ‘license-raj’.  Companies/Individuals who wanted to start a business needed to obtain a license by the government. This however attractive it may seem, brought in many difficulties. To ease them, the babus found another deal of under-the-table cash. This, according to me was the major factors for increase in rampant corruption. She imposed emergency at will, jailed her detractors, toppled state governments and gave away the foreign policy of her father.  After 25 years of Indira, India is still reeling under her effects. On the brighter side, she made India self-sufficient in food, tested nuclear bomb in Pokhran despite world opposition and demonstrated to the nation, what will a strong leader be like?

India after Indira:

It was Indira’s courage and over confidence that killed her. Her Sikh body guards shot her down on October 31^st 1984. For a country which was just learning to dream of a brighter future, this was a massive blow. As her successor and Son, Rajiv Gandhi went on to describe- “When a big tree falls, the ground around it is shaken”. The entire nation was shaken with this shock. What followed afterward was brutal murders of Sikhs under the nose of Congress leaders. The confused government turned a blind eye. Rajiv, was totally unprepared to lead the country. Enjoying his days with his chariming Italian wife, he never thought he would be in politics one day, leave alone in the Prime Minister’s chair. Sonia, in one of her interviews, years later recalls, that Rajiv had promised her that he will never enter into politics. But, things had flipped and facing the other side of the coin seemed inevitable. Thus, the congress which went into the general elections of 1984, bagged a total of 434 seats out of 544 in the parliament. The record, I think will never be broken. Rajiv, a learned man that he was, understood that he has a definitve task to perform. And he did. Power tested him a lot. His government was put to shame in the Bofors deal when he had to acceed favours to the Italian business man Ottavio Quotrocchi. His wife, seems had influenced him. On the flip side, he initiated the nation knowledge commision, brought in electronics and aviation to India and tried to put India on a global map. The corruption alleagtions couldn’t save his massive majority government. He was followed by V.P Singh, Chandrashekhar in short stints. Both of them, did leave a mark behind but were not allowed to sustain. By the early 1990’s Congress had assumed that it is the only party that can rule India. The raj brought in by Indira had turned out  greedy, corrupt and power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats.

Modern India:

Rajiv’s mistake in handling LTTE down south, killed him in a brutal suicide bomb attack. This led to a chaotic “no-leader” situation in the Congress. The veteran PV Narasimha Rao who had declared political hermitage by then, was forced to come to the PMO. Rao, who was also Nehru’s colleague earlier, was a statesman. The congress made a very smart move by bringing in Rao. If anyone else like an Arjun Singh or a Digvijay Singh or a Scindia would be made the Prime Minister, the country would again go into a state of oblivion. 3 successive unstable governments would have pushed the Congress into a permanent backseat. But, the Congress has got lucky innumearble times in the electoral history of India. Narasimha Rao, picked up the then retired RBI governor, Manmohan Singh as his Finance minister. The duo did what nobody had expected of them. Break the shackles of their own predecessors! The brilliant economist that he is, Manmohan converted India into a socialist republic from a licence raj republic. This led to India becoming a new America. If America is considered modern, India too became modern, aping it in all aspects. Conservatives would argue that, the liberalisation brought in more harm than good. But on the face of it, many significant problems that were facing India, were eleminated.

The Times Now:

Today, is a day which is a result of what happened in the early 1990’s. If we see these many cars on the roads, mobile phones in everybody’s pocket, it is the seed that the nation sowed in the liberalistion period. Most of the below middle class families of earlier times have been elevated to the upper middle class status and some to the creamy layer status.  Its all because of we had an open mind towards  everything. We learnt to sense an opportunity in everything. We learnt on how to survive in the competition? We learnt to keep moving, even if there are detractions. But, the imitation of the west has brought in its dark face too.

PS: 1.  If we look into the history of the world after World War II, for I believe that is where modern history starts, it’s been the leaders succeeding that, gave the direction to their respective countries. Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Joseph Stalin, Charles De Gaulle are the notable leaders who have left an indelible mark in the DNA of their respective nations. Their vision carried their respective nations in their footprints.  

2. After Nehru’s  and  Shastri’s untimely demise Gulzari Lal Nanda was the interim Prime Minister for 2 short terms.