Its agonizing that in 21st century our Nation, which is still a developing nation and is grappling with poverty, that has very few technological achievements to boast around, whose education system is in shambles, which does not have a single institution ranked amongst top 100 in the world,is busy arguing on issues like should Hijab be allowed in schools or not ? 

As if removal of Hijab will resolve all their problems.

And its young students are on the streets - being COMMUNALISED, because there is one set of students which has saffron scarves draped around their necks demanding banning of Hijab and then there is another set with Hijab on claiming it to be their right.

It is amazing that our political leadership has so much of time to do scheming and manipulating public sentiments. Had they spent so much of time on resolving real issues facing the public we would have surely by now become a technologically advanced state.

Now that this issue of Hijab has become one more reason to target the muslim population and also the liberals, I think this is time to put things straight.

One. Its high time that we the countrymen realize that India can not progress and its security will be seriously impacted if we do not work unitedly with a focused approach. Ridiculing and mocking each others culture and religion will only create millions of disengaged and disgruntled people, which will only lead to internal law and order problems. A society in strife can never progress, yes the ruling junta surely can continue in power by making various sections of the population fight amongst each other.

Two. Truly, any kind of compulsive dress system is bad , be it a Ghungat or a hijab for the natural growth of a person. It surely must be stifling a person. But those reforms must come from within the community and not been compulsively enforced. Because,

Three. If the Indian Govt’s top leadership is seen flouting its religious affiliations and religious symbols and is being cheered upon by his followers and adherents of that religion, what moral right then that Leader has, to compel other communities to give up displaying their religious affiliations/ symbols. This kind of behavior by the state smacks of hypocrisy and double standards.

Four. HC, Karnataka rightly restrained all students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom, but it needs to go further ahead. If at all the State is serious in maintaining uniformity then it needs to take a large number of steps  ; ban display of tilaks and saffron thread that is worn by Hindu students on their wrist, ban janaiu/ thread worn by Brahmin students across their chest, ban bindis applied by hindu girls.

As of now, it appears that all that is happening in the guise of attaining uniformity and empowering women is basically targeting one particular community. Hence one gets a feel that it is being done for political purposes and has very little to do with empowering the women. The State is unnecessarily Politicizing the schools and is encouraging Hooligans to target muslim girls in the guise of women empowerent and UNIFORMITY. 

The women in India have many more serious challenges to face then just Hijab, Please have a look at the recent media reports ;

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No one is a holy cow, neither Gandhiji nor Nehruji. Their detractors have been criticizing them for many many years now and social media today is full of  questions like:

(1) Why did Gandhi support Khilafat?

(2) Why should we be calling him Father of the Nation, he was biased and characterless?

(3) Did we really get Azaadi because of him; he was a British stooge?

However, if a leader is to be criticized for the role he played and decisions he made, one needs to study and examine the set of conditions under which they operated and took decisions. History can not be studied in isolation, piece by piece but has to be read in its entirety. Otherwise these criticisms amount to only mudslinging. Mr Modi had once expressed the same sentiments to Rajdeep Sardesai during his Sadbhawna campaign in Gujarat.

In view of the above, criticism of the yesteryear leaders, who were involved in the freedom movement must be done from an academic point of view by researchers rather than by those who indulge in politics. Politicians and their supporters have a tendency to look at things through the prism of their political ideology and hence indulge in character vilification.

Consequently, one finds today our National Heroes particularly Gandhiji and Nehruji are increasingly being targeted and there is an attempt to denigrate their characters.

This criticism is cyclical in nature as many who have barely done any worthwhile research start casting aspersions in order to please their bosses or their party leaders. When politics gets involved, as Mr Modi had said, it’s more mudslinging. And so we see Netaji Subash Chandra Bose getting propped up in order to malign Gandhiji and Sardar Patel propped up to bring down Nehruji and so on.

If the current dispensation is allowing this kind of unauthentic criticism, and rather vilification, purely from the point of electoral politics then the role of all leaders must be examined and should be open to criticism.

If Nehru and Gandhi are not Holy cows then no other should be.

Firstly, what I found was that Subash Chandra Bose’s role in the Freedom movement has never been critically examined because perhaps the yesteryear leaders never thought of stooping down to this level of character vilification as we have now stooped down to. The old leaders held him in great esteem or perhaps when India moved into this phase of dirty electoral politics Netaji was long gone and was largely inconsequential.

Subash Chandra Bose was amongst the youngest Congress leaders. He was born in a rich and affluent family, which could send him to study in English medium schools and to England for higher education. He was barely 25 years old when he joined the Congress, reportedly inspired by Nehruji’s statement on Indian Civil Services which Nehruji called to be neither Indian nor Civil.

Reportedly, when Netaji and Gandhiji met for the first time, they differed on the question of ends- Bose was attracted to totalitarian models of governance, which was an anathema to Gandhiji. For Gandhiji means were as important as the end.

Netaji Bose would really loathe the people who are using him to malign or undermine Gandhiji, whom he addressed as Father of The Nation.

Therefore, it is agonizing and painfull to critically examine Netaji Bose, for that matter any leader who had made our Freedom possible, However, if dirty politics has become the mainstay of society, then so be it.

Young Leader Barely had an Idea of Indian Masses and Its Temperament

In a party dominated by elderly leaders who had already crossed 50 or nearing 50, young Netaji Bose got overwhelming support from the youth particularly Bengalis and hence, he had a meteoric rise in Congress. Unlike Gandhiji and Sardar Patel, both of whom had toiled hard, widely travelled in India and understood the grain of the country, it is very natural that Bose, coming from an affluent family must have had very little understanding of the Indian masses that too at a young age of 25.

Fascination for Military Uniforms.

Netaji Bose’s fascination with military came to the fore in 1928 when he organized the Annual Meeting of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta and turned up in a GOC’s (General Officer Commanding), a Major General’s, uniform of a Congress Volunteer Corps, who were also donning military uniform. Its officers were even provided with steel-cut epaulettes and his uniform was made by a firm of British tailors in Calcutta – Harman’s.

Not only Mahatma Gandhi, but many other Congress leaders did not like the strutting, clicking of boots, and saluting, as those days the military was seen as oppressive particularly so after the Jallianwala Bagh incident. Reportedly, Gandhiji afterward described the Calcutta session of the Congress as Betram Mills Circus.

Netaji Bose Stood for Totalitarianism like Kemal Attaturk .

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, propped up by current Govt to undermine Nehruji, had opposed Gandhiji’s decision to propose Netaji Bose’s name for the presidency of the Congress. Gandhi overruled his objection and Bose became president in 1938. In 1939, when Bose sought a second term, Patel opposed him again. In a public statement, he warned Bose that even if he were elected, his policies would be vetted and if required vetoed by the working committee. Rajmohan Gandhi wrote in his biography of Sardar Patel that Sardar held a poor opinion of Subhas’s efficiency and that “his disagreements with Subhas were profound”.

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This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that Out of 180 we are ranked at 85.

Have we improved even at the perception level becuase this is a perceptional index. Do not shut your mouth because of Political affiliations. we need to realise that at the end its max impact is felt by the COMMON MAN.

The answer is intriguing ;

In 2013 India was placed at 94 thereafter India in a span of one year i.e in 2014 jumped to 85 and since then it is at 85. So, what happened in One year that there was a 9 rank jump ; simple perception and so since then we are at 85.

However, when we go back further we find in 2010 India was at 91, In 2005 at 88, in 2000 we were at 69,in 1995 at 46, perhaps then very few countries were surveyed, Barely 90 and 54 respectively.

If we take a holistic view of our rankings all these years, we would notice , we were generally around the center, few places here and there.

The question then arises Why have we stagnated?

Peter Eigen Chairman of Transparency International says ;

“We all yearn for improvement, but positive change only comes slowly when the enemy is endemic corruption. Perceptions of levels of corruption do not change greatly from one year to the next. Positive results are only going to emerge from tireless and consistent multi-year efforts”.

He further says that In parts of Asia Pacific, the Americas, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, increasing restrictions on accountability measures and basic civil freedoms allow corruption to go unchecked

So what does this Rank of ours indicate.

1. Peter Eigen was right positive change only comes slowly, primarily because corruption is an issue related to socio-economic and political conditions that exist in any country/ society.
2. India’s Leadership has not been, despite lot of Hulla gulla, able to tackle this issue of corruption in a Holistic manner and hence we have been consistently languishing between 85 and 91 for last two decades (20 YEARS). I am sure Peter Eigne did not mean that the pace will be so SLOW.
3. The top countries on this index like Denmark, Newzealand, Finland , Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, UK, USA etc have an efficient justice system and off course the civil liberties and human rights have their own importance.
4. The point that we need to understand is ; If there are no Civil liberties, who is going to blow the whistle? In our country the WHISTLE BLOWER himself is Blown off. So civil liberties are essential to encourage the WHISTLE BLOWERS to come forward and report.
5. In case the legal system itself is lethargic and ineffective , it will have a spiral effect and there will be an overall decline and eradicating corruption to a reasonable level will always remain a distant dream.
6. Till the time people are not engaged in this process, fighting corruption would remain only a political mudda and to be dealt by only the Govt agencies, and so nothing will happen. The Govt agencies will remain like puppets.
7. Blaming people for this corruption is wrong because PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOUR is dictated by the system and procedures of the organization/ society/country.

Conclusion.

SATYA MEV JAYATE but infact, The truth does not prevail byitself, one has to make the environment conducive for truth to prevail. Right now the environment is ; MARNA HAI REPORT KARKEY. 

The violence and arson by the students in Bihar reminds me of what I had written a few months  ago,  ;

Corona is not going to go without leaving a deep impact on the society , The pandemic is likely to have SOCIAL- POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS as deep as the World War 1 and 2 had. Refer ;

Did We Know Our Room Was Full of Dust - I?

https://www.bharatamrising.com/challenges-features-2/did-we-know-our-room-was-full-of-dust

Pandemic will have Social, Eco and Political Ramifications.

https://www.bharatamrising.com/challenges-features-2/pandemic-will-have-social-eco-and-political-ramifications

The reasons for this pandemic to have a multi dimensional impact on the society and nation are as follows;

One. The situation had turned so grim in 2020 and 2021 that the administration was left clueless. In Wave One, The abrupt shutdown in left millions stranded, who later on lurched back to their homes hungry and in disheveled state. In Wave 2, There was an acute shortage of medicines (Remsdvir) , acute shortage of Beds, acute shortage of Oxygen and obviously shortage of Health care staff in many states. The Patients were running from one hospital to another in search of beds. Those who lost their near and dear ones due to the callousness and indifferent attitude of Administration cannot forget and forgive those who were responsible for the misgovernance. Particularly when the Govt has still not done anything to improve its Hospitals and health care system and the sick have still to be taken to the Private hospitals.

Two. Besides adversely impacting the industry, the business, the economy, causing loss of earnings, loss of employment , it has also adversely impacted the Indian justice system, which was already under great stress and was barely able to maintain some sort of law and order in the society. When Judiciary is impacted , it leads to Anarchy.

Three. As the economy suffered a setback and has shrunk, it is natural that the millions of young will be out of jobs. More over the young ones coming out of the institutions do not have the requisite skills that can help them to get employment, the virtual classroom education cannot make you a Good engineer or a technician. As such the Skill development has always been an issue in India and despite the reports from CII and other agencies, the Govts and the society did very little towards Skill development. A CII report indicated that out of 100 applications received barely 15 are employable and out of 85 unemployable almost two third i.e. 56 are not even trainable.

In the bargain, it is not surprising that for a vacancy of a Peon in a Govt office, one finds thousands of applicants applying that too PhDs, Engineering graduates and MBAs. This is also an indication that in the absence of requisite skills and also little investment by the Private sector in UP and Bihar, the young ones are dependant on the Govt for jobs.

In view of the above, it is not surprising that the frustrated students resorted to violence, because for how long this dose of Religion can keep the young and the countrymen intoxicated. People need jobs and money to manage their homes. The price rise has already broken the back bones of many homes.

We just had a farmers’ stir that went on for many months, we had anti CAA protest that ended in violence, arson and bloodshed but the Govt skillfully managed to wriggle out of all this mess.

If the respective State Govts and the Central Govt do not address this problem of Unemployment there is likely to be a social unrest on various other reasons ; Price Rise, deteriorating Law and Order Problem and may be for some other reason.

No society is ever bereft of disgruntled elements however when those causes of disgruntlement start impacting the Common man, the Govt must sit up and take a Note of it and take immediate corrective measures to address their grievances or else they may soon lead to social unrest and violence.