Islam & Political Extremism

The Quran teaches us not be extremist in our religion. Its exact words are: ‘People of the book! Do not go to extremes in your religion.’(4:171). We also learn from a saying of Prophet Muhammad that extremist tendencies have always been the chief reason for religious group going astray. That is why the prophet once observed: ‘Sedulously refrain from extremism, for the previous communities were destroyed only because of their extremist tendencies in religious matters.’

“Ghulu” meaning extremism is engendered in a religious community when it goes in to a state of decline, and I in fact, a sign of its degeneration. There is a tradition of Prophet Muhammad which forewarns his followers of the rot that can set in. he said that all those evils which had arisen in previous communities would also arise, but on a greater scale in his own community.  To make his meaning clear, he said:

‘Where previous communities were divided into 72 sects, Muslims will be divided into 73Sects.

There are innumerable cases of ideological extremism in Islamic history. But we also find among Muslims another kind of extremism which probably never existed in previous communities. When the prophet said that while the Israelites were divided into seventy-two sects and the Muslim would be divided into seventy-three sects, he was giving an example of this other kind of ghulu (extremism) which can be described as political extremism.  No previous community had ever been crowned by such political glory as was enjoyed by the Muslims for almost a thousand years after the emergence of Islam. Political glory was not however, a part of Islamic creed, but a part of history. But Muslims stressed this fact of political glory to such an extent that, for all intents and purposes, it became incorporated in their religious creed. The result of this political extremism is the violent jihad we experience in the Muslim world of today.

Ultimately, extremist concepts such as ‘Muslims are God’s vicegerents on earth and, as such, they have the right to rule over other communities ‘were developed. Religion came to be regarded as synonymous with a complete state. And a religion of this nature could not be fully observed unless it was established as the basis and framework of the state. Those promoting these ideologies and politicizing Islam believed that Muslims were a superior community, which the right to treat other communities as inferior. As a result, to this day, Muslims find it difficult to relocate any sort of dominance. They believe that their religious obligation can never be fully discharged just by performing prayers and observing fasting. They imagine it is incumbent upon them to strive to establish diving rule on earth.

A set of beliefs such as these has nothing to do with the religion as revealed by God. It is nothing but a case of political extremism. But present-day Muslims are largely under the influence of this extremist way of thinking – some consciously, others unconsciously.

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, achieved considerable political success while he was still alive; and this was built on rapidly by his successors, the caliphs. Unfortunately, along with success comes the opportunity to abuse it, that is why, according to the hadith, the Muslims were divided, in terms of ideological extremism, in to seventy- two sects, while the seventy-third sects was concerned with the political extremism. Of course, the evil of ideological extremism is the found as much in Muslim as in other communities, but it is the former’s bent of political extremism that has aggravated this issue further.

Congregation led by earlier prophets did not achieve political success during their prophets’ lifetime. Their prophets only left them an ideological legacy. That is why we find political extremism absent in them. At the most, the can indulge only in ideological extremism.

According to the Quran (22:78) and the hadith, the greatest duty of Muslim community –shahadat ‘alannaas-is to spread the diving message of Islam peacefully among other nation. But because of their  extremist political approach, present –day Muslim have abandoned this missionary duty. The most dangerous  aspect of their labeling of non –missionary activities as missionary work, for instance, debates, political protest, Muslim- reform activities, community work are all  termed missionary work by today’s Muslim.

The most urgent task today is to inculcate this consciousness of the mission and to set up an educational system on the principals of this mission. Muslims should be raised as a missionary group- or witnesses (22:78) as it is called in the Quran- and should be prevented from indulging in non- missionary activities. Without taking such a step, missionary work cannot be effectively performed.

The Quran (5:67) tells us that the secret of protection from enemy plots lies in the performance of dawah. That is, if Muslims engage in dawah work, their lives properties and wealth will be protected by God. In short, the communication of the religious message is the responsibility of Muslim, while the protection of their worldly interests rest with God.

According to a famous tradition, our action are judge by our intention’. Intention here is the equivalent of what is generally called spirit. This means that although there are many actions which in form appear to be morally acceptable. It is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches real importance.

From a Hadith we learn the Prophet Muhammad speaking of the Muslim of the future, predicted that only the external spirit, and only the outer form of Islamic action would survive.

That is to say, the action of the Muslims of the future would be lacking in internal spirit, and only the outer form of their religious observance would persist. People will remain ignorant of the true spirit of Islam so long as they are conversant only with its forms and attach importance only to the externals.

It is easy to understand how extremism or ghulu stems from this flawed perception. In the early days of Islam, the spirit was alive and was accorded full attention. But when in later generation degeneration set in, external rituals began to be given more importance. This is a frequent occurrence.

Let me explain this with an example from the world of business, the phrase ‘customer- friendly behavior’ is often used in business jargon. It means if a businessman is to be successful, he must appear to be friendly to his customers. Now let us compare this with behavior in the family. You will not hear any parents say that their behavior towards their children is ‘child- friendly’. The reason for this difference is that the spirit of love for their children wells up naturally in parents, and so they do not need to talk about it or make a display of it.

The case of a businessman is totally different. A businessman has no love or compassion for his customers. It is solely the desire for commercial gain that inspires him to make a display of these qualities. Is human nature that wherever the internal   spirit is alive, no importance will be attached to the externals, while in the absence of spirit, the maximum attention will be paid to formal etiquette.

 This is the human mentality that produces the phenomenon called ghulu. It is a fact that ghulu, or extremism, is invariably relevant to externals and do not to internal realities.

When we look at the Muslim of today, we find that the prediction of the Prophet has come true. One kind of ghulu that has developed among Muslims is the one pertaining to ideology, for instance, the concept of spiritual leaders being intermediate between God and man, and the concept of sacredness of graves. Today, violent activities are going on in the name of jihad all over the world. There are some who are directly involved, while others justify these acts in their speeches and writings. A third group consists of those who are silent. But according to the sharing principal, they too are involved for silence is not enough- it is their duty to publicly condemn such un-Islamic acts.

This is political ghulu is the greatest weakness of Muslim; it has overridden all the human qualities that qualify a community for a position of honour and glory – qualities such as benevolence, universality of approach (that is, looking at all human being as gold’s family), positive thinking, keeping abreast of the changing times, thinking realistically, acknowledgement of others, fostering the dawah spirit, giving importance to the value of peace, and objective thinking.

The greatest harm done by political extremism is that it deters Muslims from emerging from the shell of the past. This is the cause of their failure to understand to present. In the past, war something which decide the fate of communities. But in modern times, peaceful resources have become much more powerful. Yet Muslims seem unaware of these resources. In the past, the economy was based on agriculture. Now it is based on industry. Electronic communications just did not exist in the past, whereas today, communications have become one of the greatest strengths of mankind. But Muslims are blissfully unaware of all these developments. That is why they have not been able to take advantage of all the blessing of the modern age. Moreover in the past, all resources were in the hands of the king, but today is the age of institutions.

 The violent jihad, prevalent in modern times, dates back to Tipu Sultan (d.1799). this has been a 200-year long jihad without any positive result, and with no real movement directed as yet at reassessment of values, aims or objective. The reason lies in the Muslims, lack of awareness. Today the greatest task is to remedy this shortcoming, without which there is no possibility of any positive change.

About seventy years ago, Amir Shakib Arsalan published a book titled our Decline: its Cause and Remedies. The author concluded that the reason for Muslim backwardness lay in abandoning jihad. He quoted an Arabic couplet in support. ‘I refrained from taking part in war, so that I might live. But I did not find in it life. Life was for those who went ahead and waged the war.

This point has been made repeatedly by Muslim leaders over the last two centuries. The result has been that this militant ideology has spread among Muslims all over the world. The jihadi model has become the sole inspiration for action. But when we take stock of the outcome, we find that this has proved to be counterproductive. In such a situation, it would be more appropriate to modify the couplet and say: ‘ I adopted the path of war for life and survival, but finally I learnt that life and survival are only for those who abandon the militant course in favour of a peaceful course of action.’

BANNING COW SLAUGHTER

I am against all kinds of slaughter, so the question of my favoring cow slaughter does not arise. But whether I am for or against it, cow slaughter is not going to stop. The conditions of our life are such that the cow will continue to be killed. I am against meat eating, but it is not going to make a difference. Under the present conditions meat eating cannot go. We are not yet in a position to provide the entire population of the country with an adequate amount of vegetarian food. People will simply die of starvation if we decide to go vegetarian. Unless we have enough food grains and vegetables and milk to feed the whole country, non-vegetarianism will continue to predominate. There is no way out at the moment. It is a necessary evil. So is cow slaughter.

It is ironic that people who are anxious to ban cow slaughter are doing nothing to create the necessary conditions to make the society vegetarian. So cow slaughter is not going to end because of these people. If it ends someday, it will end because of the efforts of those who are not at all anxious to do away with cow slaughter. Slogan mongering and agitation are not going to end it, nor is it going to end through legislation. Though we have the largest number of cows, they are the most uncared for; they are as good as dead and useless. On the other hand, beef eating countries have the best kinds of cows, healthy and strong. While a single cow in the West yields forty to fifty kilos of milk per day, it would be too much for an Indian cow to give half a kilo. We have only skeletons in the name of cows, and we make such a hullabaloo about them.

The production of vegetarian food, of nutritive and health-giving vegetarian food, is the first imperative if you want to abolish cow slaughter. Supporters of vegetarianism have yet to meet the argument of the non-vegetarians that the world is much too short of vegetarian food to provide nutrition and health to mankind. There is logic in their argument.

It is very interesting that both cow and monkey are vegetarians. Man inherits his body and soul from vegetarian sources. It is another thing that a monkey sometimes swallows a few ants, but by and large he is a vegetarian. The cow is wholly vegetarian; it will eat meat only when it is forced to. Under the circumstances it is strange how man has turned non-vegetarian, because his whole physical and psychic system is derived from vegetarian sources. The structure of his stomach is such as only vegetarian animals have, and so is his mental makeup. Obviously man must have been forced by circumstances to become non-vegetarian. And even today he cannot do without animal food.
It seems to me that cow slaughter will continue in spite of all our good intentions to stop it. In my view, it will only stop when we make provisions for adequate synthetic food for all. And then people have to be persuaded to take to synthetic food on a large scale. Synthetic food is the only alternative to non-vegetarianism. The day man accepts living on scientific food, meat eating will disappear, not before.

The day is not far off when we will leave behind this agitation against cow slaughter and will instead be agitating for a large scale slaughter of men. The day is not distant when man will eat man, because you cannot argue with hunger. As we now ask a dying man to donate his eyes or kidneys, we will soon ask him to donate his flesh for the hungry. And we will honor him who donates his flesh, as today we honor one who donates his heart or lungs. There is going to be such a population explosion one day.

Very soon we will begin to think it is unjust to cremate dead bodies, they should be saved for food – and it will not be something new and extraordinary; cannibalism has been known to man since ancient times. There have been tribes where man ate man to satiate his hunger. Once again we are coming close to that situation when cannibalism will be revived. In view of it, it is just stupid to agitate for a ban on cow slaughter. It is utterly unscientific to do so.

I don’t suggest that cow slaughter should not and cannot go. It can go. Not only the killing of cows, all kinds of killing can go. But then we will have to take a revolutionary step in the direction of our food and food habits. I am not in favor of cow slaughter, but I am also not in favor of those who shout out against it. All their talk is sheer nonsense. They don’t have a correct perspective and a right plan to stop cow slaughter. But it must stop; the cow should be the last animal to be killed. She is the highest in animal evolution; she is the connecting link between man and animal. She deserves all our care and compassion; we are connected with her in an innate and intimate manner. We have to take every care for her.

But remember, caring is possible only when you are in a position to take care. Without the facilities and the wherewithal, caring is impossible. We have to be pragmatic; it is no use being sentimental.
Life is lived according to its needs and exigencies, not according to ideas and theories. The cow cannot be saved when man himself is facing death. To save the cow it is necessary for man to become so affluent that he can afford it. Then, along with the cow, other animals will be saved too. The cow is, of course, nearest to us as an animal, but other animals are not that distant. Even the fish is our kin, although a distant kin. Life really began with the fish. So, as man grows affluent he will not only save the cow, he will save the fish too.


We have to be clear in our view that the cow and, for that matter, all other animals have to be saved. But it is sheer stupidity to insist on saving them even when the conditions necessary to do so are lacking.

Integrating Indian Muslims with the Indian Society

The father of slain terrorist Saifullah, Sartaj, has refused to accept his son’s body, saying that “a traitor cannot be a son.” Saifullah was killed in Lucknow’s Thakurganj after a 11 hour counter terror operation. He was suspected to be linked with the blast in the Bhopal-Ujjain train yesterday, police said. His father has now disowned him and has stated that he will not cremate his body. Speaking to reporters, Saifullah's father Sartaj emphasized, "We are Indian citizens. I was born here, my ancestors were born here." He said he had heard this morning about the death of his son in the encounter. He further said that his son left home two and a half months ago. He was not happy with his ways and then there was an altercation between us before he fled home. The last time I spoke to him was last Monday when he had said that his VISA was ready and that he was leaving for Saudi Arabia soon.

Mr Sartaj act is appreciable and is logically the best decision.However instead of talking about this singular incident we must address the larger issue of so called Islamic radicalization of Indian Muslims. It's easy to point out flaws and criticize government policies. The harder part is to offer an implementable road map to solve the delicate problem of Islamic radicalism in India. The policy solution, however, can only come once the right diagnosis has been made and the roots of radicalism understood. I feel that home-grown radicalization arises from an identity crisis, one that starts in the household and leaves some Indian Muslims unable to integrate into mainstream society. Such Muslims, I argue, are most likely to fell prey to radical Islamist propaganda through social media or through the physical networks of radical organizations.

The issue of countering radicalism, then, is really about how to integrate Indian Muslims into present mainstream society. My major criticism of the present Indian Government's counter-radicalization strategy has been its 'religious' nature. Trying desperately to find a religious solution to a problem that has social roots is likely going to fail. The Indian Government has been trying to fix Islam instead of fixing a small percentage of Muslims in India at risk of radicalization due to their upbringing and exposure to a misinterpreted violent ideology.
This unconscious Islamisation by the Indian Government, emerging from misdirected advice from Muslim community leaders, has led to an undue overdeveloped focus on religion. For instance, if the aim is to integrate Indian Muslims into society, then focusing on their personal issues and discussing nonstop in media just pushes and further traps Muslims into their own community, leaving them feeling more isolated in India than ever before. What, then, is the solution? 

For one thing, specialized campaigns and programs are needed for Muslim community leaders and parents whose very teachings their kids in their early years have a major impact on how well these kids fit into Indian mainstream society. Influencing Muslim parents' approach to raising their children will have a long-term sustainable impact on de-radicalization.

Second, having talked to young Indian Muslims, both men and women, I would argue that the permanent solution for India's growing Islamic radicalization problem is a non-religious response based on sports, entertainment, and exposure (SEE). Why these three areas? Because not only will they get the quickest integration and de-radicalization results, but most young Muslims will willingly participate.

Government investment in building sports facilities for Muslim youth to support integration with the larger Indian population would be a tremendous start. Spending on creating local Muslim cricket/Hockey/Soccer leagues, and having them play against universities or State and Central level tournaments is the sort of exposure that will go a long way to taking hundreds of Young Muslim enthusiasts away from the risks of radicalization. It will also help other Communities overcome their prejudices against Muslims.

Second, with the growing interest of youth in media, Government spending on providing a platform for Muslim youth who have a taste for such pursuits will get a great response. Recognizing Muslim talent through a film competition, for example, would generate far more involvement from Muslim youth, and better results.

Third and most important is exposure to government services. The majority of Indian Muslims come from financially poor background, where a government job is considered the most sought after job – a symbol of respect and acceptance in society. The British Empire in India offered government positions to locals in order to pacify any revolt against them, and it worked. Given the negligible presence of Muslims in government and law enforcement, will have an overwhelming and permanent impact on young Indian Muslims.

Two crucial factors underpin this SEE strategy, which together can have a major impact on de-radicalization: first, by focusing on non-religious solutions, it neutralizes the overdeveloped emphasis on religion; and second, it provides hope and acceptance to Muslims through programs tailored to their interests and culture – in short, it offers a chance to excel in Indian society.

If the Indian Government can create this sense of opportunity for Indian Muslims, it will go a long way to not just assimilating the Muslim community but making it a highly productive part of society and retain the plural fiber of the great country.

Value Education, Role Of Faculties

INTRODUCTION

Value Education: Need of the Hour

Mankind is passing through a crisis. The tremendous emphasis on the scientific and mechanical ways of life is fast reducing man to the status of a machine. Moral and religious values are being undermined. The fundamental principles of civilization are being ignored. Conflicts of ideas, manners and habits are pervading the atmosphere. Disregard for everything old is the fashion of the day. At this situation, the solution of all these social and global evils is through value education. Emphasis should be laid on such education through which moral values can be developed among the students so that they can conduct their life morally. They can decide what is right or wrong; what is good or evil; what is justice or injustice. If we can make a student as a good human being, the development of moral values within him is the prior task of education. They are the foundation of human existence. They make our life meaningful.

Due to dearth of values in the present generation the curriculum must give prominence to value education. Value education has never been out of style. It is very relevant in almost all the fields concerning human activity. We have outstanding doctors who are in to organ robbery, brilliant engineers whose bridges collapses soon after their bills are passed, accountants who rob government treasury by manipulation, civil servants who rule as emperors, politicians with fake promises. All of them are the best educated and trained but their intellectual dishonesty is horrifying. Hence, the need of development of moral values is very significant. Some important needs have been mentioned below:

1. Preparing Our Children for Future Roles in Society:

Knowledge gained in school is only one goal of education. The primary goals of education should be enabling students to gain knowledge and moral values. Our kids will need both in preparing themselves to be good parents and citizens in society.

2. Many Parents Aren’t Teaching Moral Values:

If all parents were teaching their children moral values in the home, it would not be necessary for the schools to do this work. The sad fact is that a lot of kids are not learning from their parents the difference between right and wrong. This is because most mothers and fathers in their busy work days spend only a few hours with their children. In many families there is only one parent and no other role models for kids to follow:

3. There is Too Much Violence and Dishonesty in Society:

Every day students are exposed to violence, dishonesty, and other social problems in the media and the real world. How many times have we heard about school shootings? What about other times when students are caught cheating on exams? Then, too, we read about bullying in school and fights between gangs. If moral values were taught in schools, we would have fewer of these problems.

4. To Counter Bad Influences in Society:

Unfortunately, many of the role models of young people are setting bad examples. These bad examples range from sexual promiscuity, degrading of women, advocacy of violence, and the condoning of dishonesty in order to succeed.

5. Moral Values Will Stick with You for Life:

The significant of moral values in our life is very important. Moral values teach us what is right or wrong. Thus, we can conduct our life in a right direction. We can understand what is good or evil. This type of learning helps us to conduct our life morally in this world.

SOME IMPORTANT MORAL VALUES IN CURRICULUM

If we want to make our students as a moral human being, college curriculum is one of the best ways to serve this purpose. Because he think that moral values can be inculcated among our students through a value based college curriculum. Therefore, following is suggested.

1. Unconditional Love and Kindness: In most cases, if you love someone, he or she will love you back in return. This, however, is not the real meaning of love. Love should be unconditional. With more love in the world, kindness will follow and replace cruelty.

2. Honesty: Students must be taught that dishonesty and cheating is wrong, and will get you nowhere in the future. As a student, one is only hurting himself or herself by cheating, because this action will eventually catch up to you in the end with bad consequences.

3. Hard Work: Nowadays, so many students want to cheat and cut corners in their studies, because they are lazy and don’t place any value on hard word. This thinking must change.

4. Respect for Others: Unfortunately, in our highly competitive dog eat dog society; many people will tread on others to get ahead in life. Respect for others should include respecting different religions, races, sexes, ideas, and life styles.

5. Co-operation: To achieve a common goal, it is necessary for all people to work together. If this is not done, a few people may profit, but the end result for everyone will be a failure. I still believe in the motto, “united we stand and divided we fall.

6. Compassion: Compassion is defined as being sensitive to the needs of people. If there were more compassion in the world, there would be less homeless, hunger, wars, and unhappiness.

7. Forgiveness: Anger in most cases is caused by unwillingness to forgive. There would be less violence and fighting in school if students could learn this moral virtue.

Role of Faculty in Imparting Value Education

Ordinary Teachers can bring about extraordinary transformation in the society. A teacher should practice what he preaches. Teachers are a role-model for the students. Their actions convey more than their words. Students learn values from what the teachers are rather than from what they say. Teacher makes a maximum impact on the personality of a student in the formative years. Students imbibe virtues and vices knowingly and unknowingly from theses role models. Teachers demonstrate the appropriate behavior of their students by their actions. Teachers must have healthy attitude and should possess rich values. Teaching is all about attitude-positive/ negative towards their job of imparting quality education. Teacher should act as a friend, philosopher and guide.

A teacher is not only a source of information but is also a mentor and guardian. For this teacher must respect the teaching profession, love her subjects and students, Students will seek inspiration from teachers who have high self-esteem. A decade back or so the role of a teacher was limited to being a source of information. But today this place is shared by books, coaching classes, multimedia technology etc. So the role of a teacher is marginalized. Role of a teacher has increased manifold. In modern times we are experiencing transition. A teacher can maintain values and nurture them. A teacher has an immense potential of bringing about a sea change in the society by demonstrating essential values of head and heart. Teacher can impart values in students by giving them instructions through discussion, experimentation and lectures and by the following mentioned ways:

Teachers can maintain a case-study register to closely observe the students and note down the positive and negative traits of their personality.

By organizing cultural and sports events values like team spirit, sharing, spirit of cooperation, patience, courtesy etc can be imparted.

National and religious festivals must be celebrated to foster a feeling of homogeneity.

“Thought for the Day” should be employed in assemblies. Moral thoughts trigger in them moral thinking.

Teachers should give importance to cooperative learning.

Skits, role plays propagating moral values can be performed by students under the guidance of teacher.

Teacher must tell the students to go to the libraries- the treasure house of knowledge. Classics available in the library are morally rich and inspiring.

Teacher must explain the students the importance of meditation& yoga practices for realization or the attainment of oneness with God.

Every day a Teacher must spent at least 5 minutes on moral lecturing.

Impart knowledge of foreign languages to make them know different cultures.

Organize games, excursions, visits to places of historical importance. Club activities like nature club, literary club, wildlife prevention club, social service camps, blood donation etc.

Suicidal tendencies in students should be curbed. They must be prepared by the teacher to face the challenges of life fearlessly and with courage.

The most important agent for building the character of the student is a teacher. Character is nothing but a bundle of habits formed through repeated acts. Character building can change the nation. As strong foundation is required for a strong building, strong character is required for nation-building.

CONCLUSION

When a problem arises, it needs to be recognized, addressed and resolved. Instead of blaming people or institutions for the results of a lack of morality in schools and colleges. We should focus our efforts on finding ways of successfully implementing character education into schools. Changes have to occur in parents, legislators, communities, and the media and educational system so that children are taught how to behave. Actualizing character education programs into schools is necessary in order to overcome this nation’s crisis of character. Thus Teachers play an important role in the nation building by character building of the students. The best and the greatest profession in the world is that of a teacher, because the future of a nation depends upon the type of teachers who shape the future generations. Every teacher plays the most important role in shaping the students as enlightened citizen. I have a simple message for all faculties, “Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal are achieved”.

India of My Dream

A little more than 65 years ago, on 26 November 1949, we, the people of India, adopted, enacted and gave unto ourselves our Constitution, laying down, thereby, our solemn resolve to constitute our motherland into a sovereign socialist Democratic Republic and the secure to all its citizens Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. While elaborating the forms of these fundamentals of our Republic we left little out of view, perhaps as a wishful flourish of the principles on which we fought the struggle for independence ; or perhaps because we were too sure that the monolithic structure of our ancient culture will be fit to support the multifaceted edifice. 

Today, when the third generation of free Indians is about to hand over the reins of the country to a fourth, the cardinal question whether, and to what degree, we have realized our ambitious goals continues to remain unanswered. It is my considered belief that we are not leaving much hope for the next generation. Social, economic and political justice has been hogged by the privileged few. Liberty of thought, expression, faith and worship, which was supposed to widen the spiritual and intellectual horizons of the human soul, has become the most handy instrument of exploitation of human personality. Equality of status and opportunity is buried under the garbage heap of dishonesty and corruption. And fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the integrity of the nation, has become a commercial exhibition reserved only for the Republic Day. 

We have perhaps yet to realize that our over-ripe culture is in an advanced state of decay.  What is good in it is no longer alive and has been overtaken by the destructive element of international trade winds. The mental frame that we adopted from our erstwhile rulers to sustain us through the teething times has developed grievous metal fatigue. We are the cross-roads and have to choose the straight and narrow path if we are to achieve our ambitions. 

If a statement of truth gets a man dubbed a cynic, call me so. I am not a cynic. I am not an escapist either. Nor do I deny the astronomical leaps taken by the country, particularly in comparison with those who gained freedom at the same time in history as India. We were at a starvation corner in 1947. Today we are not only self-sufficient in food but are among its exporters. And the fact that this green revolution was achieved by a totally uneducated peasantry and in a god forsaken underdeveloped hinterland is a miracle to be seen and believed. We had a wretched skeleton of an industrial base, mainly composed of agro-products, and a small number of textile mills, coalfields and ore mines. Today we are the eight largest industrialized nation of the world, manufacturing or at least assembling almost everything from a safety pin to a supersonic aircraft. From a nation which perforce, under an alien and self-seeking rule, produced only office clerks, we have now become a nation whose prowess as the third largest bank of techno-economic manpower is unquestioned. All this cannot be denied.

But the dignity of the individual, the inner strength of human character, and the courage to accept and do only that which a man in his conscience believes to be correct, that self-respecting mettle which is nurtured only by true education and persistent exercise, and “maketh a nation great and strong” in the true sense is as deplorable today in the age of the supersonic aircraft as it was in the age of the bullock cart.

The Indian of my dreams is not an India of high-tech economic advancement. It is a vision which perhaps died with the freedom fighters – “where the mind is without fear and head is held high’’ – it is that haven of freedom into which we still have to lead our ancient nation. The dignity of the individual which is at the heart of the cosmic concept of fraternity and national pride inalienable to my dream of a strong and free India. Justice, liberty, equality and fraternity- the hallmarks of a living democracy- are elusive ideals unless the individual gets his due.

A democracy is one in which the rule of law prevails. People are ruled by consent enshrined in the laws made by their chosen representatives, and have a right to dissent and challenge that which is illegal and underhand. Coercion of any kind, mental economic, political or intellectual, is a form of violence and should find no place in any democracy. Form a statistical point of view we have the largest number of laws covering and uncovering almost every aspect of human life. But the inside out of Indian democracy today is that law is obeyed more in circumvention and defiance than in effect. 

A democracy is one in which the true choice of the people gets reflected in the public representative. We have yet to make a beginning in that direction. Elections in India continue to yield to the manipulative tactics of the privileged few whether privileged by sheer dint of being in power at the sacred time of the poll or being privileged to be able to commandeer enough financial resources to influence and purchase the people’s choice. A third category of the privileged professional who are swarming the holy precincts of our legislatures are the musclemen who first worked for those who began to depend on them to browbeat the voters and then preferred to displace their erstwhile masters. Absence of purity in our election process is at the root of corruption in India.  

I dream of an India in which the voter shall be able to assert his true choice will be free and aware enough to indentify the appropriate man for the helm of affairs. Public awareness is the key to a vibrant and living  democracy- awareness of what ails the nation, what are our ills and what remedies are best under the prevailing environment, awareness of what are the rights and obligation of the citizens and what a faithful exercise of  these rights will contribute towards the general good and well-being of all.

And this awareness which has always been the proud possession of the vibrant Indian psyche has played second fiddle all through our recent post-Independence period. Our system of education is still limited in its approach. “Education”, said Hazlitt “is that which remains in us after we have forgotten what we learnt in books.” Educations in India is still only bookish and merely career-oriented. It does not train fully grown, aware and self- assured young men and women to swim confidently in the tumultuous ocean of the competitive and conflict- ridden society. Women who constitute half the mass of people are still by and large deprived.

The India of my dreams, though technologically keeping pace with the world and economically sound and self-sustaining, will be only an Indian of clay and mud if the foundations are not built on human character and honesty sustained by education which nurtures the human personality in its true sense.