Of late, I have been watching a trend in the country for
blatantly decrying the authorities for even petty issues, as if the individuals
have no role in improving the rot. Earlier I had written a post here, quoting a
reputed Western politician, which already also had been told by Swami
Vivekanand that instead of asking what the govt. is doing, we should ask
ourselves what we are doing for the nation. Despite that, the fashion of projecting
himself as a progressive citizen, one points out failings of the institutions.
For highlighting such views, the social media is a platform, accessible to all
with the freedom to post anything irresponsibly. This morning, when I pondered
over this scenario, a question struck me, is it exclusive to India or a global
phenomenon?
In retrospect,
I thought about several AIfro-Asian and Latin American countries who got freedom
from foreign rule in last say about a century of time. Since the French
Revolution, we have seen the unchallengeable might of the public. When the
people at large unitedly stand for a cause, no autocratic might can sustain the
pressure. For doing so, the people have a common goal for which they set aside
their petty considerations and join hand for a covetable common objective. But
once the colonial rulers are chased away and the power comes to the hands of
the natives, the priorities change almost to the extent of a nosedive.
The political
and economic condition of such a newly independent country is pathetic as the
colonial power had already made it pauper. This obviously leads to a situation
of uncertainty in which the men of status become suspicious of their
surroundindings and become extremely cautious of their own existence. They lose
faith even in comrades who struggled hand in hand for freedom. You can have the
example of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan,
Nitish Kumar and several others, who united under JP umbrella against the
Emergency and once Mrs. Gandhi was discarded by the voters, they indulged in
mutually internecine legpulling. An unending process of petering out of the
Janata Dal ensued with the result that JP’s Janata Dal has hid in the pages of
history. The name sake JD, led by Subramanian Swamy has recently merged with
the BJP.
In an
atmosphere of political and economic uncertainty, two important developments
take place. Firstly, the leaders do not have any faith in their fellowmen and
so while distributing power, they either prefer their own family members or
prefer some yesmen. Take example of Bihar. For Lalu, despite several senior
party colleagues, the chair goes to Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti, Tej Pratatap and
Tejaswi. Even a trusted lieutenant like Ram Kripal Yadav was ignored to favour
Misha while allotting Patna Lok Sabha seat. Ram Vilas had to depend on his son
to take charge of his party. Mulayam with eight family members grabbed all
important positions. Karunanidhi family in Chennai does not permit any outsider
to share the fruit of power. The same story is true about Delhi, Mumbai and
Srinagar.
The second
aspect is that the leaders are afraid of their wealth getting lost in the
prevailing political situation being in a flux. So they run in search of tax
havens with secrecy provisions where their earning could be safe. It is this
pressing psyche in neo-independent countries that the peers siphon their cash
through hawala or other channels to the banks of Switzerland, Panama, Mauritius
and so on. These countries become rich without doing any business with these
foreign funds stacked in their coffer.
In this
backdrop, this global phenomenon takes root when eveyrbody wants to turn
opulent overnight. Eveyrbody sits idle and blames others for any loophole,
where the individual has only one job of abusing the govt. even for flood, storm,
earthquake and other natural calamities caused by greenhouse effect. We
believe, that in the time to come, the situation will get settled when the
mutual trust will revive and there will be a new dawn in India.
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