Violence and Non violence- conflicting terms

Ahimsa — we are so used to it. The whole nation propagates it in the name of MK Gandhi. Every campaign or movement starts with it (be it Anna Hazare or Ramdev). Several times a question arises in my mind- Are we truly nonviolent? Do this Ahimsa has any real significance in life

We’ll, I’m bit doubtful. I don’t think we are non violent. Violence is in human blood, and we hold no distinction to that. We are using this non violence or Ahimsa propaganda just to hide our weaknesses. I’m not writing this in reference to MK Gandhi or Mahatma Buddha – the icons of Ahimsa. I’m just talking in the general scenario.

We propagate non violence, but from deep inside we know we are violent. We have resorted to nonviolence because either we have come used to it or we are lacking something. The big question is- is it the only means? Or is it effective? I remember the words of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji where he says – when all means of peaceful negotiation end up with no positive results, sword is your ultimate friends.

 “When the affairs are past other remedies, It is justifiable to unsheath the sword.”

I’m not a supporter of violence but sometimes, under some circumstances it becomes necessary. But who justifies the circumstances. We don’t carry the intellects to differentiate the necessity of a situation. Take the recent case the mob violence against North East Indians in the southern parts. (I’m not referring to any religion here, because I personally believe no religion preaches what is happening). The NE Indians are in minority so they are getting attacked. And same case applies to North Eastern states as well.

Now coming to the political scene: We gather on Jantar Mantar or maybe some other stage for a peaceful protest against wrong policies. Police comes up, sometimes even we are asleep with their canes and beat the holy hell out of us. They aren’t non violent. Are they?

I go sometime back: there was a big fuss created in Maharashtra in the name of Marathi Manus. A well established political personality openly condemned the immigration of people of other parts of the same nation. He even provokes his party men to attack them and the result was seen with the loss of public property, shops being shattered, cabs broken and burnt and people beaten and stoned. A non bailable warrant is issued but no arrests took place. Was that Ahimsa. I know the localites had problems with uncontrolled immigration but that was a result of political failure of that state. Was that particular minister trying to convey that only a few local Indians have right on particular area of this nation while others doesn’t. He needs to learn we all are Indians and each and every Indian has equal right of this nation. But attacking immigrants aren’t the solution. Again another instance of our violent character.

There are hundreds of other instances and I won’t be mentioning all those here. Now moving to the main point:
As proposed by MK Gandhi if a person slaps you, bring affront the other side. To some extent I agree. May be assailant feels ashamed of his action. But what if he again slaps? And this happens several times. You certainly are left with no other option but become violent but on the defensive end.

Among the two conflicting thoughts of being violent or non Violent I would say there is a need of a midway. As stated by Guru Gobind Singh Ji- you start up with a humble interaction, try to influence, move on with an aggressive talk if the former fails and sword needs to be the last resort.

Many people would say I’m getting fanatic right now and just promoting an ill fated act of violence. I’m not. Above I mentioned some instances, here are a few more with violence on a positive note.

Take the example of French revolution where the tyrant monarchs were dragged in public and executed. That was the case where being non violent wasn’t holding any means. People were denied their basic rights and they finally have to resort to violent means to mend their corrupt system and build up a nation. Similar is the case with Libya. But we are living in a democratic society. Ruling party always propagates non violence. But that is not for them, but for common masses, because deep down inside they know the violent consequences of what they are doing to our nation. But we need to take a step ahead. If we do just even a fraction of what Libyans and French did, we will be able to restructure the internal systems of our nation. But I really doubt, if we will ever do that.

In the nutshell, being completely violent or non violent doesn’t do any good. But there is a need to alter strategies so that production goals are met. Violence may not help, but sometimes it is necessary.

Our independences and challenges ahead

Today is the 66^th Independence Day that we are celebrating. 65 years ago on 15^th August, 1947, when the mid night hour struck India was declared independent from the long reigning shackles of slavery. The maiden speech from the first Prime Minister Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others.

We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed! We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow stricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.

On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation [Gandhi], who, embodying the old spirit of India held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.

Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death. We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind."

The speech purely brings us to a point – we have worked hard in the past but need to work harder for a better future. Some western counterparts said this nation has so much diversity that they won’t be able to survive even a decade, but we have successfully survived six and a half decades. No doubt, we were often confronted with some internal and external disturbance that tried to divide us, we has stood together in all tough times and we need to do the same for our future and for the future of our coming generations. Yes we have several deficiencies but who doesn’t have. Even the most developed nations have been through such phases.

It is time that we should pledge to stand together and adhere to remarkable deeds accomplished by those who selflessly laid their lives for this nation and build up a nation that they have dreamt of; a nation that we always dream of.

We complain for corruption, poverty, unemployment, low development, non performing government and for other sufferings that a common Indian faces everyday, but we forget the fact that this is the common Indian who some decades ago forced one of the strongest nation to leave their land and set them free. We have to realize the power of that common Indian and have to collectively stand against any challenge that confronts us. We are to tell the world what we are.

Lets celebrate our independence together and promise to build a nation that is even better.

The falling Indian rupee- true cause unveiled

Indian rupee is touching new lows these days as compared to USD. This has not just left finance ministry, but the whole nation in a serous wretchedness. Economists are giving various reasons for this steep fall. The prominent reasons that have come to light so far includes rising demand for USD to meet import needs, rising prices of crude oil in international markets, euro zone crisis etc. All in all, it is because of adverse balance of payments, if we are to summarize in few words. This adversity has arisen because of oil prices and euro zone crisis particularly.

This troubled BOP isn’t a problem that India has come across today only. Actually, India has always struggled with balance of payments. The major reason for that is lack of will and practicality in goals. Defense and oil imports form a major portion of our foreign trade. In both these areas, we are not self reliant. It took more than twenty seven years to develop a fighter plane, more than three decades passed on while the tank is still under development, we still have to import artillery guns and we are still dependent on decommissioned aircraft carriers bought at whooping prices.

Indian military needs aren’t concealed from anyone. We rest in a geographical playground where we have to be at the top. Comparing India to Israel, one can simply see the difference where we are lacking. A small nation like Israel is much more advanced than the world’s second most populous and seventh largest nation.

Now coming to fuel prices, majority of the nations in the world are blessed with limited resources of oil and one day they are going to get exhausted. So are they are going to face similar brunt in future? Definitely not, here we lack exploration will. Americans always hunt for oil, because they know future is going to be powered with oil (whether they accept it or not). China keeps on laying its claims in South China Sea and always tries to press the small island nations, not because of some enmity but it knows the presence of natural resources there. But we are lacking similar temperament. We have a vast Indian ocean in the vicinity, that has plentiful resources buried under it, but we have never bothered for exploring them. In fact, we have become so addicted to our imports that we hardly accept local makes or take endeavors to do something of our own.

We are still revolving around the baseless politics instead of looking far and progressing. Economic downturn that is set on horizon for India is because of our political incapacity, incapability and lack of far sightedness. There is need to look beyond regional conflicts and place India on the center of the world. If we can have bilateral agreements with Iran on trading in INR then why can’t we do that with other nations? Why depend on US dollars? There are two ways to go; either we find a solution tailored to our needs or face Greek like crisis.

Toongate- the inside story

From the past few days it seems adults particularly our politicians are finding toons more adorable than kids. Either its the Mamta Banarjee’s toon leading to imprisonment of a professor, or the curious case of Gandhi clan caricature making Kapil Sibal demanding censorship of social media content or the recent Nehru - Ambedkar Text book toongate that lead to disruption of parliamentary proceedings.

Caricature has been a part of our society ever since India got its print media. From its origin it has been a way of seeking humor in some serious issues. There are regular toon columns that run through newspapers and magazines. Toons have been just a medium to bring some humor to serious side. And we all have loved that. So whats wrong with that now? I can’t understand. Making toons of politicians is now considered an act of disrespect. We are now getting animated movies and majority of those made in India are based on our mythological gods; so what does that mean? Are we becoming disrespectful to our Gods? We respect and believe them the same way as we have done always. And there is a censor board for such movies and they have never banned any such content. Even we have loved to watch that with our kids.

So why a scene political toons? Don’t tell me please, our politicians in any case are above God! I don’t think so…

There is only one thing that I can see in this whole case. Our politicians have lost their sense of humor (I always doubted if they had any). Or they are just trying to blindside the real issues of discussion. They have got scams, inflation above the neck, now rupee decline to the lowest depths compared to dollar, social condition getting worst day by day, airline crisis and many more. They are just getting hefty cheques, enjoying travels across nation and world on government expenses and are doing nothing else.

Being an Indian have you ever asked any politician what they do in the parliament? What they are paid for? We have attended their rallies sitting in sun, often got slapped with rules that they make in their air condition rooms ( that certainly don’t apply on them, of course). No we haven’t. For an Indian it has become a part of common news coverage that ends up with the newspaper headlines the following day. Actually we have got used to such nonsense. Its not our politicians who have lost their minds (Actually they never had one), but we voluntarily have put our minds in bags.

Right to liberty of speech and expression curtailed

Read the title twice- because I myself did that. I never thought in my life that this will happen in India. But yes its happening. This was there during the Moghul rule where tyrant nobles and kings used to suppress those speaking and raising voice against them. But that was a different age. This is 21^st century India and this is happening in West Bengal.

The iconic Bengal lady, that turned down the leadership of CPM after three and a half decades is now getting paranoid not just with the opposition CPM but also with the common masses.

Recently Partha Sarathi Ray a professor who was a few day back just unknown to masses got fame in a night. The reason is he cartooned Mamta Banerjee, Chief minister of Bengal and was put behind bars. He has been charged with wild crimes -- Indian Penal Code, Sections 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 500 (defamation) and 114 (abetting a crime), and Information Technolocy Act, Section 66 A(b) (causing offence using a computer).

And in her latest dictat orders have been issues not to meet, talk, or have any relations with the CPM party members in any way. Before that I heard somewhere she banned certain newspapers and books from the library.

Now can you even believe whats happening? If this has been a case in China the fact would have been understood, but this is happening in world’s largest democracy. When I’m writing this I got the news that the profession got his bail. But did he even deserve what happened. The lady has gone crazy. We have the right to express ourselves, our views, and the cartoon that he portrayed didn’t seem offensive to me in any case.

So whats the call? What the political agenda here. Government can’t do anything in this case as I guess because they are in coalition with the TMC. And if they dare to take action, they loose their much wanted support. What are the actions from supreme court, that has been vested the responsibility to protect the rights of the individuals. And what is the reaction of people? Yes they are criticizing Bengal government, but is that enough. Well the time will tell.

To conclude I would like to say. I am Indian. I have the right to speak and express by law and by birth and no one can deny me of it.