Will of the People Must Prevail

On 19^th November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke about 273 words that eventually became the bedrock of the concept of democracy. Lincoln said:

 “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”[i].

Some 46000 soldiers from Unionists and Confederates had given up their life in the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg and President Lincoln called upon the nation to immortalize their sacrifice in the cause of democracy with the above words.

President Donald Trump, some 157 years later, on 7^th January 2021 said, ““If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,”[ii] Incited by his remarks, a crowd vandalized the hallowed premises of the Capitol Hill, a symbol of American democracy for 250 years now. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the assault on the Capitol was "fomented by Mr. Trump," writing that "his use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice. Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form a more perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country," Mattis added[iii].

Four protesters died on the Capitol giving up their lives to undo what President Lincoln hoped America will become – a nation that is prepared to shed blood to defy, deny and brutalize the representational character of democracy just because one man believes that the system has not favored him for re-election.

America will never be the same again - a nation that has stood as the beacon of democracy, albeit forging its democratic credentials through fire. The Capitol incident is also a worrisome indicator of the nature of politics for power that is surging its head across the globe. A development that ordinary people everywhere must take note of owing to its effect on the fundamental freedoms that are at stake.

There is little need to discourse the merits of democracy. People have a fundamental right to choose the government of their choice through the ballot. It is people will that renders democracy possible. America’s own Constitution so loftily proclaims:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America[iv].

The Constitution of the largest democracy in the world, India, also proclaims:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

 

JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

 

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

 

and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation[v];

 

It needs no convincing to understand that the people are the reason why governments exist. When governments, more specifically the elected representatives of the people who are in power defy the very fundamentals that are necessary for peaceful transition of such power, democracy stands in peril.

The incidents in Capitol Hill may have been brought under control. The pristine environs may be restored in a short while. Vandals may be brought to justice. But the faith of people in democratic process that has been damaged would not be easy to restore. More importantly, the faith in polity that has suffered will take generations of politicians to reinstate.

America is standing at a crucial juncture in its own history. As the sole super power, in a geopolitical climate that is potentially explosive, in a world that is fighting a pandemic of mammoth proportions, in a world economy that needs little encouragement to slide down further, the choices that American people will make would determine whether America will retain its moral supremacy as a democracy.

We must believe that the will of people would prevail. The future of democracy across the world depends on it.  

---

[i] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/abraham-lincoln-birthday-gettysburg-address-civil-war-us-president-trump-a8206946.html

[ii] https://time.com/5926883/trump-supporters-storm-capitol/

[iii] https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/trump-us-capitol-secured-dc-protest/

[iv] https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/the-constitution/#:~:text=We%20the%20People%20of%20the,for%20the%20United%20States%20of

[v] https://www.constitutionofindia.net/constitution_of_india/preamble

Farewell 2020, Welcome 2021!!

2020!!

Like every other years that passed by, 2020 also arrived to our expectations, dreams, aspirations and desires. A year in which one more step towards these would be taken; a year in which some more sense of fulfilment would be added.

And then Corona happened. Man made disasters are not new to mankind. We have had quite a handful before. The earlier human catastrophes engineered innovation in medical response. Corona engineered geopolitics!! Even as the world gathered its best medical brains and scientists to evolve a medical response, Corona pushed America and its allies close to a war - in trade, in diplomacy, in military alliances and in diplomatic maneuvers.

Even countries like India, who had generally been cautious in upping the ante went out to revitalize QUAD; Japan shed its defence policy to re-shape its Self Defence Forces (SDF) for offensive roles, and down South in Australia vociferous calls were made for international investigation. China went into hyper drive and sent its forces into Ladakh against India, pushed its fences across the borders with Nepal and Bhutan; the dormant CPEC showed renewed vigour to the extent that the Baluch went up in arms!!

Europe, Africa and South America became cautious about Chinese imports; America expelled scientists with Chinese funding even from Harvard and WHO was rattled with allegations of colluding with China. Hong Kong and BREXIT were relegated to the 'other news'; Think Tanks all over the world took up China as the single point object of analysis and economies around the world scrambled down in fear and panic.

All just because one more pandemic infested mankind? No, because Corona is different. Virus or no virus, Corona engineered geopolitics.

As we roll into 2021, the world is yet to come to terms with Corona. Yes, vaccines have been announced, countries for a change are stockpiling medicines and we will overcome this too. But the geopolitical aftermath that Corona set rolling will take a long time to overcome. Our options to do so will not be new, but they will be hard.

We will need sanity across the spectrum of political leadership; we will need a lot less war mongering by the media and arms lobby; we will need to respect international law regime and believe that in abiding by it our guarantee for a safer world depends.

Countries that propel their self interest by any means at their disposal and countries that delight in being or aspire to be dominant powers in world or regional stage need for once to stop and think. Countries that voice solidarity for a free world but sell weapons and technology to friends and foes alike must desist. Countries that have the economic means should step forward to provide for countries that do not have the economic muscle to acquire vaccinations.

Children who have lost their schooling due to Corona must be technologically assisted to continue education; farmers, small business and daily wagers whose sustenance is threatened must be provided for. Millions stranded away from near and dear ones due to pandemic conditions must be facilitated to feel safe and wanted, if not re-united, with their loved ones.

At no other time of earlier pandemics we needed these more - peace and humanity.

If Corona has proved to be different, then it is for us to prove that humans are different too. 

Let's hope that our inherent belief in our own goodness prevails!! So grant us God.           

Podcast: The Prince

Please listen to me narrating a story from the history of India's freedom struggle in this podcast:

https://anchor.fm/ramesh-srinivasan/episodes/Pages-from-History-Indias-Freedom-Struggle-ecrqm1

Vanchi

On 17 June 1911, Robert William Escourt Ashe boarded the Maniyachi Mail at Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Ashe and his wife Mary Lillian Patterson, were on the way to Kodaikanal (a hill station near Madurai) to visit their four children. Ashe was the Collector of Tirunelveli and was instrumental in sending VO Chidambaram Pillai to life imprisonment on charges of sedition. The story of VOC, popularly known as Kappalottiya Thamizan, is by itself a legend in Tamil Nadu.

While Ashe and his wife waited for their train to move, two young men boarded their first class compartment. One of them, a well dressed youth of about 25, came abreast of Ashe and pulling out a pistol shot Ashe in the chest. Ashe collapsed dead on his seat. Before Mary Patterson could react, the two men exited the coach and went separately their way. The young man with the pistol ran to the toilet in the end of the platform. A short while later, his body was recovered from the toilet, pistol in hand. He had shot himself through the mouth. In his pocket was a note that claimed his intention to shoot Ashe as a protest against the coronation of King George the Vth, King and Emperor of India. Ashe was the only Englishman to be shot dead in South India during the Indian Independence struggle.

The young man was VANCHI aka Vanchinathan aka Shankaran.

Born into a brahmin family, Vanchi's generation of young men in Madras Province (as Tamil Nadu was known at that time) were deeply moved by VOC when he launched the Swadeshi Steamship Navigation Company in 1906. Challenging the greatest naval power on its own singular prowess on the seas was like a spark that kindled the fires of freedom struggle in their hearts. In the two years that VOC's ships broke British monopoly on the seas, a swell of pride stoked the patriotic fervor in thousands of hearts. That Ashe as collector of Tirunelveli did everything in his might to ensure disbanding the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, eventually succeeding in framing VOC on charges of sedition sending him to jail for 80 years, was not something that the young generation was willing to take submissively. At least, Vanchi did not think so.

Vanchi had carried only two bullets in his pistol. He was clear, after killing Ashe, that he will end his life than face a trial for murder. He left behind a wife who was apparently pregnant at the time of his death. However, no direct descendant of Vanchi is alive.

One hundred years after Vanchi's death, on 18 June 2011, the son of Vanchi's younger brother, Hariharan, received an email from Robert Ashe, grandson of Robert William Escourt Ashe. The email said:

 "On this day of sad but proud remembrance, we, the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Robert William Ashe would like to extend to the family of Vanchi Iyer, a message of reconciliation and friendship. Vanchi was an idealist political campaigner whose zeal for the freedom of his beloved India sent Robert to his early grave. Moments later, he took his own young life.  All who act fervently in the political arena, both ruler and oppressed, risk making mortal mistakes, and we who are fortunate enough to live on, must forgive and live in peace together[i]."

The email, sent by the family of the late British Collector of Tirunelveli, conveys the philosophically broadminded disposition of Ashe family to the act of Vanchi.  Hariharan on his part acknowledged the email and went further to note that both Vanchi and Ashe merely did what they perceived as their duty at that time. No ill will prevailed on personal front, then or now. 

We must bow to the Ashe family for their honorable acknowledgement of Vanchi’s sacrifice. But, in celebrating Vanchi we would truly celebrate India.

Jai Hind.      

---

[i] http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/late-british-officer's-kin-sent-letter-to-killer's-kin/5/16690/

  

The Prince

On 13 March 1910, the police arrested a 26 old man in Paris and deported him to Britain. In Britain, he was to be kept under maximum security. The British government had ensured that the arrest was kept under wraps and that neither general public nor the Indian community in London got any winds of it. He was to be sent to Bombay to face charges that were as yet not even known to the British parliament. It would suffice to surmise that the young man was a special prisoner. Why else British authorities prepare a full ship to transport a single prisoner to India?

The ship SS Morea had special guards and a carefully designed cage in which the young man was to be kept chained. British instructions to the special guards were curiously akin to forest guards tasked to transport dangerous carnivores. The ship left the shores of England and in due course called its port on 08 July 1910 at Marseilles in France for replenishment. Sensing that the ship was in port, the young man made a daring escape. He swam ashore in his shackles and ran into a couple of French policemen on patrol. Unfortunately, he did not speak French and the policemen wouldn’t understand English. As he tried to mime his way through, the British guards from the ship arrived and it did not take much of explaining by them to get him back into custody.

Deciding that he was too dangerous to be conveyed by just one ship and his guards, British government dispatched a naval frigate to escort SS Morea to Bombay. Of course, the British authorities took care to stow the young man into a 4’X4’ cage for the reminder of the journey under heavy chains. The ship reached Bombay on 22 July 1910. In the dock, as the ship berthed, soldiers with their rifles and bayonets lined up every feet of the gangway. When the entire dock had been so secured the young man was taken under escort to a police van that carried him on to Yeravada, Pune. Thus the young man arrived to a reception befitting a prince, even though he was in chains.

He was indeed the prince among Indian freedom fighters. A prince whose mere writings sent shudders down the spine of an Empire that had hundred thousand men in arms in India; a prince who invoked a passion among his countrymen for freedom like how the wind stokes a forest fire. Unlike Machiavelli who wrote of how a prince should be, this prince had written how the British had ravaged the country through and after the mutiny of 1857. Of course, he was the first person ever who called 1857 the first war of independence. His book The History of the War of Independence was to become the inspiration for Sardar Bhagat Singh and later to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This prince spoke of war in open terms and he was no advocate of conciliation in the manner that many others thought of their relations with the Empire.

The prince then, was to be meted with the princeliest among the punishments that British Empire had devised for those who thirsted for freedom with their souls – banishment to Kaalapani, the infamous Circular Jail in Port Blair. The trail against him proceeded in the most expected manner of a farce on legal systems in the world and ended in June 1911. On 04 July 1911, he was transported to Port Blair.

The prince was assigned to the hardest of labors in the jail like chopping wood, manually pulling the oil mill and a score of other menial and physically straining tasks. After ten years of condemnation in Port Blair, he was finally moved back to mainland and lodged in Ratnagiri jail. It took another three years for the prince to be set free in 1924, although on restrictive conditions. The prince, in the new found freedom from chains, actively taught and wrote against the colonial masters advocating resistance. In fact his words on the proposal of partition of India reverberate with solemn truth even today:

“MY PERSONAL VIEW IS THAT WE MUST VIGOROUSLY PROTEST AGAINST THE CREATION OF A MOSLEM STATE INDEPENDENT OF THE CENTRAL INDIAN STATE. WE WILL NOT SIGN WILLINGLY THE DEATH WARRANT OF THE INTEGRITY OF HINDUSTHAN”.

The prince is the only Indian for whom the Empire enacted a separate law that could be used to arrest him in London; he is the only Indian again over whom a case was laid at the Office of International Arbitration in the Hague contesting his arrest and deportation on French soil in Marseilles; a prince for whom two empires, France and Briton, had to stand in the court to justify his arrest and custody; a prince who thereby made his own history – just like a prince.

The name of the prince is Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, more popularly Veer Savarkar.

                                                          

All for a pinch of salt....

In the early hours of today, 06 June, seventy years before thousands of young men stared at the approaching beachheads in Normandy. The weather had turned foul and their commanders knew that it was too late to turn back. The landings had to proceed as ordered. They also knew that the Germans were prepared to welcome them with murderous fire. The invasion fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships, 4,126 landing craft of various types, 736 ancillary craft, and 864 merchant vessels. There were 195,700 naval personnel involved. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)

At 0630h, The American Second Army began landing on Omaha beach. The beach was taken, lost and retaken twice during the day with over 9387 American service men giving their lives for it. The history of the world was re-written by the sacrifices of these men. President Obama, paying tributes to these men today at Normandy described the Omaha as "Democracy's Beach", to the cheers and tears of thousands of French and American veterans who had gathered to observe the day. He was right when he said that these men had come to protect the liberty of people whom they had never met. And a grateful France remembers them and honors their graves as its own children's. President Obama also paid glowing tributes to the British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops who co-wrote world history on that day.

While the American soldiers in Normandy were writing history with their sacrifice, elsewhere in West Asia, Africa, Germany, Italy and the Far East, two and a half million Indian soldiers had already created history for the British Empire. 87000 Indians gave their life to "protect the liberty of people whom they never knew" - in President Obama's words. India contributed 1200 million Pound Sterling to the British war effort, apart from paying for all the British, Indian, American and other 'foreign' forces stationed on Indian soil to fight the Japanese and to assist the Chinese. The hidden cost to India was even more - take for example 1.8 million tons of wood (mostly saal) from Indian forests that was used by Britain for army purposes all over the world or even the 400 miles of railway tracks taken out with their wooden sleepers for relaying in West Asia and Africa for the British campaign. India which started with just 350 million USD 'debt' to Britain in 1939 had USD 1.92 billion in debt at the end of the war!! History is witness to the truth that the Allied victory would not have been possible but for the huge sacrifices that India made, albeit as a 'slave' of the Empire.

Despite the truly selfless sacrifice of Indians in the war that is being described today as the war for liberty and democracy in Europe, it is sad that not a word has been said about those valiant Sikhs, Gorkhas, Rajputs, Madrasis, Mahrattas and Bengalis who are buried in the sands of time. These men, poor peasant children from humble backgrounds in India, are neither heroes like those Americans in their native land; they were not considered saviors of mankind for they were from a 'colony'; they are forgotten in their own land for they died far away.

But, they were men of a great culture were the code of honor is held above even life. They were the children of great warriors like Ashoka, Akbar, Guru Teg Bahadur, Maharana Pratap Singh, Balaji Baji Rao II, Rani of Jhansi, Tantya Tope, Rani Mangamma, Veera Pandia Katta Bomman, Marudu Brothers, Tipu Sultan, and Birsa Munda - whose very names represent the great martial traditions that India is home to. They gave their life, voluntarily and smiling, for they had had a pinch of salt on which they had taken a pledge for their colonial masters. For that pinch of salt, they broke their culture by going overseas; for that pinch of salt, they fought like fiery devils; for that pinch of salt, they gave their lives.

They continue to be, wherever they are, unheard-unsung-unknown, all for a pinch of salt. 

I have the power....

Every time He-Man wants to take on an enemy, he rises up his hands and proclaims "I have the power". The rickshawallah, coolie, illeterate agricultural labour and street vendors of India became He-Man on 16 May 2014. They raised their hands in unison and proclaimed that THEY HAVE THE POWER. Stunning, stupefying and blowing to smithereens a government that had held sway over their destinies for ten long years. Good, bad and the ugly - all of them - lock, stock and barrel - who were smug in the belief that the illiterate average Indian was happy listening to the stock song of caste, community and personal mud slinging - were routed beyond belief. The voter has proved that however high and mighty a politician be, voter is king!! This is not just a political victory for a party, it is the most authentic demonstration that PEOPLE are the actual power in a democracy.

There are quite a few note-worthy achievements in the General Elections of 2014:

1. Held over 09 phases, in 900000 polling booths across the country to enable 814 million people who are eligible to vote. There simply is no parallel anywhere else in the world and we are confident that this is one area that China would not like to compete with India.

2. 1647 Parties (national/regional/recognised/registered) directly participating and/or involved in the mammoth effort to reach every section of the populace. The second biggest democracy, USA, has just 02 Parties. We have one for every 700000 population on an average!!

3. Over 8100 candidates were in the fray for 543 seats.

4. The average turn out till now has varied between 56 - 63% from 1952 onwards. Some places like the North East had over 83% turn out for voting. Surprisingly, the 'kurukshetra' of elections UP, showed the lowest turn out at 55%.

5. 100 million new voters this time - all in the 18-20 age group. Young India was actually having a say.

6. Introduced for the first time, NOTA (None of The Above) option in the EVM, upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, grossed 1.1% of the vote share. Can you believe that this is more than what the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Janata Dal United (JDU) polled together!! This is the voice of people against corrupt local politicians. Hope political parties, both victorious and vanquished, take note.

7. The mandate given to Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal are also interesting. Strong functioning State Chief Ministers have been preferred by people and the usual 'anti-incumbency' factor is missing. Not that these CMs are without their share of corruption/other scandals but their thumping victory is testimony to the peoples preference for governments that deliver. It appears that people want strong and functioning governments; they are fed up with ineptitude and empty talk on peripheral issues. Even BJP victory becomes easily comprehensible when viewed from this perspective.

On the whole, a historic episode with profound impact on peoples lives. The heroes likely to remain unsung of this story are not actually the politicians who contested/lost or the citizens who have made their choices. It is the Chief Election Commissioner of India and his deputies/assistants and the millions of school teachers, revenue officials, policemen and other support staff who have conducted the biggest exercise of democracy in human history till date without a single glitch, incident or unsavoury interruption. They  not merely need to be complemented on their humongous achievement but merit the gratitude of the entire nation as well from the proponents and advocates of democracy elsewhere in the world. CEC, we salute you!!     

Not just a birthday to remeber....

It is 1045 h on 02 Oct 13. World Non-Violence Day. From New Delhi to Timbuktu (this place actually is in Mali, Africa. Google it and you will know) across the globe, scores of idols of the man whose belief in non-violence led to the downfall of the greatest empire the world has seen would have been garlanded. Bhajans would have been sung or would be in the process of being pitched for closure. From commoners to ambassadors to presidents and kings would have bowed their head as a mark of respect and said whatever most appropriate thing to say on this occasion is. The listeners or the crowd if at all would have hummed and hued their ‘yeah, yeah’. By around noon, purportedly the great believers in the cause that this man espoused would have retired to their more important assignments of the day, satisfied that they have marked this man’s 144^th birth anniversary in the most appropriate manner that would be convincing enough to those who saw them on TV or heard them on radio. In so far as the millions who nether watched TV or heard radio, yet another day in their lives would be trudging towards wherever it takes them to.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the lawyer who could not stand and speak two sentences; the man whose legs where so shaky that he dropped his brief and ran from the court to hide;

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the man who would take the blows of police lathi with a smile during anti-Rowlett protests; the man who went on a fast that brought the bloodshed in Naokali to a stop; the man even his bitterest opponents would not hesitate to meet; the man whom a nation of 33 crores called “Bapu” (father); the man who took his assailant’s bullets with just two words (calling on his favorite God);

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the man who forever was seeking to know his own self; who in the process of which found a people of 33 crore thirsting for an identity;

The man whom we call Mahatma.

There are as much we can see as human fallibilities in Gandhi that we find in our selves. There are as many similarities too. But the only thing that makes him Mahatma and rest of us as ordinary mortals is his un-assailable faith in his own self. Where he believed, he went irrespective of the consequences; where he believed, he did irrespective of the consequences; where he believed, he gave and received irrespective of the consequences. So, that which sets him apart is a simple aspect called: Belief.

There is one more aspect that must be mentioned about him – his utter selflessness. But then what can we say about someone who wanted nothing for himself; not because he had no needs; not because he had no family; not because he wanted to be bigger than life; just because he was always in search of something that would define him as he was. The one who is content in himself has very little need for others.  In mammoth crowds, he could stand alone; in solitude, he could be heard. Actually there is very little of this Gandhi that we know. We are content calling him ‘Bapu’ once a year and perhaps more content being oblivious to his persona. As they say, simplicity is the most complex thing to understand.

It is not his person that is at debate. What appalls is the utter ignorance amongst us on his understanding of this country. Gandhi saw the nation as he would see himself – with utmost criticism that was aimed at discovering its strength. No one understood (though we all quote) when he said ‘India lives in its villages’. What a thousand economists cannot say in two hundred thousand volumes, he said in one line. In case of doubt, consider the following:

·      More than 60 % of India lives in villages. They remain home to the largest population and of course, vote banks. (That is why you see the ilk’s of Laloo going overboard to fool the village folks with their electoral gimmicks)

·        While caste and creed may appear to be ruling the village roost, villages remain one of the most coherent units of Indian society where everyone is an integral part of its socio-cultural-economic life

·    Inspite of the industrial economy that we have built as a nation, in a billion ways the cottage and village industries remain part of our everyday life. Over 80% of Indian households depend on what is produced in villages and rural areas.

·     The economy IS (in capital, underlined and never-out-scored) agrarian and try what we may, will remain so.

With this background, look at Gandhi. All his reform agenda was always aimed at villages – be it social causes, economic causes or what may be. He was not playing to the gallery. He was stating facts, seeing the truth and therefore advocating for the same. Say, 65 years of governance had consistently focused on basics like electricity, water, sanitation and education for the villages of India, the India of today would be far different than what we see. If the orientation for village industries, land reforms and agriculture had been blended correctly and implemented, we would not be seeing the rural upheavals that we see today. This would have meant a more contented country-side and a stronger economy. This also would have meant lesser slums, crime and demographic pressure on urban areas.

It is not possible to debate and understand Gandhi in a couple of pages. He needs more time and devotion. It is not to say that he is to be reinvented as a panacea for all the ills of our society. But, his relevance to a world that is ridden with poverty, violence and purposelessness can never be understated.

We need Gandhi. Not as a fossil of yester years to be cherished in a museum, but as a living idea that we need to nourish in our minds and apply in our daily lives. We are also Gandhis, if we can find the strength to discover our follies, rid our biases and unite for an India that will rise as the phoenix does from the ashes of its ambiguities, fears and uncertainties.

We need Gandhi.