As political leadership at Bihar goes from being bad to worse, there is lot for an average Indian to cheer about political leadership of the country. The world is amazed at the astuteness of India’s Foreign Minister. An adept speaker, he has the diplomatic knack of being firm though sounding soft.
Pandit Nehru should be given credit for two biggest diplomatic achievements. The first being the Non-Aligned movement and the second being the mixed economy. Both gave the nation a direction that has led to India’s positioning in the world as an independent thinking nation.
Today, on one hand Indian Navy is doing joint war exercises at Pacific with US, Australia, UK, and Japan while on the other side, Indian Army is doing war exercises at Russia with Russia, China, and Belarus. The seeds of an independent nation that puts her interests first were sowed under the political leadership of Pandit Nehru.
However, what is disturbing is that when attempts were and are still being made to malign a particular thought leadership with an aim to promote other. We are India and have enough space for both Veer Savarkar and Nehru to be regarded and respected.
Damodar Savarkarji is Veer in the very essence. He was a pragmatic practitioner of Hindu philosophy that remains the essence of Secular Bharat. He was correct that it is the Hindu character of the country that binds it together in a cohesive and secular way that respects different opinion and religion. The best examples of it are our troubled neighbours namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
At Pakistan, Hindus were not allowed to join the army coz it was a Muslim country. Afghanistan is infamous as Asia’s Africa with no democratic rights for decades together. Today, these nations each being the size of an Indian state is in shatters finding it difficult to remain a financially feasible country. Veer Savarkar’s prudence if followed would have meant that all these nations were with India together as a nation with Hindu philosophy of mutual respect of other religions.
Under Veer Savarkar in Sindh, Hindu Mahasabha members joined Muslim League government thus bringing stability in the region. A prolific writer and a master orator one of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British colonial authorities.
Coming back to the question of regard and respect for all political thought process to co-exist, the political indifference to Savarkar meant there was no official mourning by the then Congress party government of Maharashtra or at the Centre. In modern times, a Congress PM had met a similar fate. This is where is gets concerning and when the other side exerts, it is all pains for the Congress. That is when the other side highlights only the failure of Pandit Nehru – be it in Panchsheel pact or in engaging with US who made mockery of his support pleas during Chinese war or his pro west lifestyle that only an elite could afford in times of the yore.
Then the other questions crops up if ever any Congress member including Pandit Nehru go to Kala Pani. Were they not running a government of elites in India with the support of the British, for the British, as per British till Quit India movement gained momentum. Such facts are disturbing and don’t need a revisit by the future generations. The best way to stop them is by creating an inclusive political model. It is time for the nation to embrace both the thought process and pay due respect to all engaged in Nation’s development irrespective of their political inclination and alignment. Lets celebrate 75 years of political leadership with due to all.
