(Let
me confess that I was actually about write a post on the Strike by the
government employees of Thamizh Nadu but I am compelled to write about
this as the TV debates disturbed me a lot. Particularly the Times Now
debate which was anchored by Arnab Goswami)
It
was around 1995-96, i.e., 20 years ago, that I first came across the
words of the "tall" man, Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Second Prime Minister
of India, "JAI JAWAN, JAI KISSAN!". To a 9 year old, who was reading for
his Prathmic Hindi exam (Yes, I did that! :D ) and whose only sense of
patriotism and knowledge about the nation are built by movies like
"Roja", "I Love India", "Jai Hind", the words didn't mean much. Not to
add the fact that all that a non-Hindi speaking 9 year old knew about
Kissan was that it is a 'company' that makes tasty jams & squashes!
I
understood the meaning of the word "Jai Jawan". As I saw in the movies
"Roja" & "I Love India" that the Pakistani Terrorists were vying for
the downfall of "INDIA" & were trying to capture Jammu &
Kashmir, the head of India in the Indian map. It was very awkward to
even imagine the map of India without it's head. Even today the map
shown by many of India's allies in their news channels make me raise my
eyebrows for a moment as they lacked a large part of Kashmir from both
the sides! It was like imagining a head sans the temples! (No puns
intended)
As far as
the works of the Kissan were concerned, I was as bothered about them, as
a 9 year old Middle class boy would be. Even the importance of a tall
man like Lal Bahadur Shastri was not known to me. After all, the Father
of the Nation is Gandhi the Grandpa, the first Prime Minister of the
Nation is Nehru the Uncle! Now assuming that the importance of the great
man is known by those who read this(if at all any), I would continue
with the main issue, the slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kissan".
During
the 1960s, that is before the introduction of the now highly
controversial Green Revolution & the synthetic fertilisers,
pesticides, in India, the agricultural output would fall shorter than
the need! An average of 7-8% of the food grains had to be imported from
outside. If the 1960s were troublesome years for India on the borders
with China & Pakistan, it was equally, if not more troubled years
for the nation on the agriculture front. There were two droughts in the
decade and the burden on the farmers to produce was more than that they
could hold! It is said that the Indian Army was so ill-equipped for the
Sino-Indian War of 1962, (mainly a spilling effect of Cuban Missile
Crisis?) that the soldiers didn't even have enough shoes to wear. When
the production was around 7 crore tons as much as 1.5 crore tons of food
grains had to be imported. It is in this historical context that one
must look at the slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kissan". Also it is, in that
slogan given by the then Prime Minister of India, can one analyse the
leadership of the nation of the time. It was a precarious decade all
over the world. The nations of Africa were gaining their Independence,
the revolutions in the South America, Africa. India used to get food
grains from U.S of A through the P.L. 480 (Public Law) agreement but
during the Indo-Pak war of 1965 even that was strained.
In
that historical connotation Kissan of the nation who saved the people
of India from hunger was as important as the Jawan of the nation who
saved the people of India from invasion. I think over the period of
time, due to the Green Revolution, introduction of new food grain
varieties, "production" of ample food grains, absence of famines, the
KISSAN lost his importance in the society. The number of farmer suicides
is highlighting the same.
Let's fast forward to 1998 - Operation Shakthi - 98.
One
of the finest Prime Ministers of our nation and one of the finest (yet
to be) Presidents of the nation were together during the Pokhran II
Nuclear Tests. Atal Bihari Vajpayee & A.P.J. Abdul Kalam were the
prominent faces of the exercise and shortly Prime Minister Atal Bihar
Vajpayee coined or added more to the by now popular slogan "Jai Jawan,
Jai Kissan, Jai Vigyan" shortly after the exercise. In an year's time
there would be another reassurance to the people that the JAWAN's work
is still needed in the country but let us stick to the topic. The then
Prime Minister of India understood the necessity of the improvement not
only in the fields of defence and agriculture but also in the field of
science & technology. The then Scientific Advisor to the Prime
Minister became the President of the nation.
A
decade later in 2009, Dr. Kailash Chandra Mishra added the words Jai
Vidhwan to the slogan thereby stressing the importance of "Soliders,
Farmers, Scientists & the Academics".
Today,
in this crucial juncture of time, a time when the power gets
re-concentrated among the opposing idealogies, a time when the political
parties are using the scenarios to usurp political mileage as of ever, a
time when bureaucracy fails to stand up to the occasion, a time when
"learned" lawyers and elected lawmakers become the lawless, a time when
the political parties pitch students against each other, a time when the
media reaches record low as to broadcast doctored videos (which might
even be investigated), a time when innocent (?) retired defence
personnels are pitted against innocent (until proven guilty) students by
the "in-no-sense" TV anchors, a time when the (majority of) youth
"SHARE, LIKE & RETWEET" instead of "CARE, LEARN & RESEARCH", a
time when politicians pull the "With Us or Against Us" card for
everything, the IMPORTANCE OF THE SLOGAN is to be stressed more than
ever. More than ever, it's today that its meaning is necessary to be
understood by people.
(Thanks to some RJ Sukriti. I have no idea about who she is!)
The
hashtag DEBATE shows conducted by the 24X7 news channel is the worst
that can ever happen to our country. In the shows that was participated
by Retd. Maj. Gen. G.D. Bakshi first in Times Now, he was kindled by
Arnab Goswami. Here, I need to reiterate the fact that I have utmost
respect for the soldiers on the border or for that matter, the police
who make my city safer. (No... I am not speaking about the Police
Personnel of the Delhi Police that have been shown in the videos) I
don't know if the Retd. Maj.Gen. is as gullible as he looked on the TV
channel or if he was a part of the plan. I have no opinion about his
part and seriously speaking it doesn't really matter. He allowed himself
to be used by the (section of) media to turn the heat away from
themselves. They successfully changed the topic away by bringing in the
hashtags of the day like #IndiaWithForces, #FlagForUnity etc.,. Arnab
single tonguedly turned the debate into Patriotic Soldiers VS SEDITIOUS
Students on the day when the army was fighting the threats of
Cross-Border terrorism in J&K and the Jat quota stir in Haryana. For
the majority of the youth in the nation patriotism still means shouting
for BCCI in the BCCI vs PCB matches and typing out hate messages or
comments in some Facebook page, Youtube channel or anything else that
had an origin in Pakistan. It is no wonder that the social media is
filled with posts, pictures and videos of GD Bakshi and "That is why you
should CARE!"
As
for the actions and words of Retd. Major General, he, being a man of
disciplined army could have shown a little more restraint in his
emotional words and accusations. I am no authority on the patriotism or
the notion of our nation but I can say with certainty that the people of
India is an integral part of the great idea called India. So when the
man spoke passionately about guarding the borders and making all these
debates possible, I couldn't understand the outrage he poured out. As
much as the gallantry acts of the soldiers on the borders are important
for defending the nation, the valiance of the students/thinkers/people
are important in building the nation. A flag howmuchsoever
representational of a nation be it, is not better than the ideals that
it represents! With no disrespect to the army/defence forces I wish to
quote the famous quote about (wo)men of action and (wo)men of thought! I
am not bringing in any historic connotation for this quotation.
Before
interpreting the above words as they want, I would like to clarify that
(wo)men of action and (wo)men of thought live a symbiotic life. One
cannot survive without the other! We, as a nation are not homogenous
beings. We are varied and our functions in the society are also varied
and many! So when one part of the nation claims to be more important
than the other, it is sure a sign of downfall. A soldier in Siachen is
as important as a farmer in Thirunelveli. A scientist in Bengaluru is as
important as a Social Scientist in Delhi. If anyone tells you
otherwise, it is wise to move away from them. We need no egotistical or
worse egoistical battles within our nation. Retd. Major General G.D.
Bakshi fell for a cheap trick by the (section of) media. For a man of
his experience, he should have known better and composed himself better
but to err is human! We are all building a nation and mistakes do
happen. It is during these moments that we need the guidance of the
giants before us! The wisdom of the great men like Lal Bahadur Shastri,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Dr. Kailash Chandra Mishra shall guide us! In
my opinion the bureaucrats of this country like B.S.Bassi who are
trained in the aptly named "Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of
Administration" should take a more firm stand and act in the interest of
the greater good for nation without crushing the individuals who form the nation!
Lastly,
The
funny thing about democracy is that the onus of responsibility is
divided among all the people and hence it is never really on anybody. In
a situation like this and in the Indian scenario, a part of the
politicians will try to make the most out of it and a part of the press
(I am using the conventional term, although it is the visual media that
plays the biggest part) presses on with its own agenda, so we, the
people of India (I am not responsible for resemblance with the NDTV
show. It is the preamble to the constitution!) must persevere and not
fall prey to fantasy stories and fanaticism of the opposing idealogies
or interests. Either left or the right, regardless of our allegiance to
the political left or right! STEER CLEAR!
Related Links.
Arnab - Times Now
1.
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/jnu-arnab-goswami-times-now-kanhaiya-kumar-umar-khalid-rss-bjp-smriti-irani-afzal-guru/story/1/9168.html
2. http://www.scoopwhoop.com/Arnab-Goswami-Vs-Siddharth-Varadarajan-Timeline-Of-Times-Now-And-The-Wire-FaceOff/
Zee News
http://scroll.in/article/803943/my-conscience-has-started-to-revolt-a-zee-news-producer-quits-over-channels-handling-of-jnu-row
