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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Jai Jawan, Jai Kissan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Vidhwan!


(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



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