The Indian political scene was always chaotic but never so much out in the open for the world to see. The facade of an orderly democratic structure has finally crumbled after four decades of heavy duty. And the reality of India is nowhere near pretty sight. The sordid political horse trading witnessed in the dismissal of the VP Singh govt last week, though not new is done openly. People’s elected representatives are bought and sold almost in the streets of New Delhi for the personal aggrandizement of a few corrupt men. The whys and how’s of VP Singh’s downfall are making depressing, unoriginal, repetitive and lengthy copy in the news media. It has happened before and will definitely happen again. The names and faces change nothing much else.
Rajiv Gandhi is the de facto ruler of India today and may soon decide to tell the opportunist Chandrashekhar whom he has propped up to step aside. The mandate VP Singh got to replace the corrupt Rajiv Gandhi has thus been circumvented again.
Yet VP in his 11 months as prime minister may have unwittingly sowed the seeds of a movement for social reform. He very rudely shook up the upper caste middle class who now fear that the ill-gotten spoils of centuries of exploitation of the lower castes may be taken from them. The poor lower castes must not let this opportunity slip by. The attempt will surely be to mollify the rich by offering the poor some ‘stop gap’ sops. The lower castes need only to go over even very casually India’s various promises to the Sikhs and Kashmiri Muslims to see that it rarely keeps its word. They must not believe in any commissions or tribunals. One interesting example is that of the JainBannerji Commission appointed to look into the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The findings of this body were so distasteful to the government that it asked a lackey to challenge the validity of the commission. The govt appointed inquiry was conveniently declared unconstitutional.
As for the 80 million Muslims in India, the recent warning of the Hindu fundamentalist VHP that the Babri Mosque is only the tip of the iceberg ‘is not news. Since 1947 they have been the victims not only of mobs but of the police of ‘secular’ India. But there were no public threats earlier. The rise of Hindu chauvinism has not peaked yet and if it is not checked in time it will destroy everything which cannot be assimilated in the “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan” ideology. To bow today is to perish. The need is to follow the lead of the Sikhs and Kashmiri Muslims and to stand up to the bully. The oppressed need only to get together for the bully to run away. Hindu history has been that of servility to whoever ruled in Delhi be he a Mughal or an Englishman.
The Brahmins have over indulged in their new found power and are intoxicated. The time is not far when they will lose not only the power over the minorities but will become slaves again. Khalistan, Azad Kashmir and a just and equitable deal with the oppressed castes who together form an overwhelming majority are simple problems with simple solutions.
The need of the hour is for each one of us to search in our hearts for the courage to stand up to our convictions and to fight for them. It is better to die on our feet than to live on our knees. The present Indian system will not allow us live a life of dignity. It is up to us, the Sikhs, Muslims and the ‘oppressed castes to change it.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 16, 1990
