CHANDIGARH: The Indian nation is faced with a situation of quasi disintegration. There are cries of morality, secularism democracy and economic self-sufficiency.
These observation were made here on Nov 19, by the eminent social scientist and former West Bengal finance minister in the Left Front government, Mr Ashok Mitra, while delivering his first lecture on “Nation, state and economy” at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. Mr Mitra attributed the present situation to three distinct patterns of events. The Mandal Commission has led to a class war by proxy and it is the manifestation of the two country divide. Then there is the phenomenon of neo vulgarism with some people believing that the state belongs to them, which has manifested itself in the Babri controversy. At the level of political superstructure, there is total abdication of the moral framework, as is evident from the recent events in Delhi. There is a dearth of ideology and a conscious withdrawal into the past and secularism. Events are happening in a particular segment of the country and the people on the periphery are just reduced to spectators. There was no democratic sanction of what happened in Delhi and the people did not decide it.
Mr. Mitra felt that there was resentment building up in the south, northeast and some other places with the model of Punjab and Kashmir repeating itself.
The fathers of the Constitution started work on the assumption that India was a homogenous and homogenized nation; there would a systematic attack on poverty while democracy and self-sufficiency would be the chief attributes of the system. But behind this scenario are two important dimensions on which no explicit discussion had taken place the moral degradation and abdication of morality in politics and centralisation.
Added to this is the coexistence of myth and science, with a wide difference in the level of consciousness of the people. For Mr Mitra, the system is under attack because of this level of consciousness.
Another factor which haunts Mr Mitra is that the country is on the verge of losing economic sovereignty, with the foreign exchange position becoming tighter and tighter. It is a question of priorities whether the country wants color televisions, or food. India is one of the poorest nations but with a huge expenditure on armaments. There is a tacit understanding not to talk about defence expenditure though the situation has changed after Bofors. Bankruptcy is staring at us in the face.
The situation would have been different had we held on to the moral grounds. Mr Mitra opined that every Indian has two identities. One as a member of a district regional and cultural group and the other as an Indian. The reconciliation between the two is a problem. There is a frightening conflict of identities.
For Mr Mitra, it is the failure of secularism, the concept which he did not define. There is talk of foreign manipulations, but that is not the story. The state, instead of playing a neutral role is conniving and perpetuating the situation.
The picture of the nation painted by Mr Mitra was further reinforced by Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director, CRRID, during the course of a discussion when he said that the state itself is working against the nation. The police repression in Punjab and Bihar stand testimony to it.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 23, 1990
