The Discovery of India – Part II

Our beloved first prime minster Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote the original ‘Discovery of India’ during his imprisonment, between 1942 and 1946 in Ahmednagar jail. In the book, he presented a broad view of Indian culture and history through the eye of a liberal freedom fighter. He gives a lesson on history from the days of Indus valley civilization to the then British Raj.

No, I am not giving any history lesson here, but given the current socio-political state of India, I am trying to add my two cents and re-make the great book by Pandit Nehru into a short story…Discovery of India-II (DI-II). His original book examines the effect of the various people who came to India and influenced Indian culture, society & philosophy; mine will throw some light on how the current corrupt politicians (I hate calling them leaders) are infecting our youths and society as a whole.

In The Discovery of India, Pandit Nehru argued that India was a historic nation with a right to sovereignty. In DI-II, I will argue that India is a ‘mature, democratic’ nation and is high time that India and Indians should act as one and take back the nation. The dream of a free democratic India that was foreseen by our great leaders has since long become a pseudo-democratic nightmare. The free and healthy democratic principles have become some fancy phrases. Heck, the original copy of the constitution, which has the signature of the 285 leaders, is gathering dust on some shelf in some library in the city of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

The current crop of leaders has made a mockery of our democratic principles. The person, who has four sever criminal charges against him, is given bail and is allowed to run for a democratic election. The joke doesn’t end there; he wins with the help of his goons and thanks to the ‘party high command’, he is made the minister of the Prison’s. So the very same prison that should be inside, is now governing them ‘all’ from the outside. One minister who tries to bring some economic rationality to the money loosing, Indian railways, by revising the price of the tickets (unchanged since last 10 years) to stabilize the budget is politically massacred in the full public view on the very next day.

Gandhiji encouraged regional politics to bring stability and make the nation a true democracy. But little did he knew that the current crop of corrupt, cunning, class-less SOB’s will twist and turn the system in such a way that heads or tails they will be the winners and the ‘Aam Janta’ will always be on the losing side.

Panditji wrote his Discovery of India during the British Raj, I will write during the Corrupt-Poltic-Raj. His Discovery of India saw the bright light of democracy after the release, I will be happy if mine sees even a glimmer of a ‘true, free, open democracy’.

Here’s to the Hope…again!!