IS FRENCH REVOLUTION COMING TO INDIA ?
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE GREAT DIVIDE AND HATRED IN THE PRESENT INDIA, IS INDIA heading towards the FRANCE OF 1789s when the great French revolution had taken place to protest hegemony of upper classes or castes and exploitation of masses of that country ? At least two political giants of India---Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru had cautioned the India and Indian leaders of caste and class division in India,signalling bad days for India like France of those days!
Dr Ambedkar, while holding a historic meeting at Chavadar Lake in Maharashtra to protest Caste Hindu, who forbid some human beings of their own religion to draw water from the same Chavadar Lake, had said, "....if we seek for another meeting in the past to equal this, we shall have to go to the history of France on the continent of Europe.........The Assembly sent the King and Queen of France to the guillotine, persecuted and massacred the aristocrats and drove the survivors into exile It confiscated the estates of the rich and plunged Europe into war for fifteen years....That achievement served the welfare not only of France but the entire European countries.......we must keep in mind the state of French society at that time. You are all aware that our Hindu society is based on system of caste, A rather similar system of classes existed in France of 1789; the difference was that it was society of three castes. Like the Hindu society, the French had a class of Brahmins and anther the Kashatriyas. But instead of three different castes of Vaishya, Shudra and Atishudra, there was one class that comprehend these. This is a minor differences. The important thing is that the caste or class system was similar. The similarity to be noted is not only in differentiation between classes; the inequality of our caste system was also to be find in the French social system. The nature of the inequality in the French society was different; it was economic in nature...our today's meeting today too has been convened to reorganize Hindu society. Hence, before discussing on what principles our society should be reorganized, we should pay heed to the principles on which the French Assembly relied and the polity it adopted........."
Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru had also by and large similar views ! Pundit Nehru, in his book----THE GLIMPSES OF WORLD HISTORY---has written, " The French Revolution was an amazing and an ever-changing drama,full of extraordinary incidents that still fascinate us and horrify and thrill. The politics of princes and statesman have their home in the closet and the private room, and air of mystery covers them.a discreet veil hides many sins, and decorous languages conceals the conflict of rival ambitions and greed---we are told , instead, of noble ideas and great causes which demand the last sacrifice...So we see In France, during these fateful five years from 1789 to 1794, the hungry masses in action. It is they, which forced the hands of timid politicians and make them abolish monarchy and feudalism and the privileges of Church .It is they who pay homage to the terrible Madame Guillotine and take cruel vengeance against those who had crushed them in the past and those whom they suspect of intriguing again their new-found freedom. It is these ragged, barefooted people, who, with improvised arms, rush to defend their Revolution on the battlefield and drive back the trained armies of a Europe united against them..........Out of the counter revolution emerges Napoleon could send back the people to their old places..No one could wipe away the principal conquests of the Revolution and no one could take away from the French people, and indeed the other people of Europe, the passionate memory of the days when the under-dog cast off his yoke.......The French continued to be dominated by UPPER CLASSES upper classes. It did not represent the rising fever of France . This fever of Revolution spread among the people and the extreme republicans, the Jcobins, who came from the people, grew in strength.......finally the first thing that the convention did was to proclaim a republic. The Trial of Louis 16th came soon after; he was condemned to death and on January 21 ,1793, he had to pay with his head for the sins of monarchy; he was guillotined---that is beheaded by a guillotine......"
Views of these stalwarts should be taken into consideration in the context of present day India ! Their views also appear 'would be condition of India as democratic country after its independence over 60 years back. Caste and communal divide in India is at its zenith. Poor and dalits continued to be neglected and exploited. Secular credential of India is at stake. Corrupt practices are going on without any control. Education and health, most vital sectors of development index, are most neglected.Poverty is rising by leaps and bound. International bodies' Social indexes show India is lower than many poor of the poorest countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and South African sub-Saharan countries on many important development indexes. Human riots violations are order if the day. Agriculture and agriculture labor , backbone of Indian economy,are worst hit.Innocent poor are being killed in the woods and plains as well as plateau They do not get justice !
Although India is a sovereign democratic republic, the successive leadership of the country have indulged themselves in the dividing society on caste and communal lines.Politicians have by and large served their own elightened self-interest and they became rag to riches. Successive politicians gave long rope to capitalists to become richest classes in India. Poor have become poorer. Democratic processes of elections of Parliament and assemblies are vitiated with all wrong reasons. Thus elections have become a farcical exercise. Laws and rules, made in the cover of the Indian Constitution, have been bended to create disunity in the society. Rule of Law has become thing of the past. Voices of people are being suppressed. Masses are being killed in the name of nationalism or patriotism. Communal tension contuses throughout the country. Muslims , adivasis and other poor are being alienated from the mainstream of society. Judiciary is going gradually in the corrupt judges hands. Resentment prevails every where on different issue from Kanya Kumari to Himalayas in India.
Natrendra Modi led NDA government appears to have failed on every fronts. Narendra Modi, who came in power with much fanfare only two and half years ago with massive support , has become 'EMPEROR MODI'. "His recent decisions including demonetization, are in line with his interventionist and authoritarian style of functioning, unsettling established systems of governance and diluting administrative norms and traditions" a periodical remarked. Modi 's cabinet colleagues have been reduced as courtiers. Important ministries including defence, foreign, finance, home are virtually being run on the dictum of the Prime minister and his PMO. Senior cabinet ministers like Sushama Swarajya, Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar, Nitin Gadkari have been sidelined. The Dominance of Modi is at such 'nadirsahi' that even the voices of BJP and Sangh Parivar's head organisation-RSS are not listened to correct the deteriorating situation. Modi has developed his own system of governance. Such thing is evident from his recent decision to supersede two senior army officials while selecting Chief of Army Staff Demonetization decision,.
Revolts within the rank and file of the NDA, especially BJP are simmering to the surface.The prime minister has formed a 'man oeuvres' individual bureaucrats and selected groups in order to build a direct access-control regime.Philosopher and writer Umberto Eco has compared the cult of action for action' sake of Narendra Modi , which eternal features of fascism. " Eco delineates this point, saying "fascists believe that action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before or without and any previous reflects".
Essayist A G Noorani has written an fortnightly, " The gamble failed. The slide downwards has begun. The 'Emperor's has no clothes on him. Modi has deployed every tricks in the book to build himself us as mass leader, above the party-BJP and even its parents--RSS and above institutions, Parliament and Judiciary." A prominent daily Business Standard , published in the issue of December 6, a meticulous survey of Modi's performances on demonetization. It bears quotation in extenso:" The speech in English lasted 25 minutes. The PM uttered the phrases 'black money' 18 times in his speech. He mentioned 'fake currency'or 'counterfeit' five times in the same speech-----so later he swung from black money elimination to going cashless as evident in the PM's speech....Either PM has realized that original primary objective of eliminating black money may not be met or there was not adequate thought behind the decision."The author Praveen Chakravarty, prepared graphs showing shift from 'black money' to 'cashless\doggotal' economy amidst the war 'war on fake currency" The International New York Times of November 19 editorial noted that demonetization had 'thrown the economy into turmoil with many millions of people forced to line up at banks to deposit or exchange their old bills'. It predicted that 'cash-based corruption and tax evasion are almost sure to return as people accumulate the new bills.' The Times repeated its criticism in greater detail n November 29.The Economists's critique on December 3 was devastating not only because it laid bare the mess but also sharply pointed the finger at the creator f the mess--Modi. Brilliant Economists of the world including Amartya Sen have also criticised the demonetization exercise. The 86.4 percent by value of the cash circulation is suddenly on no legal tender has already caused predictable and needless hardship.
Under the circumstances, India n and its masses are boiling with resentment and anger, facilitating the way for a revolution !. Should India's political rulers take into consideration the advice and caution of both Dr Ambedkar and Pundit Nehru in right perspective and take care to correct things or to drive away to the revolution like France many years back ?