Independence

Let Independence Day be National Festival of Dreams

Societies can be divided into two: those who dream and those who don’t.  Those who don’t are acquired, sooner or later, by those who do.

Today when I sat down to punch my wish list on what my Prime Minister should say to the country on our 68^th Independence Day then my thoughts took me back to 1947. I used google as a time machine to transmigrate me to the central hall of the Parliament where Jawahar Lal Nehru gave the famous ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech to the country. Shouldn’t an Independence Day be a time of reckoning and looking back? What was the dream that the soul of our country had and in Nehru’s words has it found an utterance yet? Alas, when we sit down and listen to Nehru, the dream still plays out like a flick from Bollywood.

A look back is too painful.  People from 1947 have retired from the workforce and a new order is in the making. We have all the reasons to start with a blank slate and draw our picture of sunrise. I want my Prime Minister to redefine Independence, the one we have had so far hasn’t delivered in 67 years. I want him to be the facilitator who helps us dream with our eyes wide open and tell us what we can do together as a country, a nation, a society, and a civilization.

A new definition of Independence for Bharat

Swatantrata (the hindi word for Independence) has a somewhat different connotation than Independence. It places salience of having one’s own tantra i.e. a working system. Naturally all systems are expected to deliver some conceived objectives and it could be suggested that health of the system would be a direct reflection on Swatantrata that a country enjoys. This Independence Day I wish my Prime minister helps us define what that Swatantrata is and we could use that as a starting point for dreaming with eyes wide open every year on this day.

A Swatantra  country is a Swayambhu country.  Swayambhu is often used for implying Sovereignty. However what it literally means is someone who exists on her own terms. I wish my Prime Minister reminds us that we do not derive our existence in reference to others but we exist because of our innate characteristics. We remain at the centre of existence in that frame. I wish a better understanding of Swayambhu brings down our need for external validation.

Swaraj is an essential component of Swatantrata. Swaraj is a clairvoyant call for participatory governance. Participation level of governance is a hallmark of Swatantrata that a country enjoys. I wish my Prime Minister reaffirms strengthening of institutions, infrastructure and processes that enable even the last person to have a say in matters that affect him and not only every five years. In this regard strengthening of Panchayati Raj institutions will be in order.

When Swa (self) exists then naturally by corollary it’s meaning i.e. arth also exists.  I wish my Prime Minister establishes that Swatantrata means pursuit of Swarth. Swarth in other words is pursuit of our self-interest or economic prosperity. Swa of a country is all encompassing, it includes the last person. Economic prosperity for all resonates with the pre-election slogan Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. With a substantial population still living under sub-optimal and often abject conditions, I wish my Prime Minister announces departure from policies of patronage to a concrete roadmap of economic empowerment. Economic empowerment alone holds the key to turning a large population at the bottom of the pyramid into producer-consumers. Therein is also concealed economic prosperity for all. 

A Swatantra country is Swaavlambi that is it leans on itself. In today’s terms Swavlamban will not entail trying to do everything ourselves but it calls for development of specific competitive advantages that we can bring to the negotiation tables in global collaborative efforts of making world a better place for everyone. Much has been said about India’s demographic dividend but unless concrete plans are executed relatively quickly, we will end up squandering the opportunity.

Related to Swaavlamban is the concept of Swadeshi. However the definition of Swadeshi we have had so far has been too insular. I wish my Prime Minister will broaden the concept of Swadeshi. Swadeshi will continue to mean stewardship of local resources and environment. It will continue to mean pursuit of sustainable solutions. But it will acknowledge that dispersal of specialized competencies is usually a more efficient way of self-reliance than dispersal of production. In our frame Swadeshi will mean accessing global expertise for local value addition to reach a global market place.

A country that has no Swabhiman always seeks external validation. My Prime Minister will connect the countrymen with our rich historical lineage. A Swabhimani country owns her roots that provide her philosophical nourishment. While she celebrates the achievements of the past, she is forward looking and evolutionary in temperament. I wish he will remind us of our heroes to whom we owe our promise of Swatantrata through the ages.

The Sanskrit word Dharma is almost always used to convey religion whereas it only means property of things. Thus fire’s Dharma is giving warmth. One could say Dharma of human beings is to live peacefully with each other, walk softly on earth and continuously seek to expand definition of Swa. However the construct of Swadharma (one’s own properties) incorporates the need for democratization of Dharma’s definition. Swadharma obviates a need for importing idea of secularism.

Swabhasha meaning ‘own language’ is probably one of the most fundamental and also at the same time one of the most neglected dimensions of Swatantrata. I wish my Prime Minister will explain that a civilization that does not have its own language can forget about all the other Swas listed before. In a civilization’s development cycle language comes first and then everything else is built on top of that. If a civilization throws her language out, she has to start all over again.  Civilization’s that nourish and promote their languages have a natural competitive advantage.

Swabhasha like Swadharm is a plural concept. The idea of one nation one language itself is a western import that has left Indians fighting with each other over linguistic territories and vanity. I wish my Prime Minister asserts the salience of having our own linguistic currencies for averting the civilizational crisis already knocking at our doors.  Whereas the cultural importance of ‘preserving’ our languages is more readily accepted, the harmful effects of invalidating our own languages on Economy are not readily understood.

 

 

  

Swatantrata demands dynamism

Swatantrata is a dynamic concept. It entails investment and effort on all of the following dimensions: Swayambhu, Swaraj, Swarth, Swavlamban, Swadeshi, Swabhiman, Swadharma, and Swabhasha. An effort of this magnitude is not possible without Swaha which literally means in a Yagnya  ‘may it [my offering] be good‘. I wish my Prime Minister calls upon 1 billion Indians to participate in the nation building Yagnya with their Swahas. His impassioned call should galvanize our country into dreaming and taking actions for realizing those dreams.

My Prime Minister knows राजते शोभते इति राष्ट्रम् – only a country that has resplendence is a country. In the history of human evolution we are probably living at a time when evolution is at its peak and technology is opening up vistas hitherto unknown. I hope my Prime Minister will set his sight higher and leverage opportunities present for turning a civilization.

I hope this Independence day my Prime Minister will start a tradition of dreaming in unison with his countrymen.