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 68th 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.
