After failing to make a hero out of Hardik Patel, Indian Media has forced another “leader” upon us. And this “leader” has a couple of catch phrases – “Laal Salaam” and “Azadi”.
And I find it hilarious when in a single breath Kanhaiya shouts “Azadi” and “Laal Salaam” when the truth is, in whichever country communism was established, democracy and freedom of expression was only crushed with no exception.
Shahla Rashid, another associate, in her speech explains what would be an ideal communist Dreamland. She says that Army Jawans are dying because of Government apathy. Jawans are taught the spirit of sacrifice and exploited. Her solution is that Army should have union and should resist against Government. This is what you are likely to expect in a communist India according to her. She needs to understand that the spirit for sacrifice is ingrained in Indians. This is the highest ideal an Indian strives for. This is why our civilization has stood for 1000s of years. Just because some politicians have turned crook you want everyone else to turn selfish?
And she also should look at democracy and prosperity levels in the communist ruled states in India, Bengal being the prime example. This union and resistance mentality has ruined that state.
Ironically West Bengal has traditionally been the intellectual hub of India. We see the same phenomenon when intellectuals support Maoist philosophy.
Intellectuals get enamored by the emotional drift that communist ideology proposes which seems like the most appropriate solution to all the misery in the world. Like when Kanhaiya says” when a president’s kid and a poor man’s kid will study in the same school”. Who can say no to that ideology? And that is why it is difficult to debate a communist. Because the apparent cause of their struggle seem so humanitarian. Then why do communist ruled countries end up being the most oppressed?
Nobody really knows why it always fails. Geeta offers an explanation. We know the biggest message coming out of Geeta is the stress on karma. There is a deeper insight which is often missed. Krishna says that even more important that the act (karma), is the Bhava (inner emotion) that is the driving force for the action. Bhava is the subtle energy which when manifests into Gross, becomes physical action. Krishna says that if the Bhava is pure, even the seemingly bad actions would become good deeds and vice versa. This is a revolutionary physiological claim, just one of the pearls of wisdom of Geeta.
Please remember that bhava is not the same as intention. Intention are born out of thoughts and bhava is born out of emotions.
Now, though the intention of communism is honest, but the bhava driving it is aggression. It’s the yearning for revolution that is the motivation. This force of this emotion yields result but after the communist government is established, this same inner yearning for revolt turns into oppression of people.
We cannot expect peace even if the apparent intention seem honest.
In the first speech after jail and every times since, Kanhaiya stresses on” Jai Bhim, Laal Salaam”. Why? The same reason why we have neem – Bhim ideology being pushed. It is strategy of Muslim, “secular” and communist leaders to define the Dalit block, present themselves as the saviors and get their vote share. Lalu Yadav successfully used this strategy during last Bihar elections when he propagated that RSS is anti – Dalit when RSS chief made the comment that the basis of reservation system should be reconsidered. This is a major reason why Lalu’s party won more seats than Nitish’s party JDU. It is this divisive politics that has done the biggest damage to the nation and to Bihar in particular. This is the essence of the new communist vision.
Finally my request to my Dalit brothers. Caste system in India is dying its natural death. In 20 years from now we would have done away with a lot of it. The young mainstream India has rejected this greatest evil that has crept into Hinduism. Our job right now should be to fix the gaps where it is still present and not to sensationalize the issue as if the whole country is burning. Because it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. One community is being pitted against the other. Hindus against Muslims, Brahmins against Dalits, Hindus against Sikhs, and only some political leaders are gaining out of this. Everyone else is suffering. Worse still this leads to a deadlock and creates a perpetual mistrust between communities. If this is what Kanhaiya means by Kranti, I say ”No, thank you”.