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TULSI-PRAJNA
Our constitution embodies the enlightened principles of democracy-of fundamental human rights, of the sanctity of the rule of law. of judicial independence but the special heritage of India of superior public morality, of toleration of plurality of faiths : politics without resort to violence and retaliation is now almost held in contempt.
The Indian people as a whole are feeling a brooding sense of anxiety about the Nation's tryst with destiny. People's faith in democracy is not yet dead but too many have lost hope of social justice through the constitutional and legal processes. Politicians are seen as not concerned with public welfare but with making personal aggrandizement their primary aim. There is rampant abuse of authority, extravagant appropriation of public funds and cynical disregard for the neglected agenda of poverty.
We sense a near fatal moral hemorrhage of a nation, which fifty years ago had the promise to be the moral mentor of the world. In 1946 Dean Acheson in a statement on the eve of Panditji and Jinnah's visit to London appealed to India to seize the opportunity as the peace of the world would depend on this country. No one in the world today grants India as holding the high ground and example of peace. No one accepts India as a model of enlightened internationalism.
The entire degeneration in the body politic can be traced to a departure from adherence to principles which were of our civilisational heritage. We too have yielded to the corrupting temptation of power. Nehru questioned Gandhiji's philosophy of self-reliant development of Khadi; he chose to go the way of building-dams and factories and stimulate the gallop towards industrialisation around the socialist pattern. He called them modern temples. The Socialist utopia stands rejected by people of the socialist countries themselves. But Nehru had a vision, he was a true humanist and democrat. He was transparently dedicated to bend every ounce of the national energy to build a better tomorrow. He did not anticipate that power would corrupt absolutely; he did not foresce the bureaucratization of the country sapping the vitality of the people. His idealism got deflected by partition. History will not be kind to him for not having joined Gandhiji in remaining principled against the vivisection of the unity of the sub-Himalayan civilization. Nehru also proved wrong in thinking that after the end of imperialism, nationalism of the newly independent countries will be constructive and there will be no conflicts between the liberated nations. He did
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