| Sixty long years have passed. The state of the | | | | the U.S.S.R. the upheaval in the Communist China ( no |
| common man has not registered any perceptible | | | | doubt these are recent developments, though their |
| changed the same kind of roof that can protect him | | | | symptoms were visible long long ago ) are facts that |
| neither from the sun nor from the rain, the same in | | | | speak for themselves. |
| sanitary conditions all around drink and the most | | | | A society which has professed and practiced caste |
| depressing factor not much work to do, work enough | | | | system that believes in the inborn inequalities of men |
| to keep him and his family warm both inside and | | | | should naturally vote for capitalism. In the caste based |
| outside. | | | | society it is the upper classes that ruled and in the |
| This is the plight of over 80% of our countrymen | | | | capitalism, it is again the upper classes that ruled and in |
| today. They wait for a better sunny morning to dawn, | | | | the capitalism, it is again the upper class that rules. The |
| but the morning eludes them. The journey into the long | | | | difference is in nomenclature and in the process of |
| night continues. But the future did not look so bleak in | | | | acquisition, while the former is acquired by birth, the |
| 1947. Blaming the foreigner for our ills we waited for | | | | second by ascent. In fact the similarities are more than |
| out midnight freedom that would mark the end of all | | | | that meets the eye. If the son of a Brahmin, is not the |
| our ills. Like the flag that soared high, the hoped of the | | | | son of millionaire, a millionaire again? At any rate both |
| people too soared high up into the skies. | | | | thrive on exploitation. But we have voted against |
| As a nation that saw God in every man, a nation that | | | | capitalism. |
| has accepted the undaunted spirit of man a nation | | | | The result is we did not like to walk neither on the right |
| which in spite of its bias towards anarchy encouraged | | | | nor on the left. We do not want to become either |
| the free play of the human mind in every activity, we | | | | communists or capitalists. Our path lies between the |
| would never reconcile to any thing short of | | | | two and we call it democratic socialism. |
| democracy, but it is not the democracy the west | | | | As a matter of fact there is no really Capitalist Society |
| offered, but it is a democracy with a touch of Indian | | | | nor a completely Communist society anywhere in the |
| ness. A thousand years of foreign rule has | | | | world now. In the so called capitalist countries, the |
| impoverished the nation. It had to face wave after | | | | capitalists do not have absolute freedom; government |
| wave of the most savage us invasion whose only aim | | | | curbs are there. Trade Unionism acts as a check at |
| was to plunder and slaughter, invasions of well | | | | every stage. Insurance and Gratuity schemes, medical |
| developed militant nations who wanted to annex the | | | | and educational facilities, bonuses which are all |
| land, invasions by hostile cultures that were out to | | | | compulsory, cater to the needs of the weaker section, |
| destroy the faith of the native people, loot and carry | | | | diluting the dose of capitalism. In a communist society, |
| off the wealth of the land and finally by nations who | | | | there are no personal or private holdings. But who can |
| wanted to remain here and rule. But they never could | | | | eliminate administrative difference? Communist or non |
| accept this as their land and identify themselves with | | | | communist, a factory should have a force man and |
| the people here. They too wanted to get rich and go | | | | the status of the foreman and a common worker |
| back with bulging bags. They did not feel they had any | | | | cannot be the same. Russia has now accepted the |
| obligations here but felt that their loyalties were | | | | right to property. |
| elsewhere. If some of them settled down here they | | | | So our path which lies between the two, strikes a |
| could never forget they were the rulers of the land. | | | | balanced between them, retaining the best of both, the |
| And so the people lived, humiliated and insulted, | | | | freedom and dignity of man that capitalism allows, and |
| terrorized and tyrannized; impoverished and insecure. It | | | | the economic progress the Communism envisages; |
| was the spirituality "which has always maintained itself | | | | our aim is to eradicate poverty, create employment |
| even in these days of declining vitality that has saved | | | | and remove all the social ills. What does it matter |
| India from destruction. Any other nation under the | | | | which 'ism' we call it by. We want progress in every |
| same pressure would have long ago perished body | | | | walk of life without curbing the freedom of our people. |
| and soul". We are alive today body and soul intact. But | | | | And so our constitution guarantees this sacred right. |
| the marks those pressures have left are indelible. We | | | | There is again the right to property. Anybody can earn, |
| are now the poorest of the poor nations. | | | | bequeath or squander; 'buy or sell' pursuer any |
| To banish poverty Marxism would be the surest way. | | | | avocation he or she likes, practice any religion dear to |
| But it means the ringing of a death knell to what India | | | | one's heart, discard if he does not like and embrace |
| has stood for ages - freedom of a death knell to what | | | | another he pleases; all doors of progress are open to |
| India has stood for ages - freedom of man's choice of | | | | him. Anyone above 21 (now 18) can send his own |
| action. It is true that certain classes of people are | | | | representative to the Assembly and Parliament or |
| denied of certain aspects of social life. Yet they have | | | | make him a CM or PM or if he so desires become |
| liberty to pursue what they desire in their limited sphere | | | | one himself ig he is above 35. If any one wants to |
| of action, their individual freedom was never in | | | | further one's studies abroad, one can do so and after |
| jeopardy. And when we have already accepted that it | | | | completing the course of his choice, he need not come |
| was wrong to subject people to discrimination, raising | | | | back if that country appears more alluring. What a fine |
| our voice in resentment, to usher it in a new from will | | | | charter of freedom! |
| be doubly undesirable. The Jainism, Buddhism, | | | | But what a world of difference between practice and |
| Vaishnavism are all attempts in this direction which | | | | precept, real and ideal! To get a seat in an LKG class |
| proclaim the equality of all men. A nation that has | | | | that one has to pay hundreds of rupees as donation; |
| chosen Ashoka's Dharma Chakra as its emblem can | | | | that jobs are available for sale in the open marker, that |
| never go for Marxism which casts a slur on man's | | | | nothing can be for done without palm greasing; that we |
| dignity. Besides, Marxism has a fundamental defect: it | | | | have to stand in winding queues for hours to draw our |
| declares that the end justifies the means and so | | | | scant rations and that millions of our people groan with |
| subjects the labor to indignities and to concentration | | | | hunger, disease and diet! |
| camps while it maintains that its goal is a classless | | | | People are getting desperate when values vanish and |
| society which in its ultimate state needs no | | | | corruption becomes the national trait unrest will be the |
| government at all. If forgets that the human mind loves | | | | order, and violence the cult of the day. |
| freedom and the more you deny it the more it covets. | | | | Should we turn to the right or left? We do not yet |
| Excessive attempts to suppress will lead to discontent | | | | know. But one thing is certain. We cannot cat the cake |
| and revolt. The process of disintegration that has set in | | | | and yet have it. |