A Deeper Look At Knickerwalla 2.0

 A Deeper Look At Knickerwalla 2.0

Which is the story to tell? Is it the external one, listed out and narrated sequentially, like a   resume?

In that format, the RSS, (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), is the umbrella organisation of a clutch of Hindu right-wing nationalist organisations, including the ruling BJP, with professed universal humanitarian and egalitarian values.

The RSS, established in 1925, has already thrown up two prime ministers from within its ranks, and one very significant deputy prime minister so far.

Today, the RSS counts some 6 million members, through over 51,000 branches or shakhas. It is considered to be the largest NGO in the world.

The RSS has, over the years, spread its initially Brahmanical wings out of Nagpur, to embrace Dalits in its fold, including one to head the organisation for a spell. The RSS did, in fact, earn an early endorsement for its flat organisation, without any hint of casteism, from none other than BR Ambedkar, way back in 1939.

More recently, it has also affiliated a number of Muslim shakhas, so that they can motivate their co-religionists independently, via their madrassas and community organisations.

For the Republic Day just past, these Muslim RSS shakhas raised the national flag at a number of madrassas. This outreach, more willingly received by Shia groups, is a major new initiative, backstopped by the evidence of fair treatment in Gujarat during the Modi years, and continued by protégé and successor Anandiben Patel.  

However, given the negative propaganda and ridicule the RSS routinely attracts from the Nehruvian mainstream, in power for most of the time since independence, it remains at apparent loggerheads with the Congress Party.

The Congress, paradoxically, tries to portray itself as Hindutva champions from time to time, probably in an attempt to eat into the RSS political support base.

It is useful to remember here, that it was Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister, in such a fit of inspiration, who first permitted Hindu worship at the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, back in the late eighties. He ordered the locks opened, that had been in place at the masjid, from soon after  independence.

LK Advani’s Rath Yatra, the demolition of the mosque, and the rise of the BJP into national politics came some years later, perhaps as a direct, if unintended, consequence.

Congress, established in 1885 by an Englishman, has been closely associated, both with the British Raj and the independence struggle, led by Mahatma Gandhi. It has traditionally supported minority aspirations, particularly those of the largest amongst them, in an effort to prevent the majority Hindus from swamping them.

That the Muslims have provided the Congress with its most durable vote bank is the singular benefit, particularly after the OBCs and Dalits melted away to their own outfits led by the Yadav chieftains of Bihar and UP, and the BSP’s Mayawati.

The RSS has, from inception, been staunchly anti-colonial and anti-Raj, and refused to cooperate with Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Indians to  volunteer and participate with the British war effort during WWII.

Nearly two million Indians went to fight for the British, many to never come back. Their blood and sacrifice however might have been instrumental in securing independence for India, albeit under American pressure upon a much diminished Britain.

The RSS stance however has been both misunderstood, and deliberately misrepresented by the Congress.  The point for the RSS was nationalism, and the effort was to revive the Hindu spirit and pride in its hoary heritage. Getting mixed up with the imperial British was not seen to be productive in this endeavour.

So, going the other way for emphasis, the RSS openly professed admiration for Hitler and the Axis Powers instead. However, so did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, possibly in an ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ manner, because neither Bose, nor the RSS,  were ideologically anything but pan-Indian nationalists, without divisive emphasis on creed and caste, and certainly  without elitist or fascist overtones- except perhaps in terms of its Brahmin leadership in the RSS.

But then, Bose, who wasn’t a Brahmin, and was totally secular in his embrace, was nevertheless blocked and stymied in the Congress by none other than a threatened Mahatma Gandhi, from the bania caste himself.

MK Gandhi however, was a confidant of the British, some say a collaborator. He more or less forced Bose, the two time president of Congress, to quit and leave.

Gandhi preferred his malleable acolyte Jawaharlal Nehru, even to fellow Gujarati Vallabhbhai Patel, though Patel’s greater age and state of health may have had something to do with it.

Even as the RSS stayed away from the independence movement as such, except to try and restore Indian, particularly Hindu, dignity and pride, it has often worked in a complementary manner to the Congress’ nationalist initiatives, both before, and after independence.

This did not stop various Congress governments after independence, taking on from the British, who banned it first, from banning the RSS for three short spells. The first was in 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, a former RSS man; during the Emergency in the seventies, when most broad civil liberties were abrogated; and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, in 1992.

This may be the snap-shot of the external facts, but should one actually be focussing on the interiorscape for a better understanding of the organisation?  Is the true character of the tale to be found therein, the inspirational, motivational, largely personal, and even secret animus?

That there is an extraordinary patriotism and commitment felt by the swayamsevaks is undeniable. This makes the RSS a formidable cadre based organisation, that can be mobilised to great effect, certainly for relief operations at riot and flood, but also at election time.

The need is now being felt internally, is to broaden its appeal.

Current president, properly titled a sarsangchalak in Sankritised RSS language, the anachronistic looking, Gokhale mustachioed Mohan Bhagwat, has been trying to promote a more scientific spirit of enquiry, going so far as to say redundant old traditions needed to be thrown over.

The paradox that lies in the centre of this initiative, as any atheist or agnostic might point out, is that science stops at the border of faith. And faith is the very basis of any religion, particularly one so mixed up with philosophy and legend as Hinduism is.

Still, Bhagwat speaks of adopting ‘eternal life values’ from any culture from anywhere in the world, to stress on the RSS creed of humanism first.

In the question of the sexes, he skirts the largely fraught issue of gender equality, by stating that, in Hinduism, there is a concept of unity and merger of interests between the sexes.  Neat, no doubt, but the ardhanari argument is not very 21^st century! Still, much better than what the Sharia prescribes certainly.

The problem with any and much of this newthink is that the senior leadership of the RSS comes from a much more orthodox tradition, and even though Bhagwat is pointing in certain new directions, even his pronouncements, such as his unfortunate and mistimed comments on reservation just before the Bihar assembly elections, are not always helpful to the cause of a liberal makeover.

The RSS is not alone in this-most of its affiliates and loose cannons in the ruling party, are expert at embarrassing the Modi government without a by-your-leave; and with oodles of prejudicial, if righteous, indignation.

It makes the whole caboodle obscurantist in public perception. The desired scientific spirit of enquiry and broad-mindedness is going to take discipline and professionalism.

The makeover in substantive terms for the RSS to be taken seriously in intellectual circles, will therefore have to dig deep and be extremely brave to break away from many orthodoxies and dogmas. If beef bans and promotion of Gaumata/Gaumutra etc. are to stay, for example, they will need much better PR than heretofore.

Because, increasingly, in these days of extensive visual media, perception is everything, speaking sometimes much louder than deeds and substance.  

And sloppy messaging can be easily twisted and represented out of context. All it takes is some malicious editing of what comes out of the horse’s mouth.

It is therefore, not only in how one looks, but also how one speaks, and the precision and appeal of what one says. Old ideological and historical positions need to be reworked, based, not on vague good intentions, but on analysis of public opinion, objectives, current aspirations.

Messaging needs to be rehearsed and precise, and every attempt must be made for spokespersons to stay firmly on topic. Off-the-cuff remarks and sound-bytes can never afford to be truly spontaneous.

Before the age of television, there were movies made to push a line, internationally too, in the days of the Cold War, and of course, eagerly listened to radio broadcasts.

There were lavish productions of Tolstoy’s War and Peace from Soviet Russia, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake- all to showcase the glories of the USSR. Later, the other side took them on too, as timeless classics that belong to the world of grace and class.

 In counterpoint, there were the seemingly endless procession of John Wayne Westerns from Hollywood, to highlight the popular frontier virtues of a young, resurgent America. Some are still being remade these days with new and current stars, again often drawn internationally.

But, it is generally acknowledged, that the first televised Nixon-Kennedy debates in the Black&White TV sixties, was the first presidential race narrowly won by JFK; largely on the basis of his superior image and photogeneity.

Rival Richard Nixon’s five o’ clock shadow and the slurs about him looking like a used-car salesman, versus John Kennedy’s patrician smile and tanned, relaxed air, was a total study in contrast.

Nixon saw to it that he never neglected his image the next time around, irrespective of the content of his campaign- with  slick custom-made suits in TV suitable colours and coordinated ties, modulated voice, gestures, body-language, photo opportunities, and definitely no sweating in public.

There were a series of best-selling books on this very deliberate  political packaging- The Making Of The President  by journalist Theodore White,( first in 1960,and again in 1964, ’68 and ’72), and a film by David Wolper on the 1960 campaign, that was released, poignantly, just before the Kennedy assassination in 1963.

These books, and the power of TV, transformed the subsequent reporting on US presidential elections into a much more personalised vision of the proceedings.

Perhaps here in India too, the 2014 general elections, were, by far, the most presidential and highly televised campaign ever. Narendra Modi’s presence  and oratory, combined with very attractive and precise messaging, helped him to win a landslide for the BJP and the NDA.

There was a lot of professional PR and advertising help, in addition to high-tech data analysis, and traditional election back office teams supporting his campaign.

The fact that a life-long, old school RSS pracharak/swayamsevak could transform himself, in stages, into a suave three-term state chief minister, and then a prime minister cum globe girdling statesman, with the negative aspects of his back story melting away, is partially based on NaMo’s own gift for projection.

It also gives him high marks for his considerable appreciation of the multiplier effect of modern mediums of communication. These include, TV, radio, social media, including twitter, facebook, youtube, instagram, holographic campaigning, selfies, etc. Combined with appropriate dressing, grooming, frequent costume changes, and massive, choreographed, events.

But, the professional inputs that accompanied the natural gifts of the prime minister at every step, cannot be discounted.

The mentor organisation, the RSS too, is trying to update itself, both in terms of how they intend to look, what they espouse going forward ( less Hindutva, more inclusiveness, and modernity), and the manner in which future messaging will be handled.

It certainly makes sense to catch up to the 21^st century for this formidable organisation, that is nevertheless anachronistic. A big problem is its facile denial that it is, in fact, a political organisation. This  conceit won’t work, and needs to be dropped.

The RSS people, with their confused pronouncements and costumed looks at their shakhas , resemble a neighbourhood watch from the 19^th century, crossed with Dad’s Army, a long gone BBC comedy serial from the seventies, on veterans playing at Home Guards, during - what else, WWII.

The deportment, comportment, language skills and messaging of the RSS has been crude and provincial so far, inviting derision from the  urban cognoscenti, and conversely, unfavourable comparison with con servative and fundamentalist Muslim organisations. These too tend to hark back to the 15^th century, in terms of their misogyny, rigidity, their kohl-rimmed looks, and Astrakhan styling.

The world is taking note of the new stirrings in the RSS however, and Mohan Bhagwat has been recently addressing foreign journalists too. Reports in the Wall Street Journal speak of the revamped website. Another report elsewhere highlights that the notorious  and commodious khaki ‘knickers’ ( shorts), worn with a belt, and calf-high socks and shoes/sandals, white shirts and semi-police style caps, will soon be replaced by elegant designer outfits.

Bhagwat, for himself, emphasises the RSS is not anti-Muslim.

Meanwhile, the RSS has spent Rs. 7 crore of its donation money recently, on providing relief to the drought hit.  Truth is, that its work has always stood up for itself, and the test of time. The RSS has often been admired by other relief agencies working alongside.

But now that the RSS is beginning to address the big picture, much greater progress cannot be ruled out.

For: SirfNews

(2,251 words)

February 2^nd, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee

The Talented LGBT Community Should Be Nurtured And Respected As A Valued Minority

The Supreme Court’s decision in favour of a curative petition from an LGBT organisation called Naz, is a most welcome development. It will reopen the debate on the archaic ‘Section 377’.

Not only will the apex court hear the arguments, but unlike most curative petitions, which, if admitted at all, are held in private session; this one will be conducted in open house. It will be heard by a five judge bench, normally used in constitutional matters.

India has been tardy in the repealing this humiliating law. It is still, apparently, unwilling to join the ranks of more enlightened and liberal countries.

These are mostly nominally Christian, and Western; once given to brutal persecution of homosexuals, well into the late 20^th century, calling their sexual orientation an ‘abomination’, ‘against nature’, ‘against the laws of God’ etc.

But they have all decided to atone for their previous barbarity. Many now recognise same sex marriages, uphold the right of such unions to either have surrogate children, or adopt them. Most of them also permit gay people into their armed forces and various other positions of responsibility now, alongside their heterosexual counterparts.

In India, despite persistent demands from liberal sections of the Indian polity, and the LGBT community itself, our legislature has been, either cowardly, or obtuse, or both. It probably fears a fundamentalist backlash from orthodox groups, cutting across the multiple religions.

Still, looking around the modern world, only the more backward countries, mostly in Africa, West Asia, and the Far East, still hold homosexuality as illegal. Some places don’t, such as Russia, but vigorously persecute this minority anyway. Most Muslim nations won’t countenance homosexuality, but ironically harbour large numbers of clandestine homosexuals in their midst.

It is after all, an orientation one is born with, and not, as was supposed, and still is, in some quarters, a matter of ‘degenerate’ choice.

As India, moves now, albeit via the apex judiciary, towards hopefully holding this Victorian era law in abeyance; it is worth pondering that the LGBT community in India, count many talented and accomplished people amongst their number. It may be time to view the LGBT presence therefore, as a benefit and enrichment of our national fabric.

In America, notoriously puritanical in its core, back when it was  still illegal and a form of social suicide, there were still some prominent people who boldly ‘came out’. They did it, to further the cause of what is today called ‘Gay Pride’.

One such was the immensely talented playwright Noel Coward. He did not hesitate to joke about his own orientation: ‘I should love to perform "There Are Fairies in the Bottom of My Garden", but I don't dare. It might come out "There Are Fairies in the Garden of My Bottom."

Coward also commented on marriage with his tongue firmly in cheek: ‘The ladies of earlier years were far smarter. No pants, drinking, swearing and competing with the boys; they just stayed put and, as a general rule, got their own way and held their gentlemen much longer. It really isn't surprising that homosexuality is becoming as normal as blueberry pie.’   

Actor Kenneth Tynan, put it delicately, about Coward’s  charming activism: ‘Theatrically speaking, it was Coward who took sophistication out of the refrigerator and put it on the hob . . . Even the youngest of us will know, in fifty years' time, precisely what is meant by 'a very Noel Coward sort of person.’    

The contribution of the LGBT community worldwide, to art, music, fashion, architecture, luxury, aesthetics, and creativity in its many manifestations,  has been, and is, immense.

An article by Willow Lawson in Psychology Today makes  some interesting points: the sexes view humour very differently, says Lawson - males seek a humour ‘appreciator’, and women look for men who are humour ‘generators’; males tend to use humour to ‘compete with other men’, while women use humour to ‘bond with others’.

Is this why gay people are often so witty? Could it be the genus of the very term “gay” updated from the cruel epithets of the past? Are Gay people, better humour appreciator/generators both, or does the hilarity mask something darker? Is the humour necessary to stave off the insecurities of living in a state of illegality, in an oft threatened, bullied, blackmailed, and unstable environment?

And are the newer differentiators of personality types, not necessarily gay, with coinage such as metrosexual, ubersexual, retrosexual, nanosexual (the last, presumably to describe those who are sexually reductionist to the power thousand, or asexual); just a way of blowing in some fresh air into the general region of personal preferences?

Are bisexuals just people who ‘swing both ways’, or dodgy and ruthless deviants that are neither fish nor fowl? More and more folks don’t seem to care either way, refusing to cater to the cruelties and narrow-mindedness of the so-called ‘normal’.

And when it comes to luxury, just how much do we owe to gay sensibilities? Ponder on this laid back in a saloon chair ready to be pampered. Better it with micro environment enhancers: wicked little Espressos to cut chunks of gossip with, iPod cocooning when a whisper grows tiresome, make-the-world-go-away air-conditioning.

Indulge yourself with slathers of endless manicure, pedicure, facial, colouring, piercing, gym-sculpting, tattoozoning, and a swipe or two from the plastic surgeon to rival Zorro, called quite a different kind of Gay Blade. Stack these thought pancakes on top of French fragrances, cheese and wine, Scottish drink, the styling, the accessories, the brands, the bling. Do it quickly, before the much too serious clash of civilisations ends it all in a blue nihilistic heap. Or you stop breathing anyway.

Beauty is truly its own reward, this side of Valhalla. But was it not the LGBT community that showed the rest the way? Self-esteem is skin deep - both the cleansed kind, and the type grown in a Petri dish. The good thing however, is that it can put the Casino back into your Royale a few more times before the waves come in.

Intellectuals that think such stuff is ersatz, banal, unrealised, vulgar, fey should pull their onanistic fingers out, and gaze (honestly) upon some pretty young thing for authentication.

Is wit just spontaneous ebullience then, a wholesome celebration of life bubbling forth like a mountain spring, or is it class struggle in code? How long then before the funniest cripple jokes are being told by chaps in wheel chairs?

The funnies, the melodies, the great illuminating art, are all really about courage.  So what can we do but stand up and salute. And get rid of Section 377 post haste!

For: The Pioneer

(1,102 words)

February 2^nd, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee

Knickerwalla 2.0

Knickerwalla 2.0

Which is the story to tell? Is it the external one, listed out and narrated sequentially, like a   resume?

In that format, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), is the umbrella organisation of a clutch of Hindu  right-wing nationalist organisations, with professed universal humanitarian and egalitarian values, including the ruling BJP.

It has already thrown up two prime ministers from within its ranks and one deputy prime minister so far. The RSS was established in 1925.  

Today, the RSS counts some 6 million members through over 51,000 branches or shakhas. It is considered to be the largest NGO in the world.

The RSS has, over the years, spread its initially Brahmanical wings out of Nagpur in Central India, to embrace Dalits in its fold, including one to head the organisation for a spell. They did, in fact, earn an early endorsement for their flat organisation, without any hint of casteism, from none other than BR Ambedkar, in 1939.

More recently, it has also affiliated a number of Muslim shakhas, so that they can motivate their co-religionists independently via their madrassas and community organisations, into the broader RSS fold, thereby putting paid to the notion that the RSS should be regarded as anti-Muslim. For the Republic Day just past, these Muslim RSS shakhas raised the national flag at a number of madrassas.  

However, given the negative propaganda and ridicule the RSS routinely attracts from the Nehruvian mainstream that has been in power for most of the time since independence, the RSS remains at apparent loggerheads with the Congress Party.

The Congress, paradoxically, tries to portray itself as Hindutva champions from time to time, probably in an attempt to eat into the RSS political support base. It is useful to remember that it was Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister, in such a fit of inspiration, who first permitted Hindu worship at the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in the late eighties, opening the locks that had been in place at the masjid from independence.

LK Advani’s Rath Yatra, the demolition of the mosque and the rise of the BJP into national politics came some years later, perhaps as a direct if unintended consequence.

Congress, established in 1885 by an Englishman, has been closely associated, both with the British Raj and the independence struggle, led by Mahatma Gandhi. It has traditionally supported minority aspirations, particularly those of the largest amongst them, in an effort to prevent the majority Hindus from swamping them.

The RSS has, from inception, been staunchly anti-colonial and anti-Raj, and refused to cooperate with Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Indians to  volunteer and participate with the British war effort during WWII.  

Going the other way, the RSS openly professed admiration for Hitler and the Axis Powers instead.

However, so did Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, possibly in an ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ manner, because neither Bose, nor the RSS,  were ideologically anything but Indian nationalists and certainly not fascist. But then, Bose was blocked and stymied in the Congress by Mahatma Gandhi, who was a confidant of the British and chose to quit as   a consequence.

Though the RSS stayed away from the independence movement as such, it has often worked in a complementary manner to the Congress’ nationalist initiatives, both before and after independence.

This did not stop various Congress governments from banning the RSS for three short spells, once in 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by  Nathuram Godse, a former RSS man; during the Emergency in the seventies, when most broad civil liberties were abrogated; and after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, in 1992.

This may be the snap-shot of the external facts, but should one actually be focussing on the interiorscape for a better understanding of the organisation?  Is the true character of the tale to be found therein, the inspirational, motivational, largely personal, and even secret animus?

That there is an extraordinary patriotism and commitment felt by the swayamsevaks is undeniable. This makes the RSS a formidable cadre based organisation, that can be mobilised to great effect, certainly for relief operations at riot and flood, but also at election time. The need is now being felt internally to broaden its appeal.

But increasingly, in these days of extensive visual media, perception is everything, speaking sometimes much louder than deeds and substance. It is in not only in how one looks, but also how one speaks, and the precision and appeal of what one says. Old ideological and historical positions need to be reworked based on analysis of public opinion and  current aspirations. Messaging needs to be rehearsed and precise and every attempt must be made for spokespersons to stay on topic.

Before television, there were movies made to push a line, internationally too, in the days of the Cold War. There were lavish productions of Tolstoy’s War and Peace from Soviet Russia, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake- all to showcase the glories of the USSR. In counterpoint, there were the seemingly endless procession of John Wayne Westerns from Hollywood, to highlight the popular frontier virtues of a young, resurgent America.

But, it is generally acknowledged, that the first televised Nixon-Kennedy debates in the B&W TV sixties, was the first presidential race narrowly won by JFK; largely on the basis of his superior image and photogeneity.

Rival Richard Nixon’s five o’ clock shadow and the slurs about him looking like a used-car salesman, versus John Kennedy’s patrician smile and tanned, relaxed air, was a total study in contrast.

Nixon saw to it that he never neglected his image the next time around, irrespective of the content of his campaign- with  slick custom-made suits in TV suitable colours and coordinated ties, modulated voice, gestures, body-language, photo opportunities and no sweating in public.

There were a series of best-selling books on this very deliberate  political packaging- The Making Of The President  by journalist Theodore White,( first in 1960,and again in 1964, ’68 and ’72), and a film by David Wolper on the 1960 campaign, that was released, poignantly, just before the Kennedy assassination in 1963.

These books, and the power of TV, transformed the subsequent reporting on US presidential elections into a much more personalised vision of the proceedings.

Perhaps here in India too, the 2014 general elections, were, by far, the most presidential and highly televised campaign ever. Narendra Modi’s presence  and oratory, combined with very attractive and precise messaging, helped him to win a landslide for the BJP and the NDA.

There was a lot of professional PR and advertising help, in addition to high-tech data analysis, and traditional election back office teams supporting his campaign.

The fact that a life-long old school RSS pracharak/swayamsevak could transform himself, in stages, into a suave three-term state chief minister, and then a prime minister cum globe girdling statesman, with the negative aspects of his back story melting away, is partially based on NaMo’s own gift for projection.

It also gives him high marks for his considerable appreciation of the multiplier effect of modern mediums of communication. These include, TV, radio, social media including twitter, facebook, youtube, instagram, holographic campaigning, selfies, etc. Combined with appropriate dressing, grooming, and frequent costume changes.

But, the professional inputs that accompanied the natural gifts of the prime minister cannot be discounted.

Which brings us to the recent reports on RSS attempts to make itself over, both in terms of how they intend to look, and the manner in which future messaging will be handled. It certainly makes sense to catch up to the 21^st century for this formidable organisation, if for no other reason than to appeal to a wider audience than heretofore.

The RSS people at their shakhas have been the butt of ridicule for looking like a neighbourhood watch party from the 19^th century, crossed with Dad’s Army, a BBC comedy serial from the seventies, on veterans playing at Home Guards during WWII.

The deportment, comportment, language skills and messaging of the RSS has been crude and provincial so far, inviting derision from the  urban cognoscenti, and conversely, unfavourable comparison with con servative and fundamentalist Muslim organisations, that also tend to hark back to the 15^th century, in terms of their views and styling.

The world is taking note however, and RSS president Mohan Bhagwat has been addressing foreign journalists too, to particularly clarify the RSS is not anti-Muslim.

Reports in the Wall Street Journal speak of the revamped website of the RSS and another report highlights that the notorious  and commodious khaki ‘knickers’ ( shorts), worn with a belt, and calf-high socks and shoes/sandals, white shirts and semi-police style caps, will soon be replaced by elegant designer outfits.

Meanwhile, the RSS has spent Rs. 7 crore of its donation money, on providing relief to the drought hit. Its work has always stood up for itself and the test of time, but now that it is addressing perception of its antiquated image,  much greater progress cannot be ruled out.

For: SirfNews

(1,489 words)

February 1^st, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee

Recent History Revisited

Recent History Revisited

Revising history and the cultural context is much easier in absolutist,   totalitarian dictatorships. When a democracy undertakes it, it is generally tumultuous.

So a Mao, Stalin, Castro and even Ataturk, made a slap up job of it, but by ruthlessly eliminating all dissenters.

When America set about abolishing slavery however, it had to fight a bloody civil  war. In India, when the Modi administration started stepping on established ‘Idea of India’ toes, of the long-lived Nehruvian construct, immediate cries of ‘intolerance’ and ‘communalism’ went up. And these show no signs of abating. Of course, these protests tend to be all the more strident with a free press as a megaphone, and the absence of any fear of a midnight knock.

But yet, despite the clamour, a revision of sorts, begun perhaps in NDA 1, and cast into the deep freeze for the intervening 10 years, is once again, underway.

The declassification of the first 100 central government files related to  the legendary and elusive Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, made on his birth anniversary, the 23^rd of January, is a case in point.

There is a further promise to declassify another 25 files each month, till they are all done. Not to be left out of all the political correctness, West Bengal and its TMC government also declassified some 65  innocuous files in its archives, and in advance of the central action.

The BJP, hopeful of a political dividend from all this transparency, has anointed Netaji’s grand-nephew, post the declassification, hailed by the entire Bose family, as its possible face for West Bengal’s coming assembly elections.

And already, in black and white, an old mystery is resurrected, with accusations of forgery from the Congress Party alongside.

The files have thrown up two controversial issues about a founding father of this republic so far. These two principal revelations actually revisit what we know so far.  

The first one suggests that Netaji did not die in an aeroplane crash at Taipei, in Japanese occupied Taiwan in August 1945. And those are not Netaji’s ashes in the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo. So, no wonder that no DNA test was ever sought to be done on them. Netaji’s 73 year old  daughter, economist, Dr. Anita Bose Pfaff,  reportedly wants a DNA test done, and perhaps this government will help her in this too.  

And secondly, the files suggest, Netaji was clandestinely moved to Stalinist Russia (USSR), a war-time ally of the British. After all the INA did surrender at the fall of Singapore to the British, and Bose might have been present there too.

But it is also long known that Bose was planning to go to Russia by way of Manchuria himself, because he thought Russia was turning away from the Allies. Given his many incognito and overland trips in the past, this is not implausible.

According to the declassified files, Bose was listed in British records, as a ‘war criminal’, obviously not from the Indian nationalist, but from an Allied point of view.

Netaji did, of course, consort with Hitler’s Germany and Tojo’s Japan, both opposing Axis Forces, unlike MK Gandhi and Nehru. He also made nightly radio broadcasts from Germany exhorting the Raj to ‘free India’.

Netaji also sought and obtained some support and succour from the Japanese for his INA. He stood accused of inciting loyal British-Indian forces to mutiny and cross over to the INA. The INA/Azad Hind Fauj also fought alongside the losing Japanese side against the British-Indian forces in the Imphal area.

While all this has been known for long, the revised outlook suggests much more clearly than heretofore, that it was Subhas Chandra Bose’s efforts that went farthest to secure Indian independence.

He managed to put the wind up the British, more because of the possibility of  inciting mutiny amongst the millions of British-Indian forces in India and elsewhere during WWII, than the actual military prowess of the INA.  

This apparently had a bigger strategic impact on British thinking than the non-violent and collaborative efforts of MK Gandhi and his cohorts.

Extracts from the freshly declassified files also suggests that Jawaharlal Nehru knew that Netaji was possibly being held prisoner in Russia, most probably in Siberia. But Nehru did not follow through on this and hid this possibility from his fellow Indians. In fact, he preferred the air crash proposition, and did everything possible to make that version of Netaji’s death stick.  

Nehru, it is now revealed, more or less aided and abetted the British stance regarding Bose, without ever challenging the ‘war criminal’ tag, even after independence, presumably motivated by his own selfish power calculations. Even Mahatma Gandhi made remarks that seemed to suggest Bose was alive after 1945. Of course, the Mahatma himself was gone by 1948.

This unproven narrative of Netaji’s death in the plane crash has been maintained, more or less intact, right up to the present day.

More details are bound to come out soon, as files on Netaji, both in India and with other countries abroad are declassified, via Indian diplomacy. But yes, in top secret matters like this, such files are rarely conclusive.

Judging from present trends, and if substantiated by more revelations, it may well occasion a reassessment of the official history force-fed to the nation thus far. But what is significant is that Netaji has never faded from the affections of the Indian people despite little state promotion of his ideas or legacy.

It is ironic, in this context, that a week after Netaji’s own birth anniversary, we mark Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary, on the 30^th of January.

While it is both established, and unquestioned, that Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu), was indeed ‘the father of the nation’; enthusiasm for his legacy has been on the wane for some time.

Besides the routine genuflection on the Mahatma’s death and birth anniversaries, and the de riguer visits of visiting dignitaries to his Samadhi; it must be noticed that the Mahatma’s international influence is now greater as the apostle of non-violent political action.

These have been strengthened, in recent times, both by the late Nelson Mandela’s South Africa emerging out of the scourge of apartheid using Gandhian methods, and the evolution of the American Civil Rights Movement, from the late JFK and Martin Luther King, to the first African-American president in the White House.

In India, there has been a resentment, certainly in non-Congress circles, that other independence era stalwarts have been relegated to the margins. This feeling has perhaps been given expression under Narendra Modi. There is Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, a founder of the Jan Sangh, of course, but also Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, and even brave revolutionary martyrs to the cause like Bhagat Singh, joining the public discourse, after decades in obscurity.  

Suggestions, coming out in the wash, that both Nehru and MK Gandhi were, in fact, British collaborators, does not help their legacies either.

The Congress, not willing to admit to anything untoward, calls it all a deliberate and malicious attempt to diminish the contribution of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. It is to them a ham-fisted and distorted re-evaluation of recent history, and an attempt to make political capital out of the matter.

The BJP is however making the point that there were many others who made signal contributions, but have been deliberately and systematically forgotten.

Another trend is the lessening importance of socialism as an article of faith, even though it was enshrined in the preamble to the constitution by Indira Gandhi during the emergency. This is mainly because it failed to deliver more than 3% growth, for an economy that stood at less than half a billion dollars then, compared to over 7% for an economy that stands at $2 trillion today. And nobody can assert that Indian socialism’s 2-3% can provide for 1.2 billion people, given inflation that stands at twice as much, no matter how lovely the rhetoric.

Bose and Patel, being raked up today, represent also, somewhat poignantly, the roads that were never taken. But, now their ideas resonate quite strongly with India’s aspirations for development, military strength, and growth.

The new India, after all, must invent itself afresh in a multipolar world  that has paradoxically grown smaller and more interdependent. Modi, the outsider to the Congress legacy and its dynastic construct, is just the man to show us the way ahead. 

This rethink on our recent history did not happen by accident. It actually started right after this government came to power. Modi decided to build a colossus of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a Statue of Unity, to be completed in 42 months from May 2014. It is designed to provide employment for 15,000 people when completed. At 182 metres, it will be the tallest statue in the world and stand on an island 3.2 km away from the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river. It will be linked to the mainland by a specially constructed road.

Modi called for ordinary Indians throughout the country to donate iron  to be melted down and reworked to go into the statue’s foundations.

The Congress Party, predictably, has mocked and ridiculed the whole endeavour. Indeed, it accuses the BJP’s mentor, the RSS, of not even having participated in the independence struggle, and holds it responsible, obliquely, for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.

That Patel’s memory had been lying on the shelf, and that Netaji was ruthlessly thrown out of the Congress by MK Gandhi himself, is another matter altogether.

The Statue of Unity is being cast however, not in India but China’s Nanchang province, where ready facilities for such a giant undertaking exist.  The Chinese will then come to help set it up in Gujarat. This process is perhaps symptomatic of the world today.

Patel, known for his pragmatism, would not have blinked. And Narendra Modi wants to get the job done in 42 months.

For: Swarajyamag

(1,640 words)

February 1^st, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee

A Tough Year Ahead

A Tough Year Ahead

People who say that a new year is just a date, may be struck by the speed and pace of momentous developments, both at home and abroad, since the 1^st of January 2016.

Next month, on 8^th February, we will also welcome the Chinese New Year, the Year Of The (red fire) Monkey. The monkey year is characterised by sudden changes, disruption, even delight, at least in some quarters.

But 2016, seems to have an explosive quality to it, sometimes a prelude to wild swings of the pendulum.

This may be why, the renewed attempt to resolve long festering differences between India and Pakistan, has been marred by a fresh terrorist attack on a major air force base at Pathankot.

And North Korea, unofficially nuclear weaponised since 2006, let off a powerful hydrogen bomb underground, occasioning a 5.1 Richter scale event,   raising tensions, and inviting speculation on its import. 

Overall, the paroxysms in the Chinese economy, may define 2016. A $12 trillion economy, second only to that of the US, is going down. The world will be deeply roiled by this, even as China does its best to stave off a full-fledged recession. 

But the cracks, long supressed, are appearing all over: in China’s stubbornly inflated currency being force-devalued now; in its vanished exports, its badly compromised banking system, its opaque state owned companies, the rampant, punter-led speculation in the Shanghai Composite Index.

Then there are its China financed infrastructure contracts around the world that are burdens on its economy today. The vast acreage of empty housing and offices in major cities. The over-built infrastructure with poor returns on investment. The slow, inward looking economy that has failed to replace exports with domestic consumption.

There is the huge military expenditure, on the powerful PLA and the Chinese armament industry. This defence industry is difficult to finance without strong external demand, and doubly hard to sustain in a recession.

China’s typical ‘forward policy’, using muscular diplomacy, with massive grants and soft loans to pave its pathways, also suits a rich country better. Of course, there are trillions in reserves from the good years, but how long will they last?

Reflecting all this, there have been two 7% plus tumbles of the Shanghai Composite Index in the first days of January, and sudden, 4% plus devaluations of the Yuan.

Says billionaire international investor George Soros, the bells have begun to toll for a undisguisable recession in China.  Respected market savant Marc Faber agrees, and thinks lower global liquidity due to fallen crude prices, may lead to a US crash of 2016, capable of dwarfing that of 2008.

One point made by some leading economists, including our own Raghuram Rajan of the RBI, is that the prolonged stimulus involving billions of dollars a month, both in the US and in the EU, has only kicked the recession/depression can down the road. These huge amounts cannot be recovered and will have to be written-off over long years, given their magnitude. Other economies, in BRICS, and elsewhere, are also doing badly, some because of low oil prices, others for their unsustainable debt burdens.  

Debt is certainly the number one global malaise today. Governor Rajan is also very unhappy with India’s own non-performing assets (NPA) situation, that would, if fully acknowledged, wipe out most of the Indian banks. He is trying to get the banks and the government to own up. Meanwhile, our exports are falling, and farm income, construction, industrial production, services, and jobs, are not growing either. We do have a good GDP figure however, based mainly on public expenditure in infrastructure, financed by savings on the oil bill and  yes, greater deficits.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, once the arbiter of the oil price economy, calculates it has enough to hold out for just 6 or 7 years at present rates of expenditure. It needs a $ 105 price per barrel to balance its budgets.  But this is unlikely to come back any time soon. So, as fairly swift changes are afoot in the kingdom, the ruling Saudi royal family is dealing with a  small population of just 28 million. But even then, they are, and have been for some time, battling growing  domestic unrest.

47 people, one Iranian Shi’ite cleric, and 46 Sunnis from the 85% majority community, were beheaded recently for ‘treason’, in a blood- letting not seen since the 1980s.  Subsequent tensions with Iran have resulted in diplomatic relations being snapped.

And the aerial pounding of Shi’ite rebel Houthis, backed by Iran, in neighbouring Yemen, is not yielding the results hoped for. Instead, it is taking on the contours of Saudi Arabia’s own Vietnam.

And if we talk of the threat from ISIS and its affiliates, not only in Saudi Arabia, but in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and so on, there is a stark picture of West Asian instability. 

The global oil scenario continues to be unrelenting. The abundant US shale oil industry, able to break-even at $ 20 a barrel, will survive, even as the current prices in the region of $ 30, delivers a profit.  And then there is also the concerted effort to reduce long-term dependence on fossil fuel.

In 2015, after a pause that lasted over a decade, there was the first little uptick in US interest rates. And that too, with just a 0.25%  hike. It signals, tentatively enough, that America is stable and growing again. Still, the situation is nebulous, and the US Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Janet Yellen has reserved the right to change course  at any time if warranted.

Meanwhile, the US dollar, the world’s trade and reserve currency, has been getting stronger. Investment funds have been gravitating back to US bourses from the emerging markets and economically beleaguered Europe.

This strength of the dollar is not altogether helpful for US exports, but who’s buying much anyway? Besides, the high-value and price shock- proof armaments and US high-technology areas are not affected.

International demand for goods and services, including other commodities, from the oil producing countries and China is indeed down.   India, however, wants  global investment on a massive scale to fuel giant development plans. And foreign investors are overcoming their reservations on Indian bureaucracy etc. as it is increasingly seen to be the only game in town.

Given all the red markers, by 2017, we can certainly congratulate ourselves, if India, becomes one of the few countries that manages to grow strongly. As for the world, it will have done well enough if it does not spin out of control into a deep economic crisis or worse.

For: The Pioneer

(1,092 words)

January 19^th, 2016

Gautam Mukherjee