10/20/2015

First meeting of Swaraj Abyan in Kerala -18/10/2015 in kochi and after...






 Swaraj Abyan  meeting in Kochi on 18/10/2015, was inaugurated by Adv  Prashant Bhushan. He  demanded the  need for a different kind of politics, as envisaged by IAC and evolved as the founding principles of AAP, which was  spoiled by Mr.Arvindh Kegeriwal and his coterie. Regarding the B.J.P government, he said they have to say "goodbye to 'Make in India' sooner than later as they are  implementing the 'agenda of chaos and disorder' in the country", He  slammed the "Sangh Parivar for recent attacks on minorities, rationalist thinkers and writers in various parts of the country". He said "the flow of FDI to the country would be hit badly  if government fails to send a message to the world by acting against those who try to divide India on communal lines. Corruption ridden, chaotic, socio-political landscape will fume away  sensible investors for sure. I can safely predict today that the FDI that will come  next year will be  less than what came in this country prior to Modi,” Adv. Bhushan  lamented  that India’s 'unique diversity' is under attack. Just like the biodiversity  of environment   it is well recognised by experts as an asset for sustainability and progress. To have diversity in  views,language and culture among the population, espouse the philosophy of pluralism. We must be proud of this human diversity but there is  systematic attempts to encourage tribal taboos' . Accusing the government of treating black money which comes through tax haven as FDI, Adv. Bhushan said, “all shady money being invested in real estate and stock market in the country. This should not be counted as real FDI,” .Welcoming the recent Supreme Court verdict declaring NJAC Act “unconstitutional”, Bhushan alleged that the National Judicial Appointments Commission was a “clear effort” by the BJP-led government to control the judiciary by controlling the appointments of judges. “Government’s control over judges appointments would have certainly compromised the, independence of judiciary” he said. Noting that everything is not fine with the Collegium system of appointment, Bhushan also sought for the establishment of an “independent” commission to regulate judge's appointment. 

After keenly listening to his talk and observing  the response of  the audience, I can't  refrain from pointing out that more enthusiastic response was expected to  such an inspiring talk, especial from an audience  suppose to represent the   'most literate' state. Few  expressed their views, suggesting  cosmetic corrections to modify 'failed experiments'. As if these set backs are due to some ignorance from the part of active politicians. There were  discussions with different groups and individuals from different walks of life.  Swaraj Abhiyan Kerala chapter is expected to be formed in due course. Thanks to the disastrous experience and lessons learned!, earlier in Kerala ,Delhi and else where when  AAP was formed in a hurry  with out much home work and scrutiny. Thanks to Prashanthji for creating a condition to reach the right decision at the right time. We need the right people, capable of spreading the message of   Swaraj Abhiyan in every hook and corner of our country   to do the required 'piece meal social engineering' in the right direction ensuring enthusiastic participation and adequate representation from younger generation ,women and weaker sections of the society.

A brief  History of    Democracy,                         Decentralization and Pluralism                            

                I was under the impression for long that  'left is right' (yes! it is  true for driving on Indian roads as per Motor Vehicle Act,India ). The political terms 'Left and Right' were coined during the French Revolution (1789–1799), referring to the seating arrangement in the Estates General: those who sat on the left, generally opposed the monarchy (but it is the 'right' side of the people watching from opposite direction!). The redundant reductionism, of 'Left and Right'-demarcation, ossified long past.Concept of antagonistic classes almost melted away even from the thoughts of professional revolutionaries claiming to be 'genuine Marxists'.   Just turn back and look! left become right and mirror  does  the same trick. Neither Left nor Right but Straight is Right. Neither objectivity nor inter-subjectivity supports this unreasonable demarcation of left and right. 'Straight' has the added advantage that you can turn left or right as per the nearest perceivable destination and availability of space, on road. Straight signifies  honesty and  deficiency of the same is felt everywhere in this age of 'Unreason' getting manipulated  by conspiracies.   If you  turn continuously to left or right  in a uniform rate, you  reach back square one safe with no progress so says simple Euclidean Geometry. Two right or left right angle turn  reverse the direction!.  Again asymmetrically favouring one side with out specific reason and logic is negation of plurality and inclusiveness
                Swaraj Abhiyan from the very beginning  highlighted the right demand in harmony with the principles of Swaraj, Democracy, Secularism, pluralism and sustainability. The common denominator of existing  corrupted political system is  the ' High command culture' and 'nomination syndrome'. Nexus between crony capitalists ,political leadership and other echelons of power is ruling the roost. Thousands of volunteers raise these historically relevant demands  to make India proud, but History has shown the propensity of 'centralization and oppression to exploit the weak majority, with 'noble lies' and conspiracies. After every progress in civilization there was set backs.Nearly three thousand year old derogatory 'cast- system' in our own country is the living example',as as a pack of  domesticated wolves, within urban middle class mind  and turns  dangerously wild, on  reaching suburban and remote rural India!. Great writer  H.G  Wells laments in his magnum opus   'The Outline of History' 

  quote/ "The last twenty-three centuries of history are like the efforts of some impulsive, hasty immortal to think clearly and live rightly. Blunder follows blunder; promising beginnings end in grotesque disappointments; streams of living water are poisoned by the cup that conveys them to the thirsty lips of mankind. But the hope of men rises again at last after every disaster. . . ." /unquote
only way to understand this curious fact is that
"our civilization is still in its infancy"
as Karl popper states in his introduction to the 'open society and its enemies'  .
               Collective phenomenon of  'self organized systems' like that of human society, 'Delayed over reaction seems to be the rule'. Great Principles  of Democracy by Pericles(495-429 B.C.)and Democritus,of democratic Athens during her  golden age (Ref:'Aristotle, Politika (Politics) and Funeral Oration'),later ossified to anarchy and then, the Thirty Tyrants -trial and Magistricide of great Philosopher Socrates, Plato's rhetoric and sophistry with 'Noble Lies', self appointed guardianship,  advocating  'Utopian Republic', putting his thoughts as words of  Socrates(Ref:O.S. - Karl Popper). philanthropy ,liberty and freedom of early Christianity,  raised much hope among the marginalised populace at that time. Constantine ( 272 C.E – 337C.E),espoused  Christianity and made use of its acceptance to establish  dynastic -divine right rule  and we call this long period from third century to 15th century C.E as 'Dark ages ' in Europe. Early Buddhism similarly  faded and cast-ism, ruled the roost in Indian sub continent.  After running its course through the 'Dark ages'.  'Age of reason' enlightened the principles of liberté, égalité, fraternité,  evolved in nearly three centuries, gradually succumbed to centralization and autocracy (Ref :Alexis de Tocqueville on French revolution "started for decentralization and ended with centralization"); slipped to Laplaceian determinism and finally to Fascism and Totalitarianism. Philosophical basis of the same has provided by Hegel, the enlightenment counter part of Plato 'The philosopher king'. New mutations of fascism in the name of faith and religion with nostalgic dreams of tribal past is in the making especially in middle east and Indian subcontinent.    Indian counter part of renaissance, offered a small interlude of hopes, and expectation  produced great men of science, literature,politics whom we still  remember with gratitude. Later paved the way to Congress misrule, politics of conspiracy and dishonesty. 
            History always provides  good many parallels, even though it never repeats. It helps us to understand the  present and mould  the future, provided we learn the right lessons, gathering the 'text relevant to the context' and 'writing new texts'. Consider Indian political scenario in 1946 -India’s independence was only a matter of time. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the president of Congress party at that time , natural choice as the first Prime Minister of independent India. Mahatmaji favoured Jawarlal Nehru, non of the Pradesh Congress Committees(PCC) supported him; only few Congress Working committee(CWC) members favoured him. The majority support was in favour of Sardar patel and then to Acharya J.B. Kriplani.  Coronation of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru as India’s first Prime Minister was a compromise to democracy. Mahatmaji feared ;Nehru could cause problems and was well aware of his relationship with Mount Batten; It marked the declining phase of Indian renaissance. It should be noted that Jawarlal Nehru while praising 'Chanakya' (Kautilya/Vishnu Gupta--350–275 BCE) as the Indian- Machiavelli and commented “..bigger person in every way ,greater intelligence; humble adviser to any ruler”(Ref:'Discovery of India,Page124 quoted words contain more meaning than given by any dictionary)  Great leaders like Mahathmaji, Vinobha Bave, Jayaprakash Narayanan, Dr.B.R.Abdedkar and a long list of proud Indians distanced from the main stream of Congress politics. The real mystery behind the cruel  assassination of Mahathmaji and tragic disappearance of Nathaji Subhash Chandrabose all  still remains, In 1958, Feroze khan Jehangir Ghandy, raised the 'Haridas Mundhra scandal, involving the government controlled LIC; a huge embarrassment to Nehru's government. Eventually T.T. Krishnamachari then Finance Minister resigned. Feroze khan was a democrat and proud Indian upholding high moral and ethical values, later his rift with his wife and her father Pandit  Nehru is well known. Equally known is the story of his surname 'Gandhi'. We have seen for few decades the misrule of so-called 'Gandhi dynasty'.
                      The  J.P movement offering hopes again, gradually got hijacked, with text book ingredients of fascism, but short lived and Congress returned as the new incarnation of corruption with proxy centres of power, unholy nexus between U.P.A partners, opposition, regional parties, different echelons of power within and outside the government, orchestrated by crony capitalists from different corners of the globe. Just natural to see that the corruption graduated from few hundred thousands to billions of dollars, find its safe abode in  Swiss  banks, real estates and stock markets. Respected Anna Hazare's great initiative, IAC, Janalokpal, exponential growth of AAP and its fall from grace to bottomless pit of disdain due to  dirty tricks, abusive language, 'Animal farm' politics, nepotism, sycophancy and centralization! AAP's elevation to share power in Delhi (though its just a glorified 'Municipality'  as per Indian constitution)  played its role to provide the safety valve to Indian discontent and anger against corruption! no reason to believe that there is no conspiracy in the whole episode! All now contribute to  Indian history of recent past.

                          In the present context Swaraj Abyan  represents  the right principles, vigorously advocated by Great leaders of Indian renaissance including Mahathmaji, Nethaji, Bhagath Singh, Dr. B.R Ambedkar (Ref: at least the proposed Lahore speech which never has taken place!) and Dr.Ram Manoher Lohia etc. Brutal majority with  nominated sycophants and outsourced goons  with in AAP fold  have  voted  out founding leaders together with founding principles  and dislodged  the ombudsman Admiral Ramdas. Those who are  adopting diplomatic silence will sooner than later will follow the same fate. Paradigm of centralization always try to draw smaller and smaller circles!. Be  strong and  adhere to the true values of humanism and openness is my humble request to those who are adopting a soft stand with the hope of survival with in AAP.  I am agreeing with the fact that some centralization is required during formation of any organization especially during this era of 'ureason'-'Post truth Era' seems to be the right word as edited on 5/6/217) and conspiracy but the right system adhering to propriety, fairness and decentralization is to be evolved with out systemic faults. While advocating  strongly for tolerance, Karl popper insisted the need for 'Intolerance to intolerance' otherwise it will take away the very slogan of tolerance.  Paradigm is similar in this context
            'Decentralization('Bottom up') should be implemented systemically top-down through well written constitution and to be practised, with out any compromise; ought to become the part of very thought process. once it become part of the system everything can be done de-centrally, adhering to the basic principles.
                      Swaraj  Abhyan is to be  the  nursery to mould that practice and obey the well  written rule of law and practice to ensure the  founding principles.
                     Compromise is not a one time job it demands further chain of compromises-just like  'Lie needs more lies to mask the truth' just like   'violence breeds more violence'. Fall and fate of AAP should be a lesson to be remembered always!.  Dirty tricks, lies ,attempts to fume out leaders of name, reputation and values  like Adv Shanthi Bhushan ,Adv Prashant Bhushan ,Prof Yogendra Yadav ,Prof Anand Kumar above all admiral Ramdas, the Internal lokpal. Prominent individuals like Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, all naturally expressed their grace, dignity and sense of values.  Patiala M.P, Dharamvira Gandhi, MLA Pankaj Pushkar, etc are  upholding the spirit of the movement and dignity of Indian civility. More and more episodes  are yet to be written. 
                   Asuthosh in his usual sycophantic cacophony compared Mr.Arvindh Kejrwal with Pundit Nehru. I am  agreeing with him in spirit but Jawaharlar Nehru was more intelligent and shared some democratic pursuit with his European counterparts, mainly  due the social thinking prevailed in Europe during his time. He would have behaved with grace after the victory in Delhi. Perhaps Chief Minister ship in Delhi,  even for a short term, may be the highest dream achievable to an average Indian politician well versed in dirty tricks and having Khap Panchayat as his 'Utopia'. It is now worth quoting Ronald Reagan implicitly admiring  Machiavelli’s “dangerous” and “immoral” teachings once said, Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first”.
                  For them everything is right in love and war. Politics  is just the war for power. This context is to be realistically analysed with commitment to a greater cause. Let me appreciate the matured decision to postpone the formation a political party for the time being. Social initiative is a pre-requisite for political alternative. It is the lesson stressed by Dr.B.R Ambedkar (Lahor speech  point.No. 2). Respected    Dabholkar, Kalburgi,  Pansare  all lost their life in similar circumstances - Dadri lynching  and similar incidence are  not just warning signals but shows  how Indian political land scape  is fast changing. Just use our common sense  even if  these fascists  succeed  in killing all progressive elements, Christians and Muslims and all  voice of descent, will it bring piece and prosperity to the rest?.  It would be the beginning of another intense war with 'tribal taboos', regional and linguistic divide, same is the case with 'religious fanaticism' acquiring propensity in middle east now. Every right thinking person should come forward actively before  it is too late! Let us salute the great martyrs loved freedom and life. Recollect the well thought statement from Adv Shanthi Bhusan when AAP was launched "It is the last bus to democracy next is anarchy ", but the last bus nose dived to slums of  dirty politics ,near Yamuna river but few were fortunate to get kicked out by the driver  because they raised objections related to the system faults of the bus ,driver Mr. Khap and repeated the engine knocks, we are in the process of making the new bus sans system faults to the best of our ability ! and there cannot be any more bus after the Last Bus .
                                   Jay Hind .
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 Read more in my  blog especially the historic talk by Prof.Yogendra and my epistemological introduction to it .  swaraj open society and previous posts and express your views and criticise  me as strongly as possible.--Gopalakrishna
                                                                            (Kris)   krishgindia@gmail.com





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1 comment:

  1. Prof Panicker, Your blog is quite interesting. Swaraj Abhiyan is another experiment.Let us practice the vision of Swaraj Abhiyan. Practice will give us clarity and true result whether the idea is workable or not.This is my view on S A at this moment.

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