Sunday, January 19, 2003		Books

Looking ahead through JP lectures
Harbans Singh

India Looks Ahead
edited by B. Vivekanandan. Lancer’s Books, New Delhi. Pages 220. Rs 430.

JAYAPRAKASH Narayan had yearned for a "society which made possible for all men and women, irrespective of their socio-economic background, to lead a life worth living." After his death, the Jayaprakash Foundation has since 1980 held a series of JP Memorial Lectures to illuminate the contemporary world not only with his idealism but also with the answers that some of the eminent people have to the vexing issues that are a hindrance in achieving the desired and shared goals of all humanity.

The present volume contains 12 lectures, which deal with the man and his mission in its entirety. While a few among them are subtle in their message, there is also the strident tenor of S. P. Shukla, which warns the countrymen not to repeat the folly of Jahangir of chasing the mirages from abroad. Appropriately, this volume begins with V. P. Singh who is really responsible for setting the agenda for the nineties. The question of economic and social equity is addressed by him, which, stripped of the blind passion of yesteryears, sounds quite reasonable today, though the quality of the sentences and languages is far from satisfactory. Another subject, equally close to the heart of the votary of Total Revolution, was of the human rights and this has been dealt in a very elucidating manner by Soli J. Sorabjee. Not only has he traced the brief history of these rights but has also the various legislations, debates and court judgements and its intervention to look at human suffering seriously.

Ravindra Varma and A. K. Damodaran have dealt with the search for an alternative to non-violent revolution and the role of power in socio-economic transformation, respectively, and while the former comes up with a big "no," the latter concludes that since in the words of Martin Bauber, "Power abdicates only under stress of counter power," it must be tempered with compassion to make it an instrument of social change. But these two, along with the last lecture of the volume of S. P. Shukla, are thought provoking as well as gentle guides in the labyrinth of problems that this country is facing. Not surprisingly, in a decade so blinded by passion and prejudices, the lecture of Madhu Dandwate deals with that cardinal element of Indian psyche and yet so missing from our lives today—compassion. With the air so thick with hatred, bitterness and cruelty "there is an imperative need to recapture the spirit and human touch of Gandhi," he pleads, citing a number of examples from Mahatama’s life to which the inherent goodness of human nature never failed to respond.

The lecture of Pradip Bose is understandably more focused on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose than addressing the road map that lies ahead after the changes that have taken place during the preceding decades. Even less surprising is the lecture of George Fernandes who deals with the security environment in the region, leaving a trail of questions in the mind of a perceptive reader. Why is it that it was only in 1998—40 years after Krishna Menon had articulated them—that he realised he shared his threat perceptions? Why is it that in 1983 the then Defence Minister of India, S. Venkatraman, was deep down in the shaft ready for the "test" and Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, backed away under the US pressure, but when the "Buddha smiled," Defence Minister George Fernandes was no where near the shaft? He insists upon saying that after decades of opposition to nuclear weapons he is convinced that it is a deterrent to Pakistan. It does not occur to him that it is also a guarantee that India would not cross the LoC, as was demonstrated during the Kargil conflict.

The lectures of The Dalai Lama and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam are inspiring and provide us an insight into the men who speak those words while Ajit Bhattacharjea and Surur Hoda’s are intimate memoirs of men who had shared the moments of time in dreaming and working for a world which was more equitable and just. However, it must be said that when these lectures are read as a single unit one does find a few contradictions.

H. R. Khanna was a great judge because he dissented with Justice Chandrachud and Justice Bhagwati. But did the two judges deliver their judgement in 1970 as a matter of "atonement"? Indira Gandhi subverted the system by having a "committed judiciary" but did that not help freeing justice from its commitment to the rights of Zamindars, landlords, industrialists and traders?

Similarly, if George Fernandes and Surur Hoda are to be believed JP played a very significant role in moulding the world opinion during that momentous year of 1971, though A. K. Damodaran is clear that the effort was part of the strategy of the then Indian Prime Minister. These are, however, minor flaws, which are to be attributed to the tricks that memory plays because of its propensity to sift and interpret selectively.