The Sunday Tribune

STATE OF THE REPUBLIC
India Shining, dimly
L.H. Naqvi

India arrives. India Inc. India Shining. Is all this just hype? Do such catch-words reflect the real India? On the eve of Republic Day, two writers, a generation apart, find that there are no clear-cut answers.

I HATE being pushed, I hate being jostled. I hate being frisked. In 1975, I had to endure all this because my office could not find a more junior reporter to cover the Republic Day parade. (That is how important it is as a journalistic event.) Since the invitation was for two, my wife came along to witness the display of military might followed by the state tableaux. In between, we caught a glimpse of exhausted schoolchildren dancing their way in and out of Rajpath.

I was waved off from one point to another by the over-zealous police personnel, who, like me, had evidently been pulled out of bed for performing the unpleasant duty of overseeing the Republic Day bandobast. We were in a nasty mood by the time we found the enclosure for parking our car. The policeman on duty wanted it to be parked differently, but we snubbed him. After the parade, my bride of 26 days had to push the car all the way to the nearest filling station on Mansingh Road because the man in khakee had decided to teach me a lesson for not following orders!

But honestly, what is so exciting about the parade which is meant to showcase India’s growth as a "sovereign, democratic republic" year after year by sticking to the pattern laid out for Rajendra Prasad’s first Republic Day in office? I stand corrected because Indira Gandhi did create a role for herself by starting the custom of paying homage to the unknown soldier at India Gate.

I would like to shake hands with the regular republicans who just ‘live’ for the occasion. I know quite a few people who make plans in advance for the annual Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar or the Tansen Sangeet Samaroh in Gwalior. Just one Republic Day parade addict is all I seek out of over one billion Indians. If we cannot find that rare species, why did we react so violently when Syed Shahabuddin made the absurd appeal to "Muslim Indians" to boycott the parade?

The purpose of the annual parade and the evolution of India as a democratic republic are, of course, two different issues. One is the wrapping, the other is the gift that we, the people of India, gave to ourselves 54 years ago. It can always be argued that India has done remarkably well in all spheres as a democracy and a republic.

What then are the essential elements of a model republic? It depends upon who is arguing the case. Engel actually debunked Belgium’s claim as a "model state" and Switzerland as an example of a successful republic even though it "is not ruled by a king, there is no nobility, taxes are moderate, the country enjoys a state of profound peace".

Mercifully, the Swiss did not get rattled by his unjust analysis of the state of health of their republic. But it would be a blunder to discuss India’s growth as a republic by placing it next to Switzerland. It is a small country. India is too large, complex and diverse to fit into the universally accepted model of a healthy republic. We are not one but many republics. A general classification would see India as an urban republic and a rural republic. And there is little in common between the two.

What the global community gets a glimpse of is urban India. It has done splendidly well. Our technological brilliance has helped us capture the Silicon Valley. The telecommunication revolution and achievements in space exploration have placed the country in an orbit where it has begun dreaming of sending a manned mission to moon and possibly Mars. The proliferation of television channels and the emergence of the country as the hub of the evolving BPO industry have provided more opportunities to the talented youth than ever before.

But do not forget that the urban republic is also extremely corrupt. Where there is money there is bound to be corruption. President AP.J.Abdul Kalam told a Pravasi Bharatiya delegation that only three people can stop corruption anywhere in the world. The mother, the father and the primary school teacher. He has a point. Indeed, if all three join hands, not just the urban republic but entire India can be saved from moral decay and social strife.

The rural republic is where the real India still lives. It has yet to reap the benefits of the amazing advances that the country has made in the fields of science, technology and medicine. It is an impoverished, brutalised and criminalised republic. The flyovers that do not lead to rural India or the six-lane expressways that bypass the villages will be of little use in converting India into a robust republic.

The Constitution was amended to make India a secular, socialist republic. We were better off without this. Now we have to helplessly endure the violation of the Constitution when the administrative machinery itself engineers or connives at communal violence.

The republic I grew up in had not yet raised walls of religious bigotry. Babu Mahabir Prasad, who lived across the road, was our chacha. We spent most of our time playing with his nephews. Chachi used to make make khoya gujias for us on Holi. Babuji never forgot to give us Re 1 on Id.

In the evenings, we would dart across the road to Krishna Bhavan for the aarti. Neither did our parents ever stop us from participating in a Hindu ceremony nor did the pandit make us conscious of our Muslim identity.

That is perhaps the reason why the communal frenzy that had engulfed Ahmedabad in 1969 made me feel sick with revulsion. However, the feeling of emptiness at having been let down by the republic never left me.

Now I am mature enough to understand that the Narendra Modis, the Parveen Togadias and the Ashok Singhals neither represent Indian values nor the people in whose name they are trying to destroy India’s republican values. If he were alive, Pandit Nehru would be pained by the patronage that has been extended to the so-called religious leaders, both Hindu and Muslim, by the ruling coterie. He was the last of the liberal and secular Indians.

Not Indira Gandhi. Not Rajiv Gandhi. The mother and son between them actually created conditions that saw the Sangh Parivar realise what every rational Indian thought was an impossible dream.

Where is that republic that can lead India from its present phase of darkness into light and knowledge?

Few people, except politicians in power, have nice things to say about the republic’s evolution. The politicians are the ones who have spoiled the broth but insist that it tastes delicious!

Ours is more a case of a republic that refuses to fail. The fault lies in the way we have allowed the country to grow. We adopted a colonial political and bureaucratic structure wherein the public servant is more powerful than the private citizen. Private citizens pay money to the State in the form of taxes for giving them public servants who abuse their masters? If I dig hard for examples of India Shining, I can find several. Years ago, I turned in my passport for renewal on a Monday. Believe it or not, I received it back by registered post on Saturday without having to pull strings. It was a splendid example of an efficient nation. Here is another example. When my son wanted a driving licence I told him to take the prescribed test. He got his licence without bribing or using a tout.

It was in college that my faith in the republic was shaken. We were returning to Aligarh by train from Lucknow after the summer break. At Unnao a desperate passenger pushed his suitcase on my lap through the window. He still could not get in. At Kanpur, we decided to hand over the suitcase to the railway police. A potbellied constable took up position near the exit where we had placed the luggage. When the train slowed down he ran away with the suitcase like a thief. So much for the integrity of our public servants!

I believe the real test of the success of a democracy and republic lies in its ability to reach out to, in the case of India, one billion faceless people. My biggest dream is to lead a life of reasonable comfort as a faceless individual. But this dream seems impossible in India. I must have a face to get a gas connection. I will need contacts to get my pension papers . I must know someone to get my power metre fixed and so on.

Even God cannot help a faceless republican in India. And therein lies the fault in the functioning of our system. Correct it and India will become the most developed nation of the world. A republican model that other nations would like to adopt. India Shining will then not be an empty political slogan.

Gen Next proud of Brand India
Muneeza Naqvi

WE had been summoned for one of our famous family "discussions", very often a euphemism for heated debate or quiet sulking. My father wanted to know when I had last watched the Republic Day parade. I seriously couldn’t remember, but I’m pretty sure it’s never been on my agenda, post my 10th birthday. I remember a time in my childhood when watching the floats on Doordarshan was actually something we woke up early for. That phase passed by really quickly. For my younger teen and pre-teen cousins it’s already a non-event. They’re the cable TV generation and since they’ve always had more interesting television options, some of them have never seen the parade.

Mt dad’s question made me think about what Republic Day means to people of my generation. I made a flurry of phone calls with very predictable results. I wasn’t alone in my parade vacuum.

"I can’t remember but it was a long time ago. As a kid, when I used to be at home in Manipur for my winter vacation, it was a ritual to sit and watch the parade on TV," reminscenses Laxmi Maisnam, a 28-year-old web developer.

"I last watched the parade on television when I was 6-7 years old," says 25-year-old Vikas Khanna.

My bet is that a lot of young urban India will give the Republic Day parade a miss this year as well. But don’t get me wrong. There’s no lack of feeling good about being Indian. Call it patriotism if you will. "To my mind, the parade is a display of our achievements, talents and culture for the uninitiated. I can feel India inside and all around me," says Khanna about the parade.

"I don’t believe that only watching or participating in the show brings out national pride. One must celebrate being an Indian everyday.`A0`A0I have often been asked who or what I am. I always say that I’m an Indian, knowing full well that everyone actually wants to know where I am from. Whether I am a Hindu, a Muslim or a Punjabi," says Siddhartha Lalwani, who runs his own IT company in Gurgaon.

In their mid-20s or early 30s, a good number of these young people have had the opportunity to study and live abroad. Even those who haven’t done so, have a greater access to the world at large than the generation before them. Yet, an increasing number of my contemporaries are making the choice to live and work in India.

Despite a more global worldview, going abroad is no longer a cherished dream. Fifteen years ago, people like these dreamt the American dream and a decade before that England was the dream destination. Not so anymore. There is a reverse flow with large numbers of Indian students choosing to come back and create opportunities for themselves. "I have travelled extensively all over the world and spent half of the last 14 years studying and working abroad. Three years ago, I was given a great opportunity to return to India and start an IT company. Many may have thought it foolish`85giving up everything for nothing," says Lalwani. "I have not regreted it a single day. All I came back with was a firm belief and a will to succeed." Maisnam is one of those whomade the decision to live in India after years of wanting to live abroad. "Frankly speaking, my opinion on this has taken a full turn. When I was in college, I was determined to settle abroad as I felt like a stranger everywhere in India except my hometown (Manipur). I felt it was better to live as a stranger in a developed country like Australia. Now, it’s been almost four years since I got my immigration cleared and I’m happy to be here in Delhi," she says. "I no longer feel a stranger here and have some really good friends. Plus I think Delhi, at least, has changed a lot and still is. There is abundant opportunity here and people are changing their way of thinking."

This is young India, very often dismissed by the older generation as wasting its time and potential in multiplexes and malls. Like all generalisations this is too glib. "Definitely, we are improving year by year. The country’s potential, whether in working or living conditions, just gets better. For most young Indians, things couldn’t be better. Look at the changes. A college student is no longer shy of doing a part-time job in McDonalds, it’s not seen as a menial job," says 25-year-old Monalisa Arthur.

"I have a nice job and good enough salary. I believe if I were to leave this job, I’d find another one in an Indian company, which might be just as good. Five years back, all a student straight out of college wanted to do was leave the country, to go and study or work abroad. There are more job opportunities in India now, and interesting ones at that," she says.

This new young India is very often called brash, but there is a lot more soul here than meets the eye. The belief that good things are possible and the willingness to try and work within the constraints of a system that is often flawed marks the new youth. Their attitudes lack the pessimism of their predecessors. "I don’t think there is anywhere in the world that you can succeed as much as you can in India. It’s a land of full of opportunities. Quite simply, if you are smart and have the will, you will succeed," says Lalwani.

And the connection is not only about business opportunities and the potential to create wealth.

"It’s my home and it’s inherent in me. It’s not easy to express but India is a part of me . . . just as I am a part of India. It is my identity," sums up Lalwani.