Grading Middle Class India on its Republic Day

India is celebrating its 60^th Republic Day today.  South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak is the guest of honor at this years Republic Day parade in New Delhi.  Most of the major cities in India are under heightened alert and the security measures are very tight.

India became an independent nation in 1947 and became a “Republic” in 1950 (for those who do not know Republic Day marks the adoption of the Constitution of India).  But the security measures are an indication that in a small way we are still prisoners of our colonial past and our inability to solve outstanding issues stemming from our independence and the subsequent partition has cost us dearly in terms of freedom.

India is what it is today mainly because of our founding fathers.  They laid the foundation for a pluralistic, secular and democratic nation.  They chose science over religion (which was very difficult to do considering India’s past).  They implemented a mixed economic model that had room for private enterprise and also large government entities.  They gave us freedom and liberty that most of our neighbors can only dream of 63 years later.

However, many middle class Indians today have a very negative opinion of our founding fathers.  Some of us associate the ills that face our society with the shortcomings of the founding fathers.  But is this a valid argument?  India clearly would not be what it is today (in geographic terms and in terms of our economy) without Pundit Nehru.  But today he is less popular than his daughter Indira Gandhi who in my opinion is primarily responsible for pointing India in the wrong direction for almost two decades.

Why do we like Indira Gandhi?  She imposed emergency, jailed journalists and opposition leaders, nationalized many private institutions including banks and basically ran the country to the ground.  We like her because she displayed a sense of control and power that we like.  She was a boon to the middle class because she maintained the status quo.

What grade would we give ourselves on this Republic Day?  We enjoy a lot of freedom that our parents and grand parents did not have but are we as free as say a country like the United States?  We like freedom and promote it as long as it is in tune with our opinion.  If it is not then we resort to other methods including violence, strikes, bandhs and the ever popular hunger strike patented by Mahatma Gandhi to blackmail the government or others to achieve our goals.  We have become a nation that makes changes based on such dramatic events and not one that makes changes following the mandated constitutional processes.

I understand that the different forms of protest except violence are valid forms of protest in a democratic society but should be used in the appropriate context and not as a form of intimidation and in a manner that violate others rights.  One of the things that I notice is that we Indians by and large are very critical of our politicians and the government.  But what I fail to understand is that how these “unpopular” politicians are elected?

The reality is that a large number of us only rant and vent but then conveniently turn a blind eye to what these politicians are doing as long as they represent our party, religion, caste or gender.  We have local and regional identity but do not have a national identity.  What does India stand for and what are India’s aspirations?  If you believe that India stands for equality then are you worried about the exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL?

What are our social responsibilities particularly regarding hunger and poverty?  This is an area we have failed miserably so far.  Both we and our politicians have so far not come up with a plan to change this situation.  We should be aware that the growing middle class (us) and its needs (real and imagined) are affecting the ability of the government to eradicate poverty.

Not a day goes by without an article in the major newspapers about potential threat from Pakistan and China.  The very next day there will be a reaction from one of our ministers or someone from the armed forces on what we are doing to prevent it.  This is a classic situation where the media is catering to the fears of the Indian middle class and the government having to react to it.  The reaction of the government is real and billions of dollars are spent on military expenditure to defend against an imagined threat (at least militarily).

We want to build nuclear submarines and send a man to the moon. Why do we want to send a man to the moon when the majority of Indian men who are poor cannot even afford a shirt? Why do we need nuclear submarines when most of the agriculture is still done by hand and by using bullock carts?  It is very unlikely that India, Pakistan and China will go to war with each other because doing so will put us all back in the Stone Age economically.  We have to learn to live with each other and each others faults.  India’s biggest threat to its security is not Pakistan or China but the 500 million of us who “try” to live on less than 30 Rupees a day.

We the middle class put so much pressure on the government to provide us with adequate security but we do not apply even 1% of the same pressure on the government to eradicate poverty or decriminalize politics or make the government more transparent.  Have you wondered why?

Deep inside we really do not care about democracy, equality, freedom, differences of opinion or poverty.  We are on a roll economically.  We have not seen money like this in our history.  We do not want anything to rock this boat and we have made sure that our government and politicians understand it.  Got it?

Related posts:

1. How the Middle Class Can Help India’s Poor
2. Corruption in India: Excuse for Uncaring Middle Class
3. India and Pakistan: Freedom vs. Azad
4. Lessons India Should Learn From Pakistan
5. Chinese Think Tank Proposes Breaking Up India

Tags: China, India, Pakistan, Republic Day, South Korea

Category: Culture & Religion