History is very cruel and human beings who try to write it, fail to understand that the text they write, can be misinterpreted
Dr. Jernail S. Anand | India
The latest controversy about including Shashi Tharoor as Head of the Committee formed for Diplomatic Outreach to UN, has larger ramifications. Whether Dr. Tharoor has accepted it to the chagrin of Congress leaders, is not the subject of my story. I look at it in the larger framework of the manifestation of the democratic principle. The government has at last realized that it needs opposition leaders to convince the world about its credentials. As far as the opposition is concerned, they are demanding a Parliament session. India is already embroiled in major diplomatic crises. It seems we have come to a situation in the post-truth era in which we finally do not know what we said when, and to whom, with the result that things have spun of our control.
History is very cruel and human beings who try to write it, fail to understand that the text they write, can be misinterpreted. At the most, we in literature, call it intentional fallacy if we way, I wanted to say this or that. When we are speaking with so many mouths and listening with so many ears, and acting with so many minds working at so many levels, we should not forget that after all we are human; only a machine can perform all these functions with efficiency, or it can be expected from the divine machinery. We human beings are bound to crash here or there.
This has happened with our Foreign Affairs Minister. Saying so many things, asserting this, denying that, and finally, unable to find out the right words. Another issue with these higher positions of great responsibility is: What the situation actually is, what your mind wants, and what the authorities want. Synchronizing these three planks of reality or unreality is a hard task, and men who had believed in singleness of purpose and unity of mind, cannot hold it on for long.
How history takes us to task, nothing can be more evident than from Kashmir. The removal of Art. 370 was done with a sacred wish that peace returns to the valley. In spite of so many voices to the contrary, the nation accepted the twist which was given to the movement of history. But, it seems history has not taken it kindly. The mistakes that were made at the time of freedom, refuse to be rectified or resolved. It seems, the responsibilities which were ignored in 1947 have come back seated on the whirlwind now. We have come to a situation in which we need a policeman, or a soldier for everyone in the valley. Otherwise, security is a grave risk. This is what Pehlgam proved. How can a government be blamed if they tried to bring peace on an unwilling people? Kings in the past also have often taken serious decisions, and it is another thing, they went well or not. If this decision of the govt has boom-ranged, nobody can doubt the intentions of the govt. Yes, it can be argued that they may not have measured the consequences of their act.
I don’t think we can reverse history, or go back to the previous position, but one thing has to be lamented. That peace is still eluding the valley. People still believe in militancy. And they want freedom. And here, I feel the official policy has fumbled. Why they are feeling like aliens in this land which belongs to them? Why they don’t have the feeling that they are free? Why they consider the government their enemy? The government has to take statesmanly steps, rising above politicking. If we think of today and tomorrow, we may be ultimate losers if we fail to instil confidence in the minds of the Kashmiri people. We will have to think of day after tomorrow, we do not need politics, we need statesmanship. Freedom is not a political concept, it is an emotional construct, and this emotive issue needs to be addressed in an emotive manner. The way Kashmir is being handled can cause tremors in Bangladesh too. By pursuing an anti-Muslim agenda, have we not indirectly worked on the minds of Muslim nations to feel alike and maintain distance from India? It would be a nightmare it Bangladesh and Pakistan come on the same page and decide to undo 1971.
So far as Shashi Tharoor is concerned, the Govt. has every right in this direction. But, I would say, the Govt. has taken a lot of time in realizing that the talent which is wasted on opposition benches, could be used for the development of the nation. I believe that the Cabinet must have ministers from the opposition camp also, so that together they go forward, in the developmental march of the country. In my opinion, the Head of the Opposition should be the Deputy Prime Minister. And the Cabinet should have equal number of ministers from both sides. So that all the elected members lead the nation as a whole. All the policy decisions need to be taken jointly, with consensus, and the Govt. should be only an agency to implement the decisions of the Governing Council. For these we need structural changes. And they are necessary because we have seen the working of the democracy in our country coming to its nadir, necessitating alternate thinking.
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The author is Laureate of Seneca Award, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky Awards, and President, International Academy of Ethics
