Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Ayodhya Verdict

The verdict of the three judge bench of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court marks an important date in the history of India . The nation heaved a sigh of relief as the people maintained their calm . But will the politicians allow the people to maintain their sobriety ? Mulayam Singh Yadav's outburst against the verdict is an inkling of the designs of the politicians to vitiate the atmosphere in order to make and consolidate vote-banks . But what is more astonishing is the response of "secularists" and the "progressives" . Mr Prashant Bhushan sees the verdict as a manifestation of the communalisation of judiciary . TV anchors and panelists who were pontificating about the need to accept the verdict gracefully changed their colours after the contents of the verdict came out . Won't they learn anything ?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Failure of Nehruvian Legacy

One of the constants of Jawaharlal's foreign policy during the early period of our Republic was to support the People's Republic of China in the UNO and outside it . And how did China pay back Nehru's efforts ? It not only attacked India , grabbed a vast stretch of land in Arunachal Pradesh and Laddakh , but aligned with Pakistan to humiliate India and tried to end Indian influence in South Asia by dangling carrots before India's neighbours .

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Future of Politics

"In our time the destiny of man presents its meaning in political terms "asserted Thomas Mann . Kautilya believed that it is only through politics that the four purusharthas could be realized .But today politics is itself facing an existential dilemma . The practitioners of politics have degraded it to a level from where it is difficult to restore it to its original high pedestal . The theoreticians of politics have shut their eyes to the dangers posed by the practitioners of politics, both as an activity and a process . The practitioners have turned it into a profession without understanding the ethics of a profession . Every profession has its own clientele whose service is and should be the primary concern of it. The clientele of politics as a profession is the general public . If the politician , instead of serving the common people , indulges in self-aggrandisement , he acts against the basic tenet of a profession . What distinguishes human-beings from other animals is the consideration of morality. Other animals don't bother about morality , human-beings take morality under consideration in their thought and actions . Today the self-serving politicians are giving politics a bad name . As an example , I want to share a personal experience . Some years back , there was meeting of the syllabus committee to frame the syllabus for a course in Human Rights .When I suggested that there should be a topic on the Politics of Human Rights , other members of the committee objected , saying that politics should not be intertwined with a sacred concept like human rights . Please note that all members were the teachers of political science , heading the departments of various colleges . I have narrated this incident to show that even the teachers of political science find politics abhorring .No wonder The American has declared Political Science irrelevant . Wonder of wonders , even Amar Singh finds politics disgusting .