Allegiance Ruled By Expedience

We have long become inured to our elections, and hence our democracy, getting steeped in symbolisms. Caste,and to a smaller extent, religion, has played a major role in the choice of candidates for the variouselections, so that an inter-party fight more often ends up as an intra-caste affair. It was therefore nosurprise that the Presidential debate had its share of symbolisms.

After dithering over P.C.Alexander, THE Christian, and Krishan Kant, the NDA finally found its man in Dr.Abdul Kalam, the 'missile man'. Since then, several of our 'leaders' have been vying with one another to layclaim to Dr. Kalam, the 'consensus' candidate.

Yes, consensus candidate.

If I make a decision and then try coax you into accepting it (or risk getting defeated), it's a consensusdecision, right? There was only so much consensus in his choice as there is unanimity in those frequent'unanimous' elections enforced by the high command with a lot of "carrot and stick". The fuss aboutthe so-called consensus is no more than an attempt to enforce the will of the mighty.

For as inane (and perversely laughable) as these symbolic gestures and the accompanying rabble are, therelurks behind these a serious danger. After Abdul Kalam's nomination was announced, VHP internationalgeneral-secretary Parveen Togadia proclaimed, "The choice of Kalam shows that this government does notdiscriminate on communal lines if the person concerned is a diehard nationalist."

Ironical, isn't it?

Parveen Togadia, one of the provocateurs identified by the survivors of the Gujarat pogrom, is lecturing uson secularism with hardly an eyebrow raised! What's the big deal, we knew he will escape the noose, didn't we?As if to shake off whatever guilt was left, we then exonerated the culprits and shifted the blame on thevictims. And now, we want to brush all this under the carpet and our magnanimity in electing Abdul Kalam, THEMuslim, to be appreciated. Bravo!

Now that Abdul Kalam has been designated the model Muslim, I couldn't help raking my brains as to whatmight have endeared him (or maybe, made him least unacceptable) to the RSS.

Firstly, Kalam is a forceful proponent of militarization, and so was the Hindutva ideologue, V.D.Savarkar.Secondly, in spite of being a Muslim, he reveres the Bhagwad Gita as much as the Quran. Thirdly, he has hardlyever voiced concern over the oppression of the minorities. And lastly, the Hindu Right's obsession with the 'burgeoning'Muslim population suggests that they would want other Muslims to emulate him (in not tying the knot). Ofcourse, his being the 'missile man' is the most crucial, for it's this that makes all his other laudablequalities noticeable.

Not every humble and dedicated person catches our eye, right? So, all ye Muslim peaceniks, beware of whatyou say and do! When our Bharatvarsha is facing danger from a Muslim country, you are not doing yourselves anyfavour clamoring for peace. This is not what we Hindus expect of you. And you know very well that your realsafety lies in our goodwill, don't you? We have shown how we treat 'true' nationalists, and also what befallsthose who incur our wrath. The choice is yours, as befits a democracy.

By electing a Muslim to a largely symbolic and impotent position, we want to establish our secularcredentials. You and I couldn't have conjured up such a wonderful scheme, could we? 40 odd years of experiencehas stood Atalji in good stead. "Aap ke janma lene ke pehle se hum rajniti mein hein (I have beenin politics since before you were born)", as he would vouch!

Five years back, we were gung-ho about having elected a Dalit as our first citizen. Dalit or non- Dalit,Narayanan was eminently qualified for his post, but unfortunately, this was completely lost on our leaders.Anyways, after all the bragging, did it really help the Dalits?

Last September, Narayanan was a mute spectator as the government successfully lobbied to keepdiscrimination against Dalits off the agenda of the UN World Conference Against Racism. And more recently, thepresence of a Syed Shahnawaz Hussain in the Union Cabinet didn't save an Ehsan Jaffri and hundreds of otherMuslims, did it? Nor has Jayalalitha's being in power stopped female infanticide in Usilampatti.

Unless followed up with meaningful actions, symbolic gestures often do more harm than good, for they createthe illusion of having solved a problem.

I wish I could share the joy of several others and 'sportingly' accept Kalam as the next Prez.Unfortunately, the signs are already out that he doesn't quite fit the bill.  He seems to have taken 'Seeno evil' to heart. Or is it just the effect of the high-flown praise he has been receiving? The problem withsuch praise is that once you get used to it, retaining it takes precedence over everything else and you wantto keep the paean-singers in good humor.

Beset as we are with so many problems, this is no time for such unbridled and unjustified euphoria as we'vebeen witness to. And so, I had this faint hope that Kalam will use his famed skills in conflict resolution tospeak out for the oppressed, particularly against the charade of secularism that our rulers are trying toenact.

It's no secret that his election to the 'highest' office doesn't necessarily reflect the status of Muslimsin India. And there's none better than him, a 'nationalist' certified by the Sangh Parivar, to bring this toour notice. Instead, he chose to dole out this 'great Indian thought': "What ever happened has happenedfor the good, What ever is happening is happening for the good, What ever will happen will happen for thegood". There's some truth in this though, for all that has happened has been for the good of the opulentfew, but he didn't go this far.

His love for an abstract notion of nation makes him blind to the real sufferings of its inhabitants. Afterall, what is nation, if not its inhabitants? His fellow workers have spoken up on how he shielded them fromcriticism, and I think this same attribute is at work here.

Unless the fruits of freedom and development are available to all, the so-called freedom is but a joke. Iam told he reads Subramanya Bharathi. I would like to remind him of one of Bharathi's most inspiring verses - "ThaniOruvanukku Unavillaiyenil Jagathinai Azhithiduvom" (Let's destroy the world, if even a singleindividual is to starve).

While continuing to extol our achievements, in his autobiography, he also exhorts our media to focus on thepositives. He goes on to narrate how the Israeli media published an inspiring story even on the day of asuicide attack. He has hit on the problem even without his noticing it!

It's the aversion of the Israeli media to focus on the real issues that has allowed the Zionist governmentto get away with its atrocities. "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means ofacquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy", to quote James Madison, a former U.S.President. We don't want our citizenry to be kept in the dark, do we?

As it is, the media only plays up on inspiring stories like 'We have the Hydrogen bomb' or entertainingstories like "Madhuri scores over Amitabh Bachchan". Let our deficiencies be brought to light sothat some time in the near future, we could be a really free country.

Elsewhere in his autobiography, he speaks glowingly of Wernher von Braun, the infamous rocket scientist whofirst worked for the Nazis and then the NASA. Braun was "completely unperturbed" (according to asurvivor) by the piles of corpses of the 20,000 concentration camp inmates who died constructing the rockets.This has been known for several years now, but Braun's technical acumen seems to overshadow his murky past.

Kalam's famed 'scientific temper' is nowhere to see!

As if to de-demonize military research and justify the huge budgets, Kalam speaks of how the light-weightcalipers made in his lab eased the pain of disabled children. Certainly commendable, and though it's not forme to suggest what anyone should work on, I can't help feeling that such activities, rather than missiles andadvanced weaponry, could very well be part of mainstream research. We don't need to burn billions on nukes toproduce 300 gram calipers, do we?

Anyway, being a highly secretive activity, military research has hardly any spin-offs, and we could do wellwithout a military- industrial complex. "Did I explore space to enhance science, or did I provide weaponsof destruction", he asks in one his poems. I will let you be the judge, but as I write this, a Rediffreport "Blind calves born near India's nuclear tests site" blares at me.

Kalam never tires to speak of how we have never invaded others for we respect their freedom. Not quitetrue, but even admitting this, it's no secret that we don't give a damn about the freedom of our minoritiesand socially underprivileged, the 'rascal multitude', if you will.

We condemned the Taliban for demolishing the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, for we respect others' freedom, butdemolished the Babri Masjid. We supported the African National Congress, for we knew what it means to be the'white man's burden', but we burnt dalits (Keezha Venmani, 1968), still follow the two-tumbler system, and ingeneral treat them as 'our burden'. We continue to abuse the denotified tribes worse than animals.

We continue to build dams, or rather, temples for ourselves destroying the homes and livelihoods of thetribals. And when they finally end up in the slums, they are an eyesore for us from our high-rise buildings,and hence get their homes smashed again. We have consistently gone back on our promises on Kashmir, and anymention of autonomy brings a volley of abuse. And mention of a plebiscite, probably POTA!

And we, oops, what am I doing? When the whole world is looking up to our military might (really?), why am Ifocusing on death and depredation? Some call it unpatriotic, I call it realistic. It's nice to be able to baskin our achievements, and I look forward to doing that, but first let all of us get ashore.

Amid all this controversy, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal's nomination comes as a whiff of fresh air. Mysalutations to her for having taken up a lost cause. Handpicked by Netaji to lead the Rani of Jhansi regimentof the INA, she continues to be actively involved in social life.

A staunch opponent of partition and a proponent of Indo-Pak unity, she says in one of her interviews,"Hamare mathe pe nahin likha hain ke hum Pakistani hain ki Hindustani hain" (Whether we arePakistanis or Indians is not written on our foreheads). How soothing in these times of war-mongering andbrave-talk! Though her nomination is largely symbolic, I hope her message of peace and egalitarianism getsacross.

kadam kadam badaye jaa,
khushi ke giit gaaye jaa,
ye zindagii hai qaum kii,
Ise qaum pe luTaaye ja

[March forward with joyous singing, Sacrifice this life to the country to which it belongs]

-- National anthem of the INA

(I have borrowed "Allegiance ruled by expedience" from Tom Lehrer's song on Wernhervon Braun)

(Ra Ravishankar, 24, is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at, Urbana-Champaign, USA.)