As the Burmese people, in increasing numbers, emulate Mahatma Gandhi's example of a non-violent satyagraha to bring about a national political reconciliation, end of the military rule andeconomic hardship and the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Government of India and India's political leadership have remained strangely silent.
While the rest of the world is reacting sympathetically to the gathering struggle against the military dictatorship spearheaded by young monks, nuns and students, the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Buddha has had no words or expression of even moral solidarity with the satyagrahis of Myanmar. Considerations of Realpolitik seem to have reduced India to a position of moral cowardice. India, which prides itself on being the biggest democracy in the world, has had no words of encouragement or even understanding to the thousands of Burmese, who have bravely kept up their satyagraha, which started on August 19,2007, for the fifth week continuously.
The peaceful satyagraha, drawing inspiration from the principles of ahimsa (non-violence) of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, has been drawing more and morepeople--the Buddhist monks,nuns and students as well as other sections of the people. The satyagraha, which in the initial weeks drew about 1,000 people per day in most towns except in Sittwe (Akyab) in the Arakan Division, where it drew a larger number, is now drawing more than 10,000 per day in many places. About 20,000 people demonstrated in Yangon (Rangoon) on September23, 2007, the largest demonstration since the massive students' movement of 1988. There was an equally big demonstration in Mandalay. For the first time, there are reports from the Kachin State of small numbers ethnic minorities, who had kept out of the satyagraha till now, joining in. Nuns are also joining the satyagraha in increasing number.
On September 22, 2007, in a moment of wisdom, the Junta did not try to prevent the satyagrahis from marching in front of the house in which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest. It was their moment of solidarity with a defiant woman, who grew up in India, imbibed the moral and political values of India and today finds herself forsaken by Indian leaders, who project themselves as the inheritors of the moral values of Gandhiji. It was a moving moment. Everyone was intears--she as well as the satyagrahis, who marched peacefully in front of her. No words were exchanged. The tears were more eloquent than words would have been in expressing their anguish.
On September 23, 2007, the Junta even prevented this and did not allow the satyagrahis to march in front of her house. The satyagrahis were wise enough not to allow this to provoke them.
The Junta is in a dilemma as it watches with concern the growing support for the satyagraha. Would it ultimately use force to crush it as it did to crush the movement of 1988? If it did, would the junior ranks of the Armed Forces carry out the orders of the Junta as they did in 1988? The future denouement would depend on the answers to these questions.
The people's satyagraha for democracy and economic well-being is bound to succeed , if not today, in the near future. Like the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers have not allowed themselves to be demoralised by the ruthless use of force by the Junta to crush them. It is remarkable how they have been able to keep their spirit alive for 20 years despite ruthless suppression just as Mandela and his ANC kept their spirit alive for nearly three decades.
India and its leaders of those days stood by the peaceful satyagraha of the ANC without worrying about the political and economic consequences of their support. Ultimately when the ANC succeeded and Mandela was set free, India was one of the countries which he first visited to express his people's gratitude to the Indian people and theirleaders--Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi-- for their support and solidarity with them.
As the satyagraha succeeds in Myanmar--as it is bound to one day-- and democracy is restored, India and its leaders would not be in their mind because they consistently avoided supporting them. India may have to pay a price for its moral cowardice, calledRealpolitik.
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B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
