Messenger’s the message

The speech of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the ramparts of the Red Fort is a familiar message of national unity, well being and progress. However the contents of the speech gain significance because of the political background of the speaker. Admittedly, the nation has got used to a Jana Sanghi who openly declares his loyalty to the RSS while speaking on occasions like a diehard Nehruvian. From his “Kumarakom musings” to his “Manali reflections” and his various national addresses, Vajpayee has always reinforced his Nehruvian worldview. It is a different matter that when he speaks in the midst of hardcore Sangh Parivaris he is more strident in his Hindutva and less assertive in his Nehruvianism. Whatever the intellectual and ideological battle that goes on in the recesses of Vajpayee’s mind, he does the nation proud with his statesmanlike speeches on such occasions. For all the bigotry of so many of his party members, he himself rises above narrow sectional loyalties to address the concerns of the nation as a whole.

This is manifest in his Independence Day speech. If there is anything to quarrel about his priorities as illustrated by his speech it is the excessive weight given to Pakistan and Kashmir. Perhaps standing at the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15 no one can really forget this aspect of our national identity and political pre-occupation. However, 56 years after Independence, an Indian prime minister must address the larger concerns of the nation as a whole and give Pakistan and the problems it continues to cause for us its due place, without being overly obsessed.

Vajpayee did well to emphasise that “we want to create a dynamic economy that not only succeeds against global competition, but is also caring and compassionate towards the poor and the neglected.” He was right to add: “Development requires peace, goodwill and mutual cooperation. Those who wish to divide the society on the basis of religion, caste or community are doing harm to the country. India is a multi-religious nation… We should always care for the minorities and be attentive towards their welfare.” It is, however, important to remember that “minorities” also have democratic “rights”, are not just to be “cared” for by the majority. Whatever the present cynicism with respect to terms like “secularism” and “socialism” and even “democracy”, the fact remains that 56 years ago when India had its “tryst with destiny” it was born to become a constitutional republic wedded to the values of democracy, secularism and socialism. The last has been defined by Vajpayee as “compassion”, and rightly so, and not some kind of bureaucratic raj. The notion of “independence” today has to be one of conceding mutual dependence between peoples, nations and markets for we all live in a global village.