Runaway fission

Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to convince the politicians of today of such noble values as they have acquired their political clout by twisting our open-minded Indian ideology, and turning it into divisive politics. They have caused further confrontations in society by instigating people on futile issues to further their political growth. These leaders have no interest in the well-being and progress of the people.

The leadership of the country today cannot be called national leadership. A particular person is deemed a leader on the basis of a particular caste, religion or region. The whole trouble is that nobody thinks of the nation as a whole. Everybody thinks in terms of whether he is a Hindu, Muslim, Yadav, Dalit, Jat, and so on. On this basis, governments are being formed. Ministers are selected not on merit and their ability to contribute to development but because they represent a particular group.

Our leaders 8212; whether in politics, social life, religion or culture 8212; have not taught their own sons and daughters to have a sense of responsibility towards society and the nation. Their goal for their children is to go abroad and earn high salaries. They don8217;t have any concern for the hunger and malnutrition all around. Even after 50 years the economic disparity among our people is more than before. When our leaders do not think of the nation, how will ordinary people do so?

Politicians have pushed our nation to the brink of instability 8212; the signs of which are now evident everywhere. Today the whole mass of politics is practically bad. Which is why I do not feel close to any particular party or politician. My friend is he who stands for the nation. I left politics on April 28, 1978, to work with the masses. I may have once been a member of the Jana Sangh and the Janata Party, but I do not give them advice any more because I know no one is going to listen to me. In politics everyone wants simply to remain in power.

At this moment Parliament is not allowed to function. The MPs don8217;t allow any work to be done and they get salaries and they are not abashed. Some time back I wrote to all the MPs questioning the need for a salary increase and the only reply I got was from Kuldip Nayar. He and I seem to be the only ones who have refused to accept the increased salary for parliamentarians. When I get up in Rajya Sabha to speak and expound on my economic theories, Manmohan Singh, who is the leader of the Opposition, stands up and supports me. He tells the treasury benches, 8216;8216;Please implement what Nanaji says.8217;8217; But no member of the ruling party comes up to say we accept it.

The fundamental flaw since Independence has been that the government and administration think they can impose development on their own. The crux of development is for the administration to inspire people to stand on their own. Successive governments have given little thought to the key problems facing India. People keep running away from the villages which are rich in natural resources to the cities where there are no natural resources.

Why doesn8217;t the government have a policy about the 76 per cent of our farmers who have uneconomic land holdings? In Chitrakoot, we are creating a model of 500 villages in which we attempt all sorts of development work. In Chitrakoot you will find that a farmer who holds only two and a half acres can now meet all his expenses and save Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 a year. I demonstrated this to the director of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Think how much capital could be generated for the nation if all small farmers were economically viable and contributed some of their savings. Instead we run after foreign companies which come here not to improve India but for their own profit. We are not looking at the advantage of utilising our own resources, on the basis of which we can improve our economy.

When I went to Gujarat recently I did not go on a fact-finding tour, I did not meet any political leaders nor did I want to hear them. I believe that to solve today8217;s problems one does not have to turn to political leaders, who are part of the problem and cannot make things better. I feel the need is to approach the masses directly. Why do we feel the need to approach the masses only through political leaders? Even during Partition Gandhiji approached Jinnah who took advantage of the uneducated masses in the name of Islam.

Successive governments have made our education system directionless. It is extremely important to educate, train and encourage a new generation to understand and assimilate the values of humanity, and carry out their responsibilities towards our nation. It is also evident that the ideologies of secularism, socialism, communism, casteism, communalism and capitalism have failed to reconstruct the nation and offer solutions.

The need of the hour is to achieve the overall progressive development of our youth by following the philosophy of integral humanism preached by Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Which is why I propose to set up a university in Gujarat to train a younger generation in the philosophy of integral human development.

The dreams of the illustrious martyrs of our freedom movement for a reconstructed nation remain unattained and have been thrown by the wayside. I am part of the older generation which without exception was unable to reconstruct our country. The cherished ideals of Gandhiji, with regard to social and economic reconstruction, have been ignored. Gujarat is the ideal location to realise the dreams and aspirations of our great leaders.

The writer is an eminent social worker who quit politics in 1978