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Journalism of Courage
Seva and government. In ancient India, the concept of seva, of service toothers, was very predominant. It was then felt that the very action offorgetting oneself and giving one’s work towards the welfare of one’sbrothers and sisters was one of the most powerful tools to the realisationof the inner self. Today, the tradition of seva is being revived by manycontemporary spiritual movements which are creating a new avatar forHinduism. More than that, for the first time since independence, India has agovernment which can boast of quite a few ministers who are bringing backthe practice of service to their country. They are in power to serve MotherIndia. One such politician is Murli Manohar Joshi. Amongst all the NDAministers, he is the one who has been most targeted by the press.
Yet, Joshi has a mission, an ideal – not for himself but for his country.The first thing that Joshi feels is that "Indians lack self-confidence". Itis true: Indians are often self-deprecating and are always comparing theircountries with western nations and their achievements. “Yet,” says Joshi,“we should tell our children that modern computers would not work unlessIndia had not invented the concept of the zero, or that high grade steel inancient India was so good that Alexander the Great wanted it to fashion hisown sw-ord, or that rhinoplastic surgery was performed in Vedic times, longbefore it was known in Europe". Joshi also believes that Indians lack espritde corps, the te-am spirit which ma-kes a nation great. “Look at ourhoc-key or crickets players,” says Joshi, “th-ey are great indivi- dually,but cannot perform well coll-ectively on a steady basis”.
Joshi could al-so have added that Indians are probably amongst the mostundisciplined people in the world: they always break queues; drive withoutthinking one second about the other; clean meticulously their own frontporch but throw their garbage into the street. They have hoarded so muchblack money that if it would surface, it would make India one of the richestnations in the world. And here again, the key is to educate. "It has beenstated that Hinduism, being too individualistic a religion, is responsiblefor this lack of collective spirit,” argues Joshi, “but nothing isfurther from truth".
"It was the Bri-tish,” asserts Joshi, “who attacked and ridiculedHindui-sm, which they rig-htly perceived as the main obstacle to th-eircomplete hold over India". And he could have added that they also createdMacaulay’s ch-ildren, Indians in body, but British in mind, whosedesc-endants can still be found among the Indian intelligentsia. "Hinduismis a very community-oriented religion”, contends Joshi. “Apart from theconcept of seva, look how collective is our temple worship, with itsbhajans, or how the old panchayat system was democratic from the village allthe way to the top.”
What about the environment, which is so degraded today? Tigers are beingkilled at the rate of one a day, says a recent report. Every year an areathe size of France is deforested in India. The holy Ganges is so pollutedthat it is not even fit for bathing. Are not those who defecate in theGanges, cut their own forests and kill tigers, mostly Hindus ? "On thecontrary,” says Joshi, “the Scriptures tell us never to urinate in theGanges, they enjoin us to plant trees at the time of festivities and not tokill animals. It is again the impact of ten centuries of colonisation whichhas made us forget this very Hindu respect of nature".
Unless you educate Indian children about the greatness of their owncivilisation, there is no way that India is going to become a superpower.You also have to rewrite Indian history, which basically has been crafted byBritish historians to further their claim of superiority over thenatives.
The history of the independence of India, which has been concocted byCongress historians to show the Congress in greatness, should be reviewed.And Indian children should be told about the untold horrors of ten centuriesof Muslim invasions.
And this is the task that Joshi has set for himself in the true spirit ofseva. Of course, `secular’ historians and journalists, who often have aMarxist vision of their country, will scream every time Joshi makes a movetowards "Indianisation" of what is basically a very bland copy of Westernculture. But just think how seven years ago Joshi had the guts to go andraise the national flag in Kashmir on August 15. Remember how he was reviledand ridiculed by the Indian press? "We can do it."
