The Sevagram initiative

Some were battered by experience, some brutalised by the society and some holding on to the age-old values. All of them said how today’s politics of power posed a danger to democracy and the country and how people were losing faithin political parties, their leaders and in the electoral process itself. So far they had stayed distant, at best speaking at seminars or non-political gatherings. Now they did not want to be mere spectators. If they did not act, it would be “a dereliction of duty towards the people.”

Indeed, every one has to participate in the affairs of the country. There is an example of Julius Fuchik, the Czech communist leader, who said that in real life there were no spectators. He was detained and tortured to death by the Nazis. His Notes from the Gallows, smuggled out from the concentration camp, talked about man’s relentless struggle against tyranny. In such a fight, none could stay aloof.

And so the participants have decided to take part in politics which they expect will one day harness popular response to build a new order. They will put up `people’s candidates’ to build this new order in the areas where they have worked all their life. Since the time between now and the filing of nominations is short,they will field only a few candidates. They will make sure that those whom they support are persons of “impeccable character.” The political formation has not been given any name yet. This will be done when other organisations working at the grassroots levels join what has been described as “a platform for political purposes.” But the agenda is clear: a new order based on justice and equality, something that Gandhiji had dreamt about. It will be egalitarian, devoid of consumerism that is rapidly spreading in the country. “In a poorly developed country,” as Jawaharlal Nehru once said, “the capitalist method offers no chance.”

People will live in small face-to-face communities that are autonomous and self-reliant to the optimum extent. Their economy will be based “on affection and service” where there will be no competition. “The good of the individual will be included in the good of all,” says the paper released after the conference.

Following the concept of Hamara gaon, hamara raj (ourvillage, our rule), there will be autonomous committees, similar to the gram sabhas, which have basic political and economic powers to order the affairs without interference from above. They will have unfettered control over the natural resources the people need: land, water, forests and minor minerals. They will draw up their own development plans with the fundamental objective of providing full employment to every able-bodied person in the community and recreational needs. There will be a mechanism for the resolution of disputes and dispensation of justice. Every step is aimed at decentralising power.

In the past, many opportunities were missed when more power could have been transferred to the states. The country would have been closely integrated if this had been done. Delhi would not have monopolised power. There would have been other advantages also. By effecting an arrangement of sharing power with the states, Delhi might have forced them to transfer power to districts and villages. At present theadministration has remained remote from the people and they have no sense of participation. For them, Delhi or, for that matter, the state capital, is as distant as it was during the British rule.

The conference has expressed itself strongly against the new economic policy, which has “destroyed the livelihood of at least 20 million people.” More and more people are being pushed to the brink of starvation. Multinationals invited to take over the economy” are destroying ecology and rapidly depleting our natural non-renewable resources. “This policy has not only compromised our economic freedom but has severely restricted our political freedom. The government of India has to take major policy decisions on orders from the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.”

A presidium of 11 persons will have over-all supervision. It will be a collective leadership. There is no question of alliance or adjustment with any existing parties or groups for they are ridden with communalism, casteism and corruption. A biggerconclave is scheduled for November to spread the work. “We are a marginalised lot but we hope to become a recognisable group in the years to come,” one of the participants said. He possibly had in mind the Greens in West Germany, who were never noticed when they started their modest effort to change the society. But when they won at the polls in substantial numbers, they shot into the limelight.

It is a strange coincidence that such a formation should come into being when the Janata Dal, the successor to the Janata Party, has disintegrated. The Janata Party was such a departure from the past that it evoked hope. But the experiment failed because those who were to usher in honest rule turned out to be corrupt. Bihar leader Laloo Prasad Yadav is an example. He was in the vanguard of JP’s movement for cleanliness in administration.

During the Janata Dal rule, as it happened during the Congress rule and is happening now in the BJP-led rule, tyrants sprouted at all levels overnight – tyrants whose claim toauthority was based on their proximity to the seats of power. Anxiety to survive at any cost formed the key-note approach to the problems that came before the government servants. The Vajpayee government has demoralised them still more by the impetuous transfers they have made at the secretary level.

Soon after the emergency, Gandhian values motivated people to throw out the dictatorial rule of Indira Gandhi. At that time Jayaprakash Narayan led them to victory at the polls. Who will do so now? The presidium feels it can bring about a change in the social, economic and political order. If that ever happens, the meek will indeed inherit the earth.