A message to my fellow Indians !

A message to my fellow Indians !

I am an Indian living in United States for 16 years. I have been physically away, yet my heart is always close to my land, my country and my people. Universal humanism is an ideology that I agree with until something better comes along but I’m not a simpleton unaware of difficult path we all must tread to create a humane society. The world is divided in numerous ways and human inability to agree upon issues is the biggest challenge every society has faced, and our Indian democracy is no different. As an Indian, my vantage point is very unique. I adhere to some traditional Indic values, yet I am a modern man with globalist outlook. I live outside the country where I was born and brought up and have come across many opinions about my land and my people while living outside. My continuous search for knowledge and truth has taught me many a lesson and it is my intention to share them with you. I dream of an open collaborating world without offensive armies, but who am I kidding.

So, I speak as a proud Indian and I write as one because the world is still divided into political units. In this essay, I will share some of my observations about India, its history and how it may have shaped Indian National Congress and its role played in Indian subcontinent. Sharing my thoughts on India, vast history of the subcontinent, all the details of Indian National Congress and covering the entire scope of and what led to its failure in an independent India is not feasible in one essay. It would require volumes and a lifetime to finish. Therefore, I have summarily focused on what I see as Nehru-Ghandy dynasty, some of their decisions in context of Indian democracy and their shortcomings as failed leaders of India.

Peace and prosperity for all sounds like a great plan, but we must remember that those who have power will never share with those who desire it unless there is redistribution of power in any society. In accordance with the currently prevailing forms of organizing a society, many nations have accepted democracy as a system of governance by choice or by default. Indian democracy is a peculiar case where those who have ruled the nation for majority of its independent years are an extension of an economic elite class that stemmed from royalty and feudalism. This elite conspired with the British against the Indian people and shared power. It is true that the British colonized India and defeated and vanquished those who stood in their way. What has never been made clear to the Indian people that British ruled India in conjunction with many royals, nawabs and likes of those. With limited manpower, ruling the entire subcontinent was practically impossible for British. It was the local rajahs, maharajas and nawabs that did Indian people a disservice by reaching an accommodation where they enjoyed elite status in India and all throughout British empire and continued to live extravagantly while common people suffered unimaginable depravations and inequity. Then came aristocrats who were well versed in English language, tradition and governance system and lived handsomely at a time when commoners endured the worst. Most of these aristocrats were extreme anglophiles because they had to prove themselves to be an integral part of the raj. Some of these aristocrats were ambitious and formed Indian National Congress because they were indoctrinated to follow a western governance system. Foolishly they carried a notion that the British will leave in peace and kept begging for a higher place in the ruling hierarchy. Indian National Congress was a product of such environment. Those within or outside the Congress, who wanted to throw the European yoke out of India were never supported, served or protected by Indian national congress just like many feudal lords or rajahs never came to support Hindu kings whenever Islamic invasion occurred. 1000 years ago, Hindu domination was sidelined by Islamic occupants. Islamic regimes were thrown aside by invading British, British weakened over time but were never removed by force. The decided to leave and old elite, contemporary civil servants and royals of India who had worn an aristocratic mask came back to fill the power vacuum as representatives of Indian National Congress. Another monumental shift occurred prior to Independence. Aristocratic Muslims had realized that when the natural order asserts itself eventually, Hindus will take over. They panicked and asked for more representation for the Muslims. Muslim league was formed, and India was divided along the communal lines by creating a theocratic state. It was a miscalculation on their part. Had India not been divided, half of the population of Indian subcontinent would be Muslims today and the rise of the Hindus would have been delayed or would never happen. On the Indian side, the biggest mistake that Indian National Congress made was choosing secularism as a national value and also not letting or promoting Muslim masses to leave either for Pakistan or integrate themselves with Indian polity in modern meaningful manner. Secularism sounds great on the surface but in practice it is just like any other value which tends to work better when all parties involved agree to it. It is appalling to watch Hindu phobic Muslim nations and their people to blame India for Islamophobia. One needs to look no farther than Pakistan or even inside India or even read a history book to realize that Islamic rulers have not been compatible with secularism. Those who have used Islam to obtain power have traditionally preferred theocracy because Islam has failed to separate religion from state on most occasions. The Muslim elite may learn about secularism, but they have never realized it in practice. Another problem is that Islam is a system and some of its doctrines have been interpreted differently by culturally distinct people in conquered lands. Iranians are comparatively relaxed in their practice of Islam because of their Zoroastrian roots. Most Turkish Muslims today are not even conservative. Same is true about many Islamic sects such as, Sufis, Ismailis and Ahmadis in Indian subcontinent. So, the educated and empathetic Muslims may mean well, yet the religious radicalization has not let most of Muslim states reach a point of maturity where the different religious populations can coexist peacefully especially in recent times. Moreover, as a political system, it does not matter what Islam can be interpreted as. What matters is how it has been practiced. In practice, there is hardly any Islamic country that is secular in meaningful terms. It is their choice in the lands they control, they are free to practice it and given their sheer numbers there is no converting them to western democratic values. On the Indian subcontinent, Muslims were somewhat lucky because they received two large areas and were left free to practice religious hegemony. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the citizens don’t have to agree with minorities but that is not the case in the land of the Hindus. Hindus were never consulted by the congress leaders for what they had wanted. It can be safely deduced that in a religiously partitioned India, Hindus would have wanted to be in charge of their own future, and it was the elite Indian National congress which forced western democratic system upon Hindus. A secular India would have been possibility if many Muslims remaining in India were not hell bent on establishing their theocracy, something they have consistently practiced since their arrival in India. Things would have gotten better only if educated and forward-thinking Muslims of India initiated internal reforms and spoke against radicalization of Indian Muslims more openly and frequently and took a stand against sects such as Deobandi, Ghanchi and Tablighi Jamaat. Hindus were brainwashed into following that they could not govern, fight or stand up for themselves for many years. Another piece of manufactured belief was that Hindus and Muslims have been living in peace. Muslims ruled above Hindus. Hindus may have provided refuge to some fleeing Muslims in early years, but they never invited Islamic raiders. After attaining self-rule, Hindu would have thrown Islam out if it were not for Congress and its leaders backstabbing the Hindu and pushing for communal harmony. Congress used English styled system for indoctrinating Hindus into secularism and kept appeasing Muslim leaders in order to hold onto the power.  It was Congress that forced Hindus to accept Islamic presence In India with added privileges even after independence. British have always been blamed, but it was the Indian National Congress that divided the Indian subcontinent. The system Congress devised where Muslims can have their own country and choose to leave and those who prefer not to, shall remain in India was always destined to be a failure because Hindus and Muslims are on a collision course. Two different religions with distinct value systems can barely exist in peace within single political unit as observed throughout the history of mankind especially when their populations are almost the same.  The old hands in congress party created a semblance of harmony for their vote bank. By suppressing the Hindu voice and weaving fabrications as if Hindus gladly accepted Islam, they wanted to rule India. They backstabbed Hindus and Muslims alike. On top of that, they never made any efforts to bring remaining Muslims into accepting Indian constitution after independence. Majority of Indian Muslims have been worse off because they did not want to accept modernization. Congress agreed with the demand of a separate Islamic civil code which led to majority Muslims staying poor and backward thinking. Uneducated Muslims were manipulated by obsolete religious education system and were left behind. Those with wealth stayed comfortable, Muslim middle class did good for itself but majority poor Muslims, the product of madrassa’s were never able to leave the clutches of those who still fancy a world of yesteryears and are not accepted by anyone in the world. One shall not expect them to be secular because they do not understand what it means to be secular and the value system they follow has consistently been misinterpreted by those who lead them within their communities. Religious Islamic leaders in India have always sworn allegiance to Indian National Congress and have held a negative view of Hindus but this Hindu phobia is rarely mentioned. Readers are welcome to take a stroll in Muslim majority neighborhoods and find out. Congress carved a nation that treated Hindus and Muslims differently. One country two system approach has never worked and now when majority in India wants a uniform civil code, Muslims see it as a transgression on their beliefs. They simply lack the understanding that a democracy is the will of the majority and whenever western media accuses Modi government and India of being Indophile, they are ignoring two most important aspects. First, most people living in India are Hindus. Second, any successful leader has to carry out will of the people for the sake of the greater good. In accordance with the democratic tradition, Mr. Modi and his government has effectively taken measures to improve relations between Hindus and Muslims and tried to bring uneducated Muslims into mainstream, yet he is usually accused of leaving Muslims behind by those who have benefited from the way things have been for last 70 years and the culprits are Indian National Congress and radical Islamists. Moreover, lack of education caused by Congress’s failing of bringing Muslims into mainstream have left them feeling disenfranchised. People who claim harmony between Hindus and Muslims in India are either well off or liars. Every Indian realizes that the relation between Hindus and Muslims are a powder keg ready to explode and it has always been that way. The Congress governments have systematically covered up the true state of affairs and suppressed information about riots and the media which are mostly bought and paid, have gone along with it. Only when Godhra riots occurred, the role of Hindu mobs was televised and reported because Mr. Modi then was leading the state government. What most of Indian mass media hesitated to cover was how some members of extremely radicalized Muslim sect had initiated the riot. The fact that Mr. Modi was initially barred for 10 years from entering United States shows that how instrumental the hatred spewed by Indian National Congress may have been in US state department’s decision. Later the corrective measures were taken, and Modi was welcomed by United States government in his capacity as a Prime Minister of India.     Democratically, Indians may have elected Mr. Modi, but the old power grabbers have not yet disappeared. They dwell among us, pointing fingers at everything unnecessary, hindering every bright prospect the country has, using every arrow in their quiver, spreading vile rhetoric and uttering blatant lies. Of course, I am talking about Indian National congress, their stooges in Press and policy making within the country and all across the world. This old school behemoth has lied to us time and again before and after independence. They call themselves freedom fighters as if the common man that marched, protested and fought in the streets does not matter. The real martyrs were never the leaders, they rarely are. It is the poor common man who blindfolds himself and follows with trust and faith. Indian martyr was no different. He was a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, a Jain, a Parsi, Some member of the  lower caste , a Jain, a Bhil, a Bengali, a Punjabi, an Awadhi, a Madrasi, and all those who hailed from every part of the great Indian subcontinent, all Indians that stood against the British empire and its tyrannical imperialism, but all we read and hear about is congress party that devoted itself to the cause of our freedom. Inserted in our minds through educational propaganda and manufactured truth is a lie claiming that it was the only the predecessor of today’s Congress party that sacrificed for our freedom. 

It was the common men and women of India who toiled, bled and gave in cash and kind to realize the political goals of Congress party. It was 60,000 volunteers of Indian National Army that sacrificed for our independence. Congress never realized our true independence. In my opinion, India truly became independent in 2014 when Modi came into power with a majority free of the shackles of Congress. Congress had agreed to first sharing and later to transferring of power with those who ruled us for roughly 200 years in union with the British. The royals were handsomely rewarded and many still retain an influential presence. Our focus is not imperialists, today I question those who inherited the power. They divided our great nation on communal lines and caused a human tragedy of unimaginable scale. These anglophiles and barristers used demagoguery to fulfill British aims in both world wars and our forefathers died in all theatres of the two world wars. Congress copied everything English and were unable rid of a slavish mindset stemming from their minion mentality. It is not surprising that their yes madam trait is a part and parcel of today’s congress as well. 

One man from that era stands out, Subhash Chandra Bose, whose life ended in mysterious circumstances was a true Indian. He was proud, brilliant, extremely assertive, courageous and could not agree with these power brokers of congress party. He paid the ultimate price and his name would have been buried in the past, if it were not for those who admired him for his vision and abilities.

Mahatma Gandhi spoke of non-violence and his Gandhism was a total failure. Even today it is accepted by those who preach and lose. He was a great man who must have felt terrible towards the end of his life. His career as a stateman ended more or less like Anna Hazare. Nehru and Jinnah were his Arvind Kejriwal. Gandhi spent his life organizing, marching and protesting for the Indian people, Nehru joined the bandwagon, divided the country, arrogantly snatched “Kursi “and all while the great man passed away violently proving that mahatma’s understanding of human nature was less than perfect.  It is my view that mahatma’s life and death were mere political instruments for the Nehru -Ghandy dynasty who even stole mahatma’s legacy by making their last name similar to his. In death, the sympathy gained from mahatma’s demise was a catalyst that gave support and firmness to congress in building their vote bank. In other words, a simple emotional blackmailing of the Indian people. Mahatma gave his life. He belonged to us politically, so please vote for us. The leading family of Indian royalty only altered Ghandy to Gandhi as their family name to capitalize on Indian sentiment and respect for the real Gandhi. In death, Mahatma assisted congress in suppressing any substantial opposition they faced.  In the end, mahatma was rewarded by imprinting his face on monetary instruments. I am assured, that he is turning in his grave as he personally had given up all his wealth and shunned materialism throughout majority of his life. What a slap on his legacy! It is not my intention to defame the father of our nation, I am deeply saddened by, what a poisonous fruit the tree bears, that he nurtured all his life and then died an ironic death. 

Anyone who has studied Indian history knows that the real visionary was Sardar Patel. He put India back together by picking up the fragments left in the wake of British and Islamic occupations. One distinction between some Islamic occupiers and British imperial is worth noticing. Lodhis, Tughluks and Mughals made India home but British were agents of private investors and later symbolic queens who robbed India of its wealth and dignity and denied Indians their true place in world hierarchy.  Growing up in India, I remember hearing stories of how British gave us railways, democracy etc. One must never forget that what they took was far more valuable. It was Indian lives, their resources, market, labor and exploitation of it all that made English industrial revolution and Pax Britannica possible. Of course, most historians may refute this thesis because they get paid for reiterating the commonly held assumptions. It is also said that British brought the country together as a political unit. India had been a political entity and a large civilization since prehistoric times. Our values are secular long before small tiny European nations learnt of it. We are and always have been way more diverse from the beginning.  Islamic invaders of which some settled in India and some returned, and the British left us a curse and the curse was an economic class and aristocracy that always sucked up to the ruling elite to line their pockets.  

Initially, there was economic imperialism applied by Muslims that forced many business folk to convert to Islam just to make a livelihood. Hindus were not only pillaged of their possessions but made subservient also. Many were forced or coerced into accepting Islam. I would also like to remind the readers that it took many years for Islamic rulers to establish a stronghold in India and even then, most of the southern India and North east sates evaded their influence. So, even after 800 years of Hindu persecution, Muslims were not able to conquer India entirely. Then came Brits who as the winners of European colonialism in India established an uneven, unfair social order and treated most Indian subjects as less than humans. They made arrangements using all forms of diplomacy including war with many rulers. Hindus fared worse than Muslims because British were aware that Muslims represented majority of the ruling class. Next were the modern leaders of Congress party such as Motilal who `was the original patriarch of Nehru-Ghandy dynasty. He became wealthy through his law practice which also means that he chose to compromise and acquiesce to British supremacy to make money. He did ask for dominion at some point in his political career which is not true independence. This lackluster attitude possessed by the senior leaders of Indian National Congress then is the curse that Indians have been a victim of for 1000 years. May it be central Asian raiders, European shepherds then or Han aggressors, or a foreign-born illiterate now, Indians should have asserted themselves in the past and must do the same now by getting rid of chalta hai  and mai baap syndrome and their overly compromising attitudes. 

India is the land of Hindus and always has been. Many of the major and minor eastern religions came out of Hinduism. They are either simplified versions of Hinduism or some modification. India has whole heartedly accepted Judeo-Abrahamic religion as well. Building of the first mosque anywhere in the world or unabated missionary work that continues even today are examples of our sheer acceptance and secular values. Hindu did not dominate anyone because we did not need to, and we did not want to. India has been a resource rich country with a rich agricultural history. Famines were jewels of British policies that decimated our centuries old economic environment and irrigation practices.  India was also an economic powerhouse comprising a sizable economic output of the world. Hindus have cherished the noble idea of live and let live since the time immemorial. Compare that to Islam which developed in middle east. A resource poor area where anyone who ruled had to expand because there was nothing to rule and no great wealth to command. By nothing to rule, I mean lack of sizable civilization. Islam occupied Zoroastrian Iran, pagan central Asia, Byzantine empire, then Hindu India and also expanded to the west, where they occupied majority of what is Spain today and everything else in between. Later, British came to get a share of Indian market and overtook it and then left it in ruins. In my opinion, going places and disrespecting native traditions and ruining societies is a hallmark of Judeo-Abrahamic religions and not that of the Hindus. The International media, UNCHR, and many other self-proclaimed independent international agencies are worried about the persecution of Indian Muslims. I would like to remind these interested parties that Muslims in the land of the Hindus are safer than any Yemeni, Iraqi, Syrian, Libyan, Afghan or Chinese Muslim. Indian Muslim has more privileges than Hindus in India and they are not strangled like Saudis, Iranians, Balochis, Pashtuns and central Asian Muslims. Let me inform my fellow Indians that again it is the Indian National Congress that is running a propaganda war against Hindus and against the Indian nation for self-preservation. As far as representatives of International parties/independent agencies are concerned, they are a bunch of hypocrites who are either trying to cover up what goes on in their countries by blaming India or they are paid for by India’s enemies outside or within who are vested in keeping India and Hindu civilization away from its rightful place.

I will focus on Nehru -Ghandy dynasty as some of my observations about them support my thesis that Congress party has done a lot more harm than any good. I am confident that anyone who is an Indian or understands India is absolutely aware of the Patronage system employed by the Congress party. They have been and still are wolves in sheep’s clothing who speak of the equality and democratic values, but their own party leaders are never elected democratically. With the exceptions of Lal Bahadur Shastri who was cruelly murdered, PV Narsimha Rao who became the Prime Minister like Bairam khan because Akbar or in this case Yuvaraja Rahul was immature , inexperienced and incapable after untimely passing of King Rajiv and Manmohan Singh, who is the most glorified babu of Indian nation, the clan has always ruled the country, literally, except in times where coalition and BJP governments were in power. It even tried to impose Indian Dowager Cixi aka Sonia Gandhi as Prime minister, but that plan fell apart. The Empress has ruled and still rules from behind the curtain. It is my understanding that the party based on an imperial family tradition can never lead a democracy because election of the in-house leader is never impartial and definitely not based on one’s ability.

Congress party which styles itself as the continuation of the freedom movement was founded and run by spineless people who favored compromise over struggle so that their British overlords can be milked for personal benefits with few exceptions. Then came an enigma, Jawahar lal Nehru who , product of a subservient mindset,  accepted the partition of India ,which is essentially Muslims seeking their self-rule, agreed to his ascension to the Indian throne so that he can replicate ruling the illiterate masses because he was in his mind, destined to do so. Nehru lost the cabinet ruling and Sardar Patel was elected to be the Prime Minister of India, but ludicrous brat wanted to be the Prime Minister and keeping in line with the tradition of minionism, top brass of the Congress party acquiesced to the mood and the whim of an Incapable, immature and badly behaved almost 60 year old man child.

  A complete Anglophile, a womanizer and probably a communist pawn, he lacked vision, a backbone and strategic depth and was definitely out of touch with reality due with his rumored Islamic aristocratic family background and silver spoon upbringing. He did not lead Indians in our freedom struggle, he was waiting and grabbed our lordship from the British once they had been weakened by the German onslaught in the second world war and had to let the raj go because times had changed. Hindu was denied his own destiny because ruling class led by Nehru decided to reach an understanding with British and let them leave in peace. Why were the British not sued for indemnity? Had Subahsh Chandra bose lived a few more years, India would have been a scene much like Saigon after Vietnam war and Haiti after French occupation. 

Moreover, western style government, constitution and secularism was imposed on the majority Hindu population. By imposition of secularism, I mean only majority Hindu population had to accept that certain privileges are given to Muslims and Hindus are required to follow a restricted version of their vision. It is absolutely agreeable for Muslims to practice theocratic traditions and claim that religion is above constitution and they can have a separate civil code based on sharia but the Hindu vision of Ram-Rajya cannot be accepted even within the confines of constitution.   It was erroneous because Muslims had already asked and received more than their fair share in East and West Pakistan. They were handsomely rewarded with areas that did not belong to them and established an Islamic republic, whereas Hindus were left with burden of becoming westernized without their consent or regard. Were there any form of referendum today, most Hindus would constitute acceptance of partition with Muslims remaining in India as a mistake and a mistake it has been.  Muslims ruling elite had wanted to continue to rule India and Congress wanted to retain majority of the power for itself. Disagreements ensued and Muslim League was formed and later pursued for a separate state and congress obliged for their own sake. British may have been the organizers but it was congress party that practically divided India, accepted the terms of partition and gave privileges to Muslims in India who should have left because that is what they had asked for. Why did congress let Muslims stay in India? Why was it important for congress party to appease Muslims? Why was the issue of Kashmir not handled in favor of India after partition and why is it not being supported by congress party once BJP led government is trying to fix it? Why were the Hindus ignored? Congress and its leaders must look Hindus with disdain and hatred because every decision they have taken is anti-Hindu. A secular constitution should be equal for all. Then why privileges for Muslims? Constitution is the law of the nation, then why Islam is above the law for its many practitioners and why they are not being taught that It is the Indian state that is above any religion? Is it Nehru Ghandy dynasty’s past that they have a soft corner for the Muslims and not for the majority Hindu population? Do they see themselves carrying out the legacy of their invading ancestors? There are many Hindus that have been members of the Congress party, but they all must realize that facts have been distorted. Congress party has lied and misconstrued the facts throughout its existence as it continues to do so now. I even think that Hindu members of the Congress party are the fools who have blindfolded themselves and are oblivious to the reality that may have not been recorded in the annals of the history but is experienced by all Indians on a daily basis. Muslims weep about it, but it is the Hindu that has been a victim of discrimination for 1000 years. The case of Islamic and British Occupation is crystal clear. Congress disguised in a secular cloak and using double standards has denied what Hindus rightly own and deserve in their homeland. Immediately after an unjust partition, Nehru was instrumental in keeping up with the old policy of alienating Hindus and keeping India weak.

Nehru was a statesman only in name but not in essence. He failed numerous times and the only thing he succeeded in was hanging on to power for life albeit not with his intellect, but with assistance of Indian man’s sometimes misplaced traditional respect for its leaders and their unflinching, unquestioning, lakeer ke fakeer loyalty. There is vast literature that showcases his failures. I will talk about the ones’ that are not usually highlighted. He was delusional and imagined himself as a world leader when he started a non-aligned movement that was a failure and its members ended up becoming pawns in the cold war. Born in the land of Chanakya, Nehru could not understand how the world works. He wanted peace, the goal that has eluded humanity since the beginning. He pretended to be a world leader whereas India should have aligned with United States because that was the superpower at the time of Indian independence. Soviet Union was a communist country and Mao was on his way to the top. Nehru could not envisage that both these countries will spread communist agenda. A leader of any country should be able to assess the environment surrounding his country and general mood in the world politics, especially leaders belonging to those countries that are weak, small or newly formed. Had he been a leader or possessed a work ethic, he would have been able to somewhat sense these events and decide accordingly. Nehru could not have acted pre-emptively but he did not rectify his mistakes even after the damage had been done. Nehru’s approach to Kashmir was flawed. After the accession of Maharaja Hari Singh, Jammu and Kashmir legally was a part of India in its entirety. Any efficient leader would have started working on the intelligence infrastructure and defense of the borders especially in Jammu and Kashmir which was a troubled spot and the most vulnerable. Pakistan attacked Indian territory and consumed a substantial part of it and Nehru did not take up the issue in International court of justice. Kashmir issue was taken to United Nations without seeking cabinet approval so that Sardar Patel could be bypassed. The issue has not been solved yet and continue to plague the development in the region and is used as a blemish on Indian image by one sided, biased and sponsored international organizations. In actuality, it seems that Nehru was comfortable with losing sizable portion of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and accepting the status quo. He never displayed any will or determination to get either Pok or Gilgit-Baltistan back. Congress party never considered aggression to retain lost Indian territory. For over 70 years Congress has highlighted only Pakistan occupied Kashmir valley region. It was only the Modi government that reintroduced the notion in Indians mind that Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part of India and Indians need to recover it from the Pakistani aggressors. Nehru had claimed India did not need an army for it was a peace-loving nation. Only a halfwit would reach such a conclusion. It is prudent for a teenager or a misplaced idealist to come up with statement like this but not a leader who was responsible for 300 million souls. Idealism is great but there is a real-life world where coldly calculated statecraft is practiced and not idealism. Loss of Gilgit-Baltistan severed Indian access to Afghanistan and to central Asia. Since independence, Indo-Afghan relations have been mostly amicable and access to their territory would have paved way for a prosperous Afghanistan. Indian culture is loved by the central Asians as well as by Russians. Imagine Gilgit-Baltistan as Indian territory and all of Pakistan could have been bypassed. There would be no CPEC and Chinese Army on Indian land which are constant threat to Indian sovereignty and interests today years after Nehru’s demise. India could have had territorial access to Central Asian resources, markets and Kazakh and Russian Oil and natural gas. India could have been an alternative to Pakistan in supplying US in its war on terror which would have solidified Indo-US strategic partnership and gained India and people of Jammu and Kashmir economic advantage and world prestige.  Chinese and Pakistani nexus would never have been as formidable as it is today. Indian landmass would have territorial access to Europe and Middle East. Who is responsible for these miscalculations?     It is Nehru who did not act. It is the congress party that continued its usually held stance of appeasing Muslims. Even when Kashmiri Hindus were butchered and expelled, Congress stayed mute. It is apparently clear that the Congress party values life of a Muslim over the lives of Hindus. Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was another display of affinity towards those who wanted to weaken India. Another set of privileges granted as continuation of appeasing Muslims when cost was Hindus as collateral damage. Again, it was Modi Government that abrogated that fateful law. No one has ever held Kashmiri Muslims and their leaders accountable for the Hindu blood spilled and funds they received and abused either in India or abroad. Short sighted vision and biased policy institutionalized by the Congress party since independence has claimed lives, treasure and goodwill. Congress never paid any heed to Balochis and Pashtuns who wanted to align themselves with India. These people, their land and traditions were forfeited to Pakistan against their will and now the Chinese have overtaken them and use the very land to stage attacks on India. It has been recorded that Nehru also abdicated the idea that India be given a permanent seat at United Nations Security Council. UNSC is a premier international agency that has influence and overreach in many international matters. Of course, Nehru lacked comprehension of International politics or it was his outright policy to keep India frail. Instead he supported that China should be given permanent membership at UNSC. His feeblemindedness has incapacitated India in bringing those to justice who commit crimes against the nation. Any resolution that India brings against its archrival has been vetoed by the Chinese. India was positioned to take its place in world order and that opportunity was single handedly denied to all Indians by Nehru. With a sizable physical mass and large percentage of world population, India should have been a permanent member of the UNSC. In addition, prestige, strategic leverage arising out of the permanent membership were lost and this loss affected Indians and will continue to do so unless Indians attain their rightful place in world order. It is a known fact that Nehru’s China policy was a faulty one. It is a widely accepted theory that a nation must always refrain from war but be ready for it. Nehru could not anticipate Chinese threat and led India to a decisive loss in 1962. India had gained independence in 1947, lost a sizable territory to Pakistan in 1948, yet Indian state and defense forces were woefully unprepared for any threat from the Chinese aggressors while Mao was solidifying his communist rule. Mao punished Nehru and Indians by leaving a historical stain and sucker punch on their psyche. Nehru had made Mao confident that Indian Premier was narrow minded, inept political operator and a weakling by forfeiting the entire Tibetan Landmass, which was the one of the biggest blunders, if not the biggest in the history of forfeiting land and Tibet should have been a part of India. 

History can be created artificially since victors have the power to do so and Chinese have been creating and propagating their own version of history. Chinese were never in charge of Tibetan landmass. They were not even a Chinese nation with the borders they are today. Chinese dynastic states kept fighting amongst each other and some dynasties may have reached an agreement with then Tibetan overlords to pay some taxes or send few men in the service of the strongest Chinese overlord at that time. Assuming that taxes taken in antiquity are the basis of Chinese occupation of Tibet, one must remember that sizable territory of western china and central Asia were once a part of Kushan empire that was led and run by Indic people. More importantly, Kashgar which is a city in western china was a part of Kushan empire and must be returned to India using the same logic that Chinese occupiers have used to occupy and control Tibet, inner Mongolia and Uighur Provinces. Indian permanent seat at UNSC would have been an asset.  On August15th, 1947 an Indian flag was unfurled in Lhasa. Mao had not ascended to the top. Had Nehru not been a victim of accommodating mindset like his father, he could have posted an Indian army contingent in the city of Lhasa and claimed it to be a part of Indian territory, Indian nation would have been safer and stronger than what it is today. India had enough time to transport men and material to Tibet, fortify Lhasa and other inhabited areas, raise a Tibetan regiment, support an interim Tibetan Government, seek world support and raise issue at United Nations in case of Chinese advance. This would have definitely served India well.  Tibet should have been integrated into India and that would have saved the cultural destruction of Tibetan Tribes. Since they have been practicing Buddhism, there is a high likelihood that their leadership would have chosen to stay with India because it would have guaranteed their cultural survival. They made that choice anyways.  In a master stroke played by Nehru, he lost entire Tibetan Plateau, threw Tibetans under the bus and brought Chinese army much closer to the center of the Indian landmass. Chinese could have been kept thousands of miles away in Sichuan province which is their traditional territory and lies on the eastern periphery of Tibetan land. The years between 1947 and 1949 were an opportunity lost. Even in 1962. Nehru should have used Indian Airforce against the Chinese but yet again, the prime minster with no backbone led us to defeat. 

Indo-China relations in past 70 years are one intriguing case study. Mao with his offensive strategy united China, stole Tibet and Aksai chin from India, increased the landmass of his country and paved the way for bringing Pakistan into Chinese sphere of influence. On the other hand, Nehru and his congress party, divided India lost a sizable portion of Indian subcontinent, lost an opportunity to integrate Tibetan Plateau with India, lost permanent seat at UNSC, created Kashmir issue, lost Gilgit-Baltistan, Baluchistan and Pashtunistan, created an archnemesis in form of Pakistan, signed ominous Indus river treaty, lost Oman and  brought Chinese army to India’s newly established border. Furthermore, Indian withdrawal without a fight from the Tibetan Plateau is by far the largest loss of territory for any nation or empire in the history. One must remember that Chinese were nowhere dominant in mid 20thcentury compared to what they are today. At that point of time, technological prowess of India and China was at par. Only meaningful asset both countries had was manpower. Only the foolish Indian leadership of that time could not contemplate what any strategic thinker can. It is obvious that Nehru -Ghandy dynasty from the beginning has been giving an edge to rivals against India. Chinese are reaping the benefits of strategic advantage that their leaders gave them and for us Indians, misery has only begun. Nehru was responsible for giving Chinese a head start, that is going to determine our future when Chinese presence in Tibet, Aksai chin, Gilgit-Baltistan with Pakistan in its shadow will confront us militarily. Any proponents of two front war in present day India must come to terms that India is facing one enemy and one front. Only the expanse of that front is thousands of miles wider than they had previously envisioned. With buffer states of Nepal and Bhutan already essentially a part of extended China and string of strategic pearls in Indian ocean, India must prepare for what I call a coming war of total annihilation. It did not happen in one day. It took almost 70 years for Chinese to accomplish this and I need not to remind my readers who led India into this hole. Indians have begun working to improve their odds, but they are behind. Indian strategic thinkers have either not looked or not proclaimed Indispensable need to expand its military-industrial complex at a war footing. 

This observation gives us a peak into how Nehru’s policies have kept us on backburner. There was a building frenzy in mid 20th century after the 2nd world war was over. Europe was rebuilt, South Korea built their foundation after Americans had preserved sanctity of their land, Japan became an Industrial behemoth, Island nation of Singapore is another example. Indian Potential, on the other hand was nipped in the bud. No thoughtful planning was done by Indian leadership. They had gotten used to copying everything. Just as they had copied the constitution, they brought 5-year plans from Soviet Union. It gives me shudders even thinking about it that there were barely any visionaries in entire Nehru cabinet. Once again, the curse was at play. It seems that anglophiles of Congress were good at memorizing for the Indian Civil Service exams but lacked originality and critical thinking. They just wanted to repeat on paper what British or Russians had accomplished. Even today, Indians dreams of being a superpower, but they can’t comprehend that lack of hard work by many successive leaders and failures of central planning in Nehru administration took India on a regressive path. Failure in establishing adequate education system, transportation, tax generation, energy production, lack of industry and service sector and limited manufacturing were hallmarks of Nehru administration. On the name of protectionism and socialism, Indian industries were choked because they never received any investments in technology and were inefficiently run by bureaucrats following the failed communist models.  When Modi government started their MAKE IN INDIA campaign, Rahul Gandhi came up with a hideous parody.  Rahul must look into the conduct of his own family members starting with his great grandfather who never took any initiative in taking India further. Indians must realize that Congress party does not make fun of Modi government, it makes fun of Indian public who are witness to the congress misrule that never laid a solid foundation to build a great India upon. Modi government is tackling sewage, electricity, infrastructure, uniform civil code, education, industrial skill, health infrastructure, military technology and brain drain issues that Indian National Congress paid no heed to and now they sit in opposition and obstruct everything.

Next jewel of the Nehru-Ghandy dynasty was Indira Ghandy. Nurtured to be the next ruler of India, she acted like queen. She ascended to the Indian throne on an ominous day in 1966 when India lost one of its most promising and capable nuclear physicists. It has been suspected foreign intelligence agencies were responsible for his elimination. It is an evidence of the lackluster state of Indian government not being able to protect even the most important scientist Homi Jahangir Bhabha. It was a result of Nehru’s failed foreign policy to not establish a strategic alliance with United States and his daughter Indira lead the nation on the same path. India did get a breeze of fresh air, when an honest man Lal Bahadur Shastri became our prime minister. He led India to a victory that was not fully capitalized. Shastri had intended not to give away the hard-won territory of Pakistan before he embarked on his Tashkent journey. He was mysteriously taken away from us by gods in Tashkent after accepting status quo ante bellum and the ultimate beneficiary was Pakistan and also Indira whose path to ascension on Indian throne was now clear. The meeting in Tashkent was a clear suggestion that India submitted to foreign pressure. Moreover, Indian National Congress’s proclivity to submit in face of opposition was on full display.

Three biggest blunders of Indira’s tenure were Shimla agreement, declaration of emergency and events that led to alienation of Sikhs. Indira Ghandy as a prime minister was mulish. She was cold and tough, but it was her inner circle of communist leaning advisors that she depended on for major policy planning and authoritarian control. It is a known fact that during Indira’s reign KGB essentially had infiltrated Indian government establishment and maneuvered our foreign policy.  It has been noted that a large number of parliamentarians, newspapers and Congress party members were on KGB payroll. Soviet technocrats, Indian diplomats and numerous Indian dignitaries were nothing but pawns of KGB and knowingly or unknowingly were doing what Moscow thought was best for India and for them. The common propaganda echoed that Soviet people were our friends. People may have been friends to India, but not the government. Statecraft is not defined by lasting friendships or emotional bonds. It is only resource accumulation and furthering one’s interests. Soviet government cannot be blamed. As sworn communists, their goal was to spread Leninist-Marxist ideology throughout the world. Another was accessing warm water ports of the Indian ocean region for strategic and expansionist reasons. India also was a large market for their goods, technology and defense products. First, India focused only on one supplier for armed forces that was known to sell inferior quality, outdated defense products and at the same time narrow-minded and incapable Congress leaders did not protect the country from KGB infiltration whose advisors were laying the brickwork for India to buy Soviet products and technology. In line with Soviet propaganda, initially Congress leaders blamed western countries for their imperialist policies and kept Indian market close for them. In mid 20thcentury, when many great leaders in various countries were bringing foreign investment and development to their lands and people, Congress had shut India close for business. If utilized properly, Indian demographics, size of the country and availability of vast labor were a strategic asset.  After the fall of Soviet Union, the economic reforms had to be brought in 1991 when Indian oil supply was choked after first Gulf war and India could not service its debt to international monetary agencies. As a result, India was forced to join International trade agreements and open its market to multinational and predatory investors at the worst time possible without any leverage in strategic terms. Fall of Soviet empire was not the only reason for Indian submission to the world order. Lack of policy formation, its implementation and industrial application and complete disregard of developing skilled labor pool complemented by absence of a scientific and industrial eco systems and rife corruption during Indira’s tenure were instrumental in creating a sheepish domestic economy.  We all are aware of the frenzied economic growth that China has experienced in last quarter century or so. CCP calls it Communism with Chinese characteristics. It actually is robber baron capitalism under tight political control. Unfortunately, it is neither democratic nor good for the world but general increase in the living condition of Chinese peasant has been achieved, India was poised to be that market long before Chinese got that opportunity. In 1971 Indira visited United States and spurned Richard Nixon because she has continued the failed policy of courting Moscow as her father did. It has been confirmed that President Richard Nixon spoke ill of her in his private meetings and was not inclined to see India in a favorable light. That was a golden opportunity missed by Indira for Indian people. 1972 Nixon visited China and thawing of Sino-US relations began. Then came Deng and his reforms and rest is history. Indira may have been an avid reader, a stateswoman she was not. She chose a path for Indians that kept India economically and militarily weak. I suspect Indira had envisioned that an educated and prosperous Indian may not be subdued easily by the skullduggery of Congress party. 

Her penchant for squandering opportunities did not end here.  Months after a decisive victory over Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh in 1971, Indira signed a famed Shimla agreement in 1972. If loss of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh is the proudest moment for Indian armed forces, then it is also the moment when Congress leadership failed them and Indian people one more time. Shimla agreement was a joke. India never sought any war indemnity, gave up bravely acquired Pak territory and did not leveraged 90000 POW’s in achieving any strategic advantage. It is mind-blowing that Congress leadership let Pakistan off the hook. They have consistently been running a proxy war against India ever since. It can be reasoned that Indian armed forces won the war and Indira lost it. Indian media and contemporary authors have claimed that it was a strategic victory for India. I denounce that conclusion as half of Bangladeshi population and one of the two major political dynasties favor Pakistan over India. It is only a matter of time when Bangladesh would be bought by Chinese and serve as a launching pad and operating base for the Chinese intrigues in India. In addition, India never repatriated India POW’s from Pakistan. It is striking that in that euphoric moment of complete victory, it did not occur to anyone in Congress administration that some land in Rangpur district of Bangladesh should have been acquired so that defenses and access through the Chicken neck area could be strengthened in case of a Chinese attack. If it were any assertive and visionary leader, territory won in Pakistan and East Pakistan would have been declared a part of India and East Pakistani population would have been required to accept Indian suzerainty and eventual sovereignty or sent packing to whatever remained of west Pakistan. It would not be a war against Bangladesh, because it did not exist yet and one must remember what we call Bangladesh today has traditionally been a part of India. Russia’s recent Crimean adventure and absorption is an excellent example.

Next came Indira’s complete victory in elections, where her party was accused of corruption and abuse of government machinery for their political benefit. Indira was on her way to become a complete authoritarian. It is natural when her father had run the country as his own fiefdom and had prepared her for the same role. Indira administration falsely accused her opponents of sedition and declared emergency. Emergency was the darkest time of Indian democracy. Draconian rules were imposed on all population and civil liberties were suspended. Indira imprisoned those who opposed her politically, censored the press and ruled by decree. One of her son Sanjay Gandhi who was a despot in his own right organized forced mass sterilization campaign and assisted his mother in effectuating a police state. Another notorious legacy of Sanjay Gandhi is 150 killed and thousands uprooted from the Jama Masjid area to an undeveloped residential site mile away which essentially meant removing a slum dwelling and creating another one on the name of beautification and development without any preparations. While the country fought this oppression and Indira and her close circle of advisors were occupied crushing the free spirit of the Indians, worrisome developments in the norther border state of Punjab had taken place. Indira and her advisors had catapulted a lesser known Sikh religious leader to an influential position in order to bring the opposition down.  Punjab state representative demanded economic, social and political change, but the new orthodox pawn of the Congress wanted political autonomy. Thanks to congress party’s dynastic rule, only the flattering could achieve any political goals that even this illiterate, nostalgic leader was averse to. Jarnail Singh Bjindrawale styled himself as the next leader of the Sikhism to attain political power. A shrewd politician, he hijacked the martial values of Sikhs towards his own radical goals. Indira appointed a chum Zail Singh who had previously been the Chief Minister of Punjab. Zail Singh tried to reach an accord with Bhinderwale but failed spectacularly. As a result, Extremist leader turned to militancy, fortified the most pious shrine of Sikh religion and executed Sikhs who opposed him. Indira administration then ordered Indian army to capture the shrine by force. It was a successful operation for Indira Gandhi while Bhindrawale and his supporters were neutralized. But this fateful Operation Blue Star left a lasting stain on Indian psyche that cannot be removed. It was a failure of unprecedented scale and scope domestically and on a foreign policy frontier. Sikh extremists were supported by Pakistan who was seeking to avenge creation of Bangladesh. Had Indira demolished Pakistan thoroughly in 1971 after the complete Indian victory and worked towards the development of states, operation Blue Star would not have happened. These events led to assassination of Indira Gandhi who was gunned down by her Sikh bodyguards. Her remaining son Rajiv Gandhi proclaimed that fall of a large three shakes the earth and earth did shake, when frantic organized mobs of Congress party led by Ghandy family’s loyal subordinates butchered thousands of Sikhs going about their daily lives. Militancy in Punjab followed which took many years to uproot. Thousands of Sikhs and Hindus perished, and many Sikhs were disenfranchised and alienated to an extent that they migrated to western countries and are engaged in anti-India activities and propaganda and dream of Khalistan even today. Those Sikhs who oppose India must not forget that they are Indians as well. Their religious leaders and western governments are piggybacking the hard work of common Sikh while Millions of Sikhs live in India peacefully and contribute their best for the sake of the nation. I must remind my readers that in the minds of many Hindus, Sikh shrines, ideology, culture and practices are their own and vice versa. It was only Indian Congress Party that suppressed Sikh voice. Congress for 70 years has carved a myth they that are the Indian state just as they have taught generations of Indians that they were the only freedom fighters. Republic of India is an emotion which is overwhelming to senses, indescribable, extensive and accepting and can only be experienced by being a part of it.  It is not some small, pathetic family owned political club run on dynastic values.

The event that followed Indira’s assassination, were ascension of Rajiv Ghandy to Indian throne as if there were no other able leaders within the party. India paid a heavy price one again for showing sympathy to Nehru-Ghandy dynasty. Rajiv’s tenure was marred by increasing indebtedness, economic failures, corruption, Punjab militancy and mishandling of Tamil problem In Sri Lanka. Rajiv Ghandy was another failure on Indian political scene. He was propelled to the top of Indian political echelon only because of his brother’s and his mother’s demise. He rode the sympathetic wave felt by the Indian populace and became the youngest Indian prime minister with complete majority and absolute control. He was an inexperienced politician and his administration was mired with rampant corruption. Nehru-Ghandy dynasty had done such a pathetic job of running India and many regional parties had arisen during Indira’s primeministership and they rose to prominence during Rajiv’s tenure. In my opinion, Congress party had failed India. Their inward-looking economic policy and authoritarian control over the top brass had led many regional leaders to realize that they will never attain their full political potential in Indian National Congress. Therefore, many of these leaders highlighted their regional issues and made a career for themselves on state, ethnic and tribal lines. Regional parties grew in power and few years after Rajiv’s assassination Indian politics became a coalition politics, where regional parties with small and narrow issues started punching above their weight and continue to do so. Had these regional parties worked for their people and development, it would have been a boon, but that has not been the case. On the name of regionalism, these regional political parties are nothing but instruments of dissension, political corruption and division. Only if Rajiv had used his complete authority in parliament to full use, he may have kept regionalism away and brought about a positive change in Indian politics and economy, but all in vain. State of Indian economy was in dire straight. Lack of investment, failure of government planning and absence of any meaningful reforms kept India far from its rightful place in economic order of the world. Indian people also saw Congress involved in many corruption scandals involving senior leaders of the party. Reports of Rajiv and his family being paid by KGB and their overseas accounts were widely circulated. Then, there was Bofors scandal which defined Rajiv government in its entirety as an inefficient, corrupt and a failed government. It was during Rajiv’s tenure that Punjab experienced Sikh extremism and militancy backed by Pakistan. First, Sikhs were alienated after their massacre by Congress party and then they were brutally suppressed. I call 1984 riots a massacre because by definition a riot is, “a violent disturbance of peace by a crowd” whereas anti-Sikh massacre was deliberately orchestrated and executed by Congress party members and their hired goons who specifically targeted Sikhs as repercussions for Indira’s killing. The damage to India’s image as a peaceful state was enormous. Rajiv also failed to appease Tamil people in their Sri Lankan civil war. His policy towards Tamil insurgents is mind boggling. First, Rajiv’s government supported the Tamil groups and then became a peacekeeper and mediator. Indian peace keeping force was stationed for a time and there was a push to reach an accord, in which most of the Tamil groups and Sri Lankan government agreed to peace, but one Tamil group LTTE shied away from the accord and refused to abandon their armed struggle. Soon afterwards, Indian Peace Keeping Force engaged in a conflict with LTTE and then suddenly withdrew without any significant resolution. In 1991, Rajiv was assassinated by LTTE members. At least, that is how the official narrative goes. In recent years, LTTE has come forward and declared that they did not kill Rajiv Ghandy. LTTE may or may not have killed Rajiv. One certainty is that Rajiv Gandhi and his Congress party killed Tamil people by not supporting them. Tamil are Hindus and were fighting for their independence against Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka who follow Buddhism. Congress partitioned Pakistan and created Bangladesh, so that Bengali Muslims can live in peace and with honor in their newly created country. I think, India should have acquired majority if not entire Bangladesh, but Muslim Appeasing congress did not think so. When it came to Hindus and establishment of a Hindu Tamil country in the northern part of Sri Lanka, Congress approach was Anti -Hindu and convoluted. Later Congress administrations were mute observers of Tamil genocide that took place in Sri -Lanka. Congress is yet again worried for Indian Muslim minority who still enjoys privileges in India. Where was Congress secularism and western media and numerous NGO’s when, Buddhist government of our tiny neighboring country was killing Tamil Hindus en masse. Aiding and establishing a Tamil country, in Northern Sri Lanka would have saved thousands of lives and given India a territorial ally and strategic advantage. India could have brought Entire Sri Lanka into its fold and kept China at bay. Now, we are faced with an aggressive Chinese presence at the port of Hambantota which has been leased to them by incapable, corrupt and soon to be insignificant Sri Lankan people. It is not I who thinks of Sri Lankan people as insignificant, but it is what their future holds. Tibet is a burning example. Peace with Tamil people either in a same country or a separate one on the island would have been much better for the Sinhalese people because tenets of Hinduism and Buddhism are similar and compatible. How the Chinese communism and debt trap diplomacy will strangle their sovereignty remains to be seen. Congress and its legacy are detrimental not just to Indians but to our neighbors as well. Next episode in Nehru Ghandy dynasty’s exploitation of India did not include any direct role of their family members. Sonia had refused to become the prime minister and Priyanka and Rahul will have to wait because they were not ready to acquire what is theirs’ by birth right i.e. Throne of Indian National Congress. Congress did come to power in the 90’s but P V Narsimha Rao was not an orderly of the Nehru Gandhi clan and while he led India, the machinations and plotting of the Nehru Ghandy clan to hold on to power continued.

Next time Congress came in power as a leader of UPA i.e. United Progressive Alliance. Manmohan Singh, a career diplomat, ex finance minister and an economist was nominated as the prime minster, but he was a mere puppet. It was Sonia Ghandy who held all the cards and commanded the government. Prime minister Manmohan Singh himself may have been an honest man which remains to be seen, but in my opinion, he is equally culpable because several scandals took place on his watch and he was just a silent observer. Congress failed in its economic reforms because Indian market lacked infrastructure and skilled labor for the most part. The growth achieved in this period was minimal compared to Indian market’s true potential. 60 years after Independence, India was still struggling with lack of manufacturing capacity, inadequate electric grid, inefficient irrigation, lack of ports, insufficient freight corridors, bureaucratic inefficiency, excessive taxation and political intervention in standard industry operations and tender distribution. Congress usually adores itself for removing license raj, which is distribution of licenses for conducting business in India. First, it was congress who started license raj and then eradicating it simply proves that their approach had been wrong from the beginning. Second, after removing the licensing raj, Congress failed to create an economic environment and incentivize manufacturing in India. Most of the exports were not the manufactured goods but the raw material and resources that should have been kept in India to improve our manufacturing ability. As usual Congress was happy dishing out contracts to extract Indian mineral wealth to anyone who paid them the highest bribe. Similarly, Congress and its ministers were accused of profiteering and outright theft from handing out defense contracts at a price, a practice Congress had mastered since the Bofors scandal or must I say the Jeep scandal case in 1948.

Even though congress has been sitting in the opposition for many years now, but Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka have proven themselves to be failed statesmen. Just like their forefathers, they are accessories to crime of the highest order and these days they act as indecent liars and propogandists for anti -India forces. Another trait that congress has acquired is being submissive to any foreign pressure, but they treat Indians in tyrannical fashion when opposed. The organizational hierarchy and culture of Indian Congress party has been staying obedient to those who were imperialist and dominating and continues to do so. They fancy Chinese money, western values, Judeo-Abrahamic religious ideologies and oppose Hindutva, which is an older, more mature ideology in which true practice means one can choose any path that leads to God and all religions must be respected. Hindutva is the oldest and original secular belief that does not indoctrinate its adherents to conquer or decimate in order to achieve unison with the creator. Hindutva does not create Islamophobia. Islamophobia is an inner fear that Islam and majority of its adherents experience because they know that all throughout their history Islamic rulers have forced practitioners of other religions to convert and now they are convinced that others will do the same. It is this existential fear that Congress has built its foundation and current rhetoric on. Congress has always favored Muslims over Hindus in India. Our weak foreign policy towards our aggressive neighboring nations, incomprehensible concessions given to Pakistan after 1947, 1965 and absolute victory of 1971 war, Indus river treaty, Shimla Agreement, mishandling of Kashmir issue, inaction on carnage and plight of Hindus in Kashmir, targeting of RSS, Illegal migration of Bangladeshi and Rohingyas, Ayodhya issue, sacking of BJP governments in 1992, caricaturing Hindu mythology, suppressing Hindu voice and numerous other domestic incidents confirm that Indian National Congress is bigoted and anti-Hindu. Tolerant Hindu has kept quiet and accepted remaining Muslims in accordance with secular values even after loss of sizable territory and 70 years of Congress hypocrisy. At the same time, nothing tangible has been done to improve the education of Muslims in India by any Congress government. Majority of the Muslims in India are still poor, unable to compete at international level and slaves to their 1400-year-old mindset on the name of tradition. Regional Muslim leaders and Congress constantly invoke fear of Hindus among these illiterate people and have benefited from their mental exploitation of Muslim masses by keeping them in dark. As previously mentioned, conceiving the notion that Muslims will leave their aggression and Hindus will always stay pacifist is a fallacy. Modi government is trying to maintain fragile peace, but with the proliferation of social media and peoples’ understanding of unabated mistakes that Congress has made in past hundred years will lead to the dreaded inevitable. It is unfortunate, but a highly probable outcome, nonetheless.

Nehru Ghandy dynasty has been an absolute disaster. Even the use of the word dynasty defies all the democratic values that India stands for. It is a dreadful legacy of Nehru-Ghandy dynasty that economic growth and standard of living in India are not where it should have been. Under Congress rule, India lacked basic fundamental rights a democracy is ought to provide even the basic rights such as infrastructure, sewage, education system, trade schools, electricity supply and adequate Housing. Education system is the key to a successful democracy. Congress leaders understood it and kept majority of India illiterate, uneducated or ill-educated to keep party’s hold on power. The world and Indians must not buy the Literacy campaign run by Indian government in early 90’s. I saw this farce firsthand while growing up in India. Most people were merely taught the characters of their names so that they will not use thumb prints in Government documentation and were deemed literate and the campaign was determined to be successful. Deputized teachers, some even from my school travelled statewide and earned economic incentives and accolades on the name of literacy campaign while not teaching the real students.  As mentioned earlier, most Indians lacked and still lack critical thinking and follow rote memorization to get degrees. Real understanding and education are building beyond what we know, and United States of America is an example of that. Using the age-old technique of keeping the Indian population in dark and misrepresenting the facts was an exercise Congress always engaged in. Corruption was rampant as scores if not hundreds of scandals came to light in Congress’s tenure involving the office bearers and the Nehru-Ghandy family led by example. Congress with its political allies has been implicated in numerous scams during its rule that resulted in the loss of a staggering amount of INR 48,20,69,00,00,000 to the public exchequer over the last 70 years. Defense and strategic industries stayed dependent on foreign assistance and are barely starting to make their mark. Indians dream of being a regional superpower, but we cannot build aircraft engines. Scientists are not the ones to be blamed. It is the leadership that Congress provided and failed at every essential juncture in nation building. It is during the Nehru-Ghandy rule in 70’s when India lost all investment opportunities and China took a huge lead burning midnight oil to weaken and contain India. Pakistan a miniscule and insignificant state run by armed mafia continued its heinous extermination of Kashmiris, Baloch, Pashtun, Sindhi, Ahmadiyya, Ismali and Hindus on Congress’s watch. Congress never displayed any understanding of political influence and role India is ought to play as dominant player in South east Asia. Congress always lacked meaningful central authority and fringe movements within India were never subdued and always accommodated as per the Congress’s old tradition of begging. It was Congress leaders that decided not to develop any infrastructure near Chinese occupied Indian territory and Tibet so that the Chinese invasion will not be fast after they have run over our defenses. Congress behaved as the saying goes, “If the fence starts to gobble up the farm, then only supernatural can save us from harm”. Congress has been the fence that has weakened us and sacrificed many of our brave military personnel for party’s personal gain and anti- Hindu agenda. The politicians that left Indian National Congress in last quarter century and established their parties and other regional parties play the most obstructive role in development of India along with the mothership. Furthermore, these regional parties and their coalitions usually have a narrow-minded approach in everything they try to accomplish. Mismanagement and inefficient policy making, and implementation of affirmative action further divided the society, led to brain drain and created a vast cadre of incapable officials who continue to thwart Indian progress is an example.

Congress has kept the country weak. 70 years is a long time and Indian economy is merely starting to take off. Though India will catch up, but India and its people must correct the sins of the past. We must overthrow the Indian National Congress and get rid of the subservient mindset they have curated for last 70 years. We need to accept that state is above religion and even the freedom to practice any religion stems from a stable and strong state. We also must remember that India and Hindus are dynamic in their outlook and we must remain as such. People of all religious values shall only be welcomed as long as they are willing to participate equally, follow the law and values laid down in our constitution. In addition, constitution is a document that can be and shall be amended as required as per the will of the majority. Anyone harboring an intent of carving India once again shall be dealt with sternly. May it be those who support Pakistan, praise communist values or associate with western religious ideologies to keep India weak, all must remember that India and its Hindu values are far more accepting, tolerant and worldly than all others combined. India and Hindus have given them a right to practice what they choose, and the right can and must be taken back the day it threatens India itself.

Time has come that we Indians understand and realize our place in the world. As one of the oldest and greatest civilizations of the world, we need to move forward economically, strategically, politically, scientifically and philosophically. Those who may choose to disagree should observe the mental agility, diligence and success that Indian tradition has delivered all over the world. Indians have achieved all this with a partial ability to express themselves as evident by current accomplishment of Indian diaspora. By partial expression, I mean Indians are yet to attain their true potential and once they do, there is no stopping them from becoming leaders in international arena. The world will try its best to keep us divided on religious or ethnic basis, but all who dwell in Indian subcontinent are Indians. Indians are roughly a quarter of the world and we must unite and assert ourselves accordingly. We must remember that, “The Whole is greater than its parts”. India suffered in the past because it was divided for selfish reasons. Modi is the first leader in 1000 years who is bringing India together and leading India to achieve its true place in the world hierarchy. India was, is and will remain a Hindu Nation. Muslims in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka are all Hindus that have chosen other religious paths. In 1947, it was the Congress party that divided us either by dividing the land or by not asserting the influence in the south but the countries that are a part of Indian subcontinent cannot escape their destiny. Sooner or later, they will have to accept Indian suzerainty. It may seem inconceivable now, but it is inevitable. We as Hindus must take back, what has always been ours. Congress and Nehru-Ghandy dynasty is one of many hurdles that we must overcome. 

Now, I will briefly share my understanding of India. India is the Original birthplace of true secularism. It is a great nation that stretches from parts of Afghanistan in the west to Rangoon in the east. From Kashgar in the North to Ceylon in the south. It encompasses both sides of the great Himalayan range with Tibetan plateau. Many Islamic raiders have looted us, English robbers have suppressed us, Chinese have stolen from us and the Congress has divided and weakened us, but no one can trample what India is. Islam arrived in India by way of sword, but today it is a part of India. Christianity arrived in India with the European explorer, but It is the Indian Christians that will preserve Christianity as the western nation face a severe moral decline and degradation.  India is the birthplace of Shaolin tradition that led to development of martial values and Buddhism that will Stop Chinese greed in its tracks once Chinese people wake up and throw the communist yoke. India is the Hindus living all over the world, it is the Muslims who are persecuted and are converted Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Sikhs, Sufis, Atheists (Nastikas), Hindus converted into Christians and everything else in between. India is numerous traditions, values and eccentricities. It is the Indian influence all over Arab, east Africa, southern Asia and Island Nations of Indian ocean, Caribbean islands, South Africa and Indian diaspora all over the world. India is a great nation that has been denied its true place for 1000 years. We all must remember that human life and its history is fluid. It changes course according to the will of the strong. How I describe India may turn many in their graves and many to contemplate, but We have seen Pax Romana, Pax Islamica, Pax Ottomana, Pax Francia and Pax Britannia. Two world wars brought Pax Americana and now we are witnessing the rise of Pax Sinica. Whenever people have decided to unite, a civilization has arisen and we shall be no different. Therefore, I appeal to my fellow Indians all over the world that we all must unite in an ideological fight for what India is -Land of Hindus where people of all denominations and aspirations live in peace and prosperity and in the end we will have realized, “ Pax Indica”.

Acknowledgement

History is perception of events that have taken place in the past. We lack the ability to visit and see as they happened. We depend on the word of the victor and employed historians who usually tell us one side of the story. Some history is preserved as folk lore and tradition but as the years pass and memories fade and the communication deteriorates over time, shape of how we come to know our history alters and I am no exception. In this essay, I have revisited some of the events of the past. I have shared what I see as the actions of some of the failed Indian leaders and I have contemplated several of the missed opportunities.  As a reader , you are free to make your opinion, but I must confirm that I have written this essay not to earn money or seek fame, but to provide a glimpse into what India is and how it was misled and what future course of action it must take. I am expressing my opinion which is a right I have been granted as an Indian citizen. 

M 

May 8, 2020

Los Angeles

On confronting Corruption in India.

Corruption

    According to Merriam Webster, Corruption is dishonest or illegal behavior by powerful people especially by those in government or Police officers. It typically involves bribery but any conduct encompassing dishonesty, fraud, double dealing, crime, unscrupulousness while acting in official capacity would amount to corruption. It has been considered the Achilles’ heel of the modern societies. In my opinion, it is the cancer that has been consuming us from inside out. If not tackled, efficiently and timely, the results would be fatal to the way we organize our societies at nation state level.  

I was raised in Republic of India, which is proud of its diversity, democratic values and freedom of expression. India is not a perfect democracy, but this euro centric value runs deep in our veins and rightly so. India has always absorbed cultures, traditions, alien to it and molded them according to need of time and its people. As far as the world is concerned, movement of people, ideas and thoughts are freer than any other point in the history of mankind. Long gone are the days of divine kings with superpowers, hereditary rights and absolute rule. There is no emperor in the world whose word would be the law. Most of us live in a democratic world, with China being a notable exception and of course there are few other countries that have monarchs who continue to strangle their populace.  Most of us choose our leaders who represent and lead by forming a government. As I have come to understand, the Government is organized at 4 levels in India. At the bottom is a village council that is headed by an elected representative. Then comes the District level where the geographic unit is larger, includes many villages, towns and at least one city if not more. Third is the State level. There are 30 states in India headed by a state government where their respective Chief Minister is responsible for the smooth running of government bureaucracy. There are a few union territories as well and they are run by a lieutenant governor.    Fourth and the highest would be the Government of India, which is the central authority. This is the highest form of government in India with its seat at the capital, New Delhi. The government of India is run by a cabinet which is headed by a Prime Minister. Even though, the ceremonial head of the state is the president, who also happens to be the head of all armed forces, but it is only the prime minister who holds the ultimate authority to make decisions. There are two houses in Indian democracy, The lower house and the upper house. Then there is a humongous bureaucracy that supports functioning of Republic of India at every level. There are state cadres and national cadres, the very institutions that churn out some of the most brilliant and some of the most corrupt diplomats and government workers. Public representatives are chosen by the people in their constituencies who then represent their constituents. Growing up in India I observed a stark difference in behavior of these public representatives before the election and after being elected. Many of the elected public servants assumed the divine right and became de facto kings (with limited powers) or at least local celebrities. It was the public’s flattering attitude towards elected public servants and lack of accountability that turned a humble public servant into a shadow of an autocrat. I vividly remember how educated men and few women of my hometown used to hover around the government ministers after the national or state holiday celebrations. Alas! India was still a closed economy and cameras and their reels were not readily accessible to an Indian teenager like me. My brain that captured and has kept all those events is a different matter altogether. Was this corruption?  For a teenager who was not even allowed to vote, it was amusing. It was an Indian way of common folk trying to impress upon a public servant if ever there was a need of his/her authority and influence to make ends meet or to get a promotion in a government job, or to get one transferred to a conveniently located institution within the city or to get a tender for one’s business. In retrospect, of course, this was the initial point where the corruption began and it was this vantage point where I saw the need and felt the urge to plant a tree that may bear a fruit someday where we can live in an India which would be efficiently run by a not so corrupt government and public servants. It would be futile to say corruption free as corruption is a behavioral tool and the society is made up of imperfect humans, we will have corruption in some form or the other. Definitely, we can limit it and improve the quality of our lives and enhance the quality of democracy we live in. 

As I grew up, I came across corruption in many forms and realized it is endemic to all societies. During my time in United States, I had ample time to ponder on many issues that societies face. The problem of corruption has many facets and needs comprehensive reform and equal participation of all members of society which is unlikely especially by those who gain extreme benefits. It means diminishing corruption is a hard endeavor, but we have to start somewhere and what better place to do it than from the top. There is a saying in India which roughly translates into “people follow the conduct of the ruler”.  In other words, If the ruler is honest and transparent, many people will do the same.  The way India favors and follows Modi could be a starting point, at least for India. Correcting the behavior of the people at the top may seem insurmountable, but at least it is a smaller group which is usually in the public eye and is easier to scrutinize. 

There are many organizations that collect data on corruption. Readers may refer to them for detailed statistics. As a part of the problem, we all understand what corruption is and therefore, I will not dwell on the issue. Government of India already has several laws on the books that define corruption and provide guidelines to be followed by adherents in public and private arena, In this essay, I am proposing further contemplating of the problem of corruption in Indian context.  I aim to deliver a message to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi and his cabinet to take the opportunity that he has with majority in both houses and pass relevant reformative legislation that will correct the course of Indian democracy. I request that Mr. Modi mobilize available resources and go ahead with formulating, passing and immediate implementation of a newer, reformed and strictly implemented Anti- Corruption/accountability Act. This act shall deal with elected representatives at all levels of government. I, as an Indian am providing some suggestions that can be used for formation of this new act. The guidelines are but not limited to:

·      Revised code of conduct and guidelines for elected and government officials.

·      Re assessment of pay scale, associated perks and special allowances of all elected representatives at a regular interval to ensure that nominated and elected representatives earn a sumptuous living so as to deter them from engaging in corruption for personal and/or economic gains.

·      Public lives must mean lives lived in public arena and open to public scrutiny except intimate details. Details of corruption cases, investigation and judicial process must become part of social discourse upon completion and delivery of sentence, to determine the accountability of those entrusted with enforcement process.

·      Complete background checks on Politicians and their entourages.

·      Complete ban on criminally convicted felons running for any kind of public office. Freedom fighters went to prisons for a higher purpose. Common criminals using the same logic to justify their running an election is a blemish on Indian democracy.

·      Publishing of changes in net worth of elected officials and immediate family members every year in a national, publicly available and continually updated registry.  

·      Prohibition of election manifestos and declarations promising government spending on appeasing people by dispensing of any public funds or cancellation of prior debts.

·      Transparent contract/tender allocating model accessible to scrutiny by independent experts and public. While outsourcing contracts, Indian government must revise the expenditure model as well. Cheapest is not necessarily the optimum and allocation of tenders to the cheapest bidder usually leads to political wrangling and business profit strangulation. Hence, businesses are forced to engage in shoddy, sub-par business practices and corruption while compromising the quality and life of a given project.

·      Complete check on nepotism and conflict of interest while dispensing government contracts. Public service and business are two separate streams. Government’s job is to provide political stability and regulate business in a profit yielding, socially responsible environment and not interfere in the running of business. Similarly, those engaged in private gain must retire and give up their interests when joining a government position except when invited in an advisory role without any monetary gain.

·      Extensive and exclusive intelligence apparatus dedicated to political corruption with special penalizing provisions for corruption of any form within the department.

·      Accountability and audit agencies tasked with preparing and updating real time expenditure data on public spending administered in each political constituency at national, state and district level on annual basis.

·      Exclusive fast track judiciary for elected representatives and governments officials and any corrupt behavior whatsoever.

·      Establishment of regional special courts under the authority of central government that processes political corruption cases with special powers, time urgency and utmost importance.

·      Severe penalties in case of conviction of an elected public servant. Allegations and accusations do not account for much in a legal system. If an elected official is convicted in a court of law, after all the due process, then it becomes the crime of the highest order and shall be treated as such.

·      Corruption for personal, political or monetary gain be declared a crime as serious as sedition, because corrupt politicians are a serious threat to any society as menacing as outside enemy nations or organizations.

·      Special protections and consideration of leniency for whistle blowers.

·      Substantial monetary incentive and social recognition for informants exposing corruption involving elected representatives.

·      Provision of security during court cases and monetary incentives after the conviction to protect whistleblowers from expected blow back.

I am recommending that Indian parliament pass an act dispensing severe penalties to those who have been elected and committed crimes that fall under this category.

·      During investigation and upon initial hearing, every elected official must have an opportunity to accept his/her crime, offer a written public apology, concede relevant information to the court and to the government, retire from politics voluntarily, submit their passport and commit to repaying the money stolen/received with interest at the time of hearing.

·      Corruption warrants punishment especially by those who have been trusted by millions of Indian citizens to lead them on a constructive path towards a better future. It is not only the scope of monetary value of corruption, but the nature of relationship between electors and the elected and the breach of social contract at a vast scale that justifies severity of the punishment. Once convicted, no elected representative must escape harsh penalizing.

Upon Conviction:

·      15 years of minimum to 25 years maximum prison sentences for people at a village, Gram Panchayat and Block level without the possibility of parole.

·      25 years minimum to 35 years maximum prison sentences for convicts at a district level without possibility of parole.

·      35 years minimum to 50 years maximum prison sentence without possibility of parole at the State and Union Territory level.

·      50 years minimum to 75 years maximum prison sentence without possibility of parole at the central level.

·      The judgements must be combined with the claw back clause where money stolen, and benefits derived will be assessed monetarily at an inflation adjusted value and paid back by the convict and associated and/or indirect beneficiaries with interest at the going market rate at the time of sentencing.

·      Any member of the cabinet at the national level or holding any higher office shall also be a subject to death penalty if the court concludes that corruption was in form of sedition.  

·      No special treatment on medical grounds. Medical treatment available should be at par with common convicts. The public does not need a representative or an official who has breached trust of millions of people.

·      Cases involving corruption and unsolved political scandals in the past must be reopened and judgements delivered. Any of the living conspirators must be imprisoned and/or any indirectly benefitting and currently living descendants must be held accountable for economic recovery.

·      Upon demise of any elected representative during the investigation, court must determine the outcome of the case for the remining co-conspirators. Claw back clause must apply to remaining direct and indirect beneficiaries and associates.

·      Sentenced elected officials must be barred from political discourse in its entirety.

·      Private citizens engaged in corruption involving elected representatives must face the same special court of law at the time of investigation and conviction and must face equal punishment depending on the scope of corrupt practice and illegal benefits derived.

Notable Exceptions: - 

·      Indian Armed Forces have their own procedures regarding conduct and shall pursue their own course.

·      Internal and External Intelligence agencies. Nature of Intelligence apparatus is secret, and their details must be kept secure to maintain national security.

As an observant individual, I would recommend that jurisprudence experts must rigorously draft and formulate the actual language of the act. I also recommend that penalties including period of physical incarceration and claw back clause must not be watered down in any case or event. I also recommend that when this act reaches the parliament for debate, Indian public pay keen, concentrated and special attention to political parties and members of parliaments that oppose the act citing whatever concerns they may have. The proposed law and criteria involve and target only and only the sworn elected representatives who have been elected to represent the Indian public with utmost devotion, complete honesty and trustworthy behavior. And it is only due to the failures of many of our past representatives to keep their oath that the country must revisit the Anti-Corruption statutes and reform them. With Mr. Modi as our honest and committed leader, I think that India has another chance and we will not be let down. 

Also, as a citizen of Republic of India, I propose that if any of us finds our family members engaged in corrupt practices, please report them to relevant authorities. Corruption in private arena is also a big threat to our nation and as citizens, it is our duty to nip this evil in the bud. Dear readers, entire proposal may seem amusing or impractical to some of you and some must be laughing hard at my wild attempt at initiation of improvement of the world’s largest democracy. Please let me remind you, if any person you should be laughing at is you because corruption by elected representatives affects all lives and stagnates progress for entire nation. Legislating and attempting to limit the corruption in political arena is merely a start, but it will have trickle-down effect as leaders will lead by example. Also, once enforced, another set of statues can be drawn and implemented to curtail the corrupt government officials by passing a specific law that targets government sector employees. Once, this legislation is enacted, it will create a domino effect far into all spheres of life with constructive outcome. The stern penalties are expected to garner some harsh criticism, but they are necessary for they will act as a deterrent for anyone joining the politics with a goal of enriching themselves solely by graft.  Thus, it is our foremost duty as Indians to come together in this fight to limit corruption.

Jai Hind

    July3rd, 2020

Mao’s Folly

To err is human and Mao Tse Tung was no exception. He is known as a Chinese communist dictator who ruled China from the onset of communist revolution till his death in 1976. Chinese communist party has woven a web of fascinated stories around his political and personal exploits, but rest of the world has come to know Mao as a curse and a scourge that descended upon Chinese people and spilled death on an unprecedented scale , misery and depravation for all those, he ruled with an iron fist. The Chinese faced such dreadful years under Mao’s administration that once the country was opened by Deng Xiaoping, Chinese people traded their souls, spirits and freedoms for money. Communist party that has styled itself as people’s party is actually a large club where the those at top are more equal than others and Mao was the initiator of this process that is going to spell doom for Chinese people and the rest of the world will pay a price along with it. In light of Covid -19 crisis that originated in Wuhan, China we all have become accustomed to Chinese bullying, but this is not a new phenomenon. China, since its ascent to the world stage has always been a bully as Mao always was. Its overt participation in Korean war , gobbling up Tibet and its culture , declaring South China sea as its own by flouting all international treaties and rules, sparring with Vietnam, sponsoring of terrorism through a Pakistani proxy state against India, keeping the supply chain open for Afghan jihadis during American adventure in Afghanistan after 9/11, hostile takeover of Hongkong, belligerence towards Taiwan and willingness to annihilate them if need be, Uighur genocide, border disputes with almost all its neighbors, economic imperialism, debt trap diplomacy,  over aggressive foreign policy, curtailing freedoms of Chinese people in all manners possible, religious prosecution of Falun Gong, slapping of Chinese Han myth on numerous creeds and ethnic groups within china, environmental degradation through unchecked industry, wild life poaching and government’s reluctance to apprehend those who engage in it, use of banned substance  producers’ as a tool of foreign policy by not restricting their movements in and out of China , outright hostility towards those who criticize Chinese communist party within and outside of China, Chinese Cyber hacking are some of the tactics where communists in power have shown their tendencies of acting as a tormentor. Mao started harassing the world and the communist party has carried on with the strong-arm tradition. In this essay I will share my opinion about one such incident i.e. Chinese attack on India in 1962 which in my opinion was illogical and foolhardy. 

Readers may think why revisit this small detail of the Chinese history and my reply is that this attack in 1962 on Indian territory then governed by unprepared, inept, communist infested Indian administration will prove to be undoing on Chinese behemoth. As humans we all know, whenever we make mistakes and as governments are nothing, but macro organisms made up of human beings who govern, must realize when they are at fault. I am hopeful that Chinese Communist party is aware of it and if not, I as a concerned citizen of the world would like to remind them of it. I would also suggest that mistakes can be accepted, faced and amended if one is willing to do it before one gets to the point of no return. What I have come to observe that in 1962 China acted cunningly and attacked India with all the might it could muster. Historical texts can validate that Chinese had already occupied Tibet without any precedent in the past while India had forfeited its claim by not declaring it in 1947 after transition of Tibetan territory to India after British left Indian subcontinent. Most of the things for the Chinese were going well on the foreign policy front at that time. China had occupied and subjugated Tibet after Dalai Lama fled, Soviet-Sino split had begun which meant that Chinese communist party would pursue an independent foreign policy, Japan had been defeated not only in war but in spirit, America had agreed to the armistice in Korean peninsula and India had signed the Treaty of Peaceful Coexistence. With all its major borders secure and no visible or imminent threat in sight Mao could have pursued its own vision of communism. Soviet Union may have appeared like a threat to Mao but at least rhetorically both nations were communist and were supposed to go along against the west. Mao would also have been prepared to sacrifice countless Chinese people in case of a Soviet attack if it occurred as he had promised to do in case of an American attack. 

India on the other hand was run by uninspiring and incompetent Nehru who, now we all know, was running India as its own fiefdom. In addition, Mao would have known that a large mass of Indian population was illiterate and uninformed, and the administration, Indian academia and literati was infested either by British legacy or Soviet influence. India was finally free of the direct foreign rule and despicable exploitation after many years and majority of the Indian top brass was self-professed socialist and border line communists. Even a part of the Indian press was compromised and later put on KGB payroll formulating Indian opinion and brainwashing Indian mind to such an extent that India lacked an Independent domestic and foreign policy until 1999.  Indians declared Soviet and Chinese to be their brothers and shied away from any meaningful contact with the western governments in terms of investment and exchange except Indian top brass’s unflinching loyalty to the British whose customs and language they used as their own. India was proclaimed a Socialist republic and stayed poor and backwards as long as so-called socialist leaders were leading it. In essence, India was not free because our domestic policy had been influenced by British in the beginning and later by the Soviet Union who had their own expansionist designs and a stronghold on Indian administration. Nehru was oblivious to any skill in statecraft and diplomacy and anti-Hindu as every decision he took bode ill for Hindu majority in India. Nehru did not envision any need of a strong armed forces, created border dispute with Pakistan when it was an outright aggression and should have been taken to the international court of justice, did not understand the need of a strong intelligence apparatus, joined a failed Nonaligned Movement and then aligned with Soviet Union in practice, overlooked all of the necessary steps that a leader of any newly freed nation needs to take to kickstart development, continued dynastic politics in India after British had left, lost Tibet, diminished Indian prestige and then got backstabbed by Mao. I am entirely sure that an avid reader and shrewd politician like Mao did not even consider Nehru as a stateman of equal stature. Hence, he employed Zhou Enlai to deal with an inferior and incapable Indian prime minster. I observe this stark difference because Mao had no qualms about hosting Richard Nixon who he must have treated as an equal. Nixon led the strongest democracy in the world and commanded respect. Nehru, on the other hand had lost entire Tibetan Plateau for India and brought Chinese army to the periphery of Indian mainland and centers of civilization and his ineptitude was on full display.

Mao acted as a regional hegemon who punished India by attacking Indian territory after Nehru was reciting slogans of Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai. Chinese attack on India was a limited war because Chinese themselves were very weak and thinly stretched. But they were better prepared, better armed and outnumbered Indians in terms of men and materiel. Mao practiced autocratic rule and dreamt of spreading his own brand of communism all over the world. Alas, he could not take it any further than North Korea and even China turned into an artificially managed robber baron capitalistic country after his demise though Maoism is still present in rhetorical form in few countries. Mao annexed Indian territory of Aksai Chin to give Chinese a psychological advantage and to strategically place his armed forces to encircle India. Nehru faltered as usual. There had been armed clashed between Indian and Chinese since 1959. This gave Nehru a window of three years to prepare but the situation on Indian side was so hopeless that Chinese attacked India and withdrew unilaterally and declared ceasefire after illegally occupying 38000 sq. kilometers of Indian land. Indian armed forces were sacrificed because Nehru did not know how to run a state. Mao had not only attacked but he even won on his own terms. This appeared to be a brilliant move and so it was till 2014. India was defeated and humiliated, but this cowardly act would give rise to Indian sentiment against China. Indian administration after Nehru were indignant towards Chinese but somewhat progress was made because of the public outcry. India after 1962 stayed like a sleeping giant and subsequent governments made no specific attempts to kickstart preparation and fortification of Indian boundary with Chinese. Even India’s Pakistan centric policy was neither preemptive nor strategic  but a result of series of  miscalculations that rogue Pakistani state had done in 1947, 1965, 1971, Kahlistani insurgency, Siachen ,proxy war against India in Kashmir, 1999 Kargil invasion and their acceptance of Chinese suzerainty after selling their country literally on the name of development and fulfillment of Chinese policy of strangling India. Policy of engagement that India has had with Pakistan and China has been a failure.

 There were millions of Indian nationalists whose voices were not entertained by Indian governments prior to 2014 except Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Indians were demanded to accept Chinese as their brother by the very administration that led India to defeat against China and the policy of dialogue and peaceful coexistence was practiced even after Mao had mocked us with viciousness. Arrival of Modi as an assertive and Nationalist leader has changed that equation. It is about time that Indian government has realized what true statecraft means. Chinese are deceptive, belligerent and calculating and India can give them the taste of their own medicine. Mao satisfied his ego when he punished India in 1962 in his mind. He underestimated Indian potential and failed to understand Indian culture and mindset. India has been around as long as China. Chinese are heavily influenced by Indians through the creed of Buddhism and not the other way around. India may have experienced 1000 years of outside rule and authority, but original Indian identity has survived. It is not by aggressive force but by sheer patience, philosophical understanding of life, strength of character, hard work, amicability and true secularism where other people and their beliefs are truly accepted by way of co-existence not just in name.  The world cannot understand Indian nationalism because the world is limited in their perspective. Confucius may have understood it, but Mao was a brute and he certainly did not. 

Many aggressors have come and gone, and China would be no different. A bully is usually convinced that he is the strongest and dictates what is right. What a bully fails to understand is being able to push people is the ultimate weakness and not strength. It is for everyone to see that European colonialism has almost fizzled out and breathing its last. Colonizers think in terms of greed and material wealth and China is the newest bully on the block. This colonizing and robbing mindset will be China’s undoing. Chinese expansion was in part made possible by Mao’s authoritarian rule where he wiped out Chinese intelligentsia on the name of communist ideology. Chinese communist party has always been nothing but a bunch of bullies who are pushing everyone around convinced that they know the best. Keeping the lid on their own people and their opinions is an evidence that Chinese bully is scared of imploding. Economic gains are keeping everyone quiet but that is always temporary.

India, on the other hand has grown steadily.  The world media is hardly independent and acts as a mouthpiece for interested parties and governments. The problems in India are highlighted and India is usually shown as a third world country. Carefully curated financial system and managed world order sees India as a weak, poor and upcoming nation. Mao’s assessment of India was limited to his interactions with the Indian government only. He must have been fed the information that he expected to hear as all bullies do. He saw Nehru to be a weak politician and a divider in chief and Indian government to be dependent on British thought and imagination which they were. He saw a poor nation, ravaged by British rule, weak, tired Indians who could not withstand Mao’s wrath. Mao observed a few Muslims getting a separate country and thought Indians to be like them. What he did not observe that people who demanded Pakistan represented Judeo-Abrahamic value system and not that of the Indian majority. He, just like, present day media did not take into account the Indian resilience and ability to withstand unimaginable pressures as a society. He failed to contemplate the tensile strength of India as a nation. It is not just the political boundaries that bind Indians, it is the freedom of expression through religious beliefs and atheism, freedom of sexuality and its articulation, a greater role of women in society, the universalism that even the Chinese travelers experienced. Indeed, I am talking about the India that existed before Islamic invasions, but that India is ever present in many Indians even today is eager to burst out in practice on a large scale. These social subtilties give India a foundation that Mao could not foresee. 

India is one nation that has understood live and let live. India has never been the aggressor. The natural bounty given to Indian heartland in terms of river deltas, monsoon rains and diverse flora and fauna have produced surplus societies from the beginning. Last 1000 years were an anomaly where those who ruled created artificial scarcity and especially British who ruined Indian agriculture and industry and then kept records of how poor the Indians were. Indian surplus gave ample time for Indian thought to be developed and thence India came to understand life and practiced universalism. What we see today is India experiencing dynamic change and as it reaches the surplus stage, the original belief system will reassert itself to its original form in thought i.e. to accept and absorb the outside and make it a part of its own as all are one. 

Even during this metamorphosis, India could have been one neighbor that stays in peace and is willing to let others go first. Pakistan imposed war on India and lost many times. The reason they exist is not Indian weakness but compromised Indian leadership of the past. Indian nationalist, however, would have absorbed Pakistan and they eventually will because what Pakistan is today has always been India. Same goes for Mao and his myopia. It is not the Chinese communism but the Indian pliability that will prevail. The so called and revered art of war describes war in its extreme form and in short term. What India has been practicing is the expansion in terms of social evolution. Indian thought is universal in nature and minor belief systems come and go or get absorbed with the tides of time. It is the flexibility of Indian belief system that is bound to outlast others because it accepts all and willing to adapt. Once again, Buddhist influence on Chinese is a burning example. 

I call Chinese attack Mao’s folly because he woke Indian sentiment up. India would have stayed like a sleeping giant, grown economically and a regional behemoth in demographic terms passing the message of peace and coexistence for ions to come. Deceptiveness that Mao displayed prepared India for not accepting another foreign rule. Again, the compromised Congress rule kept India weak for years and gave Chinese a head start, but the Chinese must realize that the only country that can match them in numbers is India. Technology and industrial might is something that India or any large country can match once they put their mind to it. Chinese so called pearls of a string strategy is going to be a noose around China. Had Mao envisioned correctly and chosen India as a friend, Chinese economy and universal aspirations would have flourished. Mao and China could have won if they understood the Indian mindset and engaged India and not attacked it especially when Indian leadership was contemplating not having armed forces. 

1962 was the opportunity lost for China. They won the battle, but they will lose the war. They misappropriated Indian character as their own and engaged Pakistan. Common sense dictates that engaging regional player like India would have been a far better approach than hosting smaller states like Pakistan and others. World history has taught us that small states are economically not feasible until aided by a fragile peace maintained by larger nations, are a political liability and open to vile machinations of the bigger powers. Europeans have understood this and that is why they have created European union. Mao seems to be intelligent enough to have understood this as he unified China, but his reliance on smaller states instead of directly appealing India casts doubt on his vision.  The proxy state, Pakistan will start exporting terrorism back to the Chinese through the economic corridor that China has built.  Muslim genocide in western China, Pakistan’s failure as a state and lack of economic prospects for the madrassa trained youth will take care of that. Economic imperialism that Mao laid foundation of is going to turn Chinese colonies against the master as already evident in Africa. USA is the strongest nation as of now, is geographically distant and even the best navy in the world can be vulnerable but is an ever-present threat to the Chinese. Russia will turn against the Chinese because of their departure from communism, reemergence of religion and racial differences. Europe is just a fancy place that Chinese travel and Europe will be an accessory to whosoever in power, but European protectionist policies and thought of democracy is entrenched deeply enough to maintain appropriate distance from China strategically. India has allied itself timely with United States, Australia and Japan and is the only country that has enough boots on the ground to match China in terms of labor and manpower reaching military age. It is not the battlefield that will defeat China and its might. It will be Indian thought, freedom and universalism that will trump Chinese domination and strangulation. Had Mao understood it, he would have made India an ally. India would have been a peaceful neighbor, the biggest market, and probably a comrade nation in arms but Mao and his ego ruined all that. Chinese are ascending and they are dying to reach the pinnacle of the world stage. What Mao and China could have learnt from India is that we all belong to the same species and whole point of technology and coming together is not forcing ones will on others, but to find a way to co-exist. Mao’s insistence on bashing thought and ingenuity is one of the main reasons that Chinese growth depends on intellectual theft and hacking. His quashing of the dissident movements led to one party rule that will leave China a powder keg waiting to explode as internal pressure builds in. Chinese policy of building a digital curtain is an evidence that Chinese populace yearns for freedom and political change as observed in Hongkong. Chinese people may be quiet now, but the economic surplus will eventually lead to thought provocation, critical analysis and self-introspection. As Chinese travel the world, they are bound to pick up new ideologies and I can project that Chinese people will defy artificial control. Mao’s policy of uncalled aggression that continues to date will be the harbinger of China’s fall. China faces an adversary in India which would be the last nail in the coffin. With Indian nationalism and self-confidence on the rise, two powers are on a collision course that Mao could have easily altered. Biased commentators and analysts usually speak ill of India and praise Chinese because they are used to evaluating countries on a monetary basis, and currently Chinese are on the rise. India will find its place on the economic scale as it has a robust economy and one of the largest populations in the world. Readers must remember that every country face dilemmas and challenges. Internal communist movements, misplaced ideologies in the guise of liberalism, radical islamists and corruption at many levels of society are obstacles India needs to surmount. Fortunately, India happens to be a nation who is willing to address country specific issues for the first time in a millennium. Indian ascent has begun and once the internal course of the country is corrected and remaining Maoist trojan horses, misguided youths, ideologues and traitors are dealt with, India will attain regional supremacy. As the Chinese market saturates and world starts opposing Chinese persistence on controlling society and suppressing criticism, they will look towards India. Indian insistence on self-reliance in industry, vigorous domestic economy and demographic bounty, accentuated with time honored tradition of respecting others will fill the void created by Chinese deception and swindling. As India grows and streamlines its manufacturing and generates more revenue, its military might will increase and Mao’s folly will come full circle.  Chinese threat will assure that India becomes an equal or better power and once India begins to flex its muscles, Chinese proxy states in Indian neighborhood will be the first to fall and only the time will tell who comes next?

May24th, 2020

LAcolumnist