In 1946, I was nine years old and grew up in the small town of Patna. I was barely aware of the important events around me but I clearly remember the cries of “Bajrang bali ki jai” and “Allah hu Akbar”, especially as darkness fell over the city. I knew from the precautions taken by the elders of the family that something sinister was brewing. Luckily we weren’t attacked by the rioters and stayed safe in our mohalla. I remember that on August 15, 1947, sweets were distributed in the school in the neighborhood where I was a student. I ate sweets and was told that our country was now independent, although I did not know that it had also been divided into India and Pakistan. The riots, Independence and Partition did not mark my child’s mind very much. What stuck with me was a story told to us by one of my older brothers.
He had gone to attend a University Training Corps camp (later replaced by the National Cadet Corps) and was returning to Patna by train. Given the law and order situation, the cadets were to stand guard in full military dress outside the compartment. When the train reached Masaurhi, a small station near Patna, it was my brother’s turn to stand guard. He told us that the platform was so full of corpses that he could barely find room to stand. They were the bodies of the victims of the communal riots. I have never forgotten that conversation. But despite my background and experience, I remained a liberal throughout.
Communal riots took place across the country. Mahatma Gandhi’s call for peace had no immediate taker until he fasted to death in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Around the same time, the wise men who were elected to the Constituent Assembly of India by the provincial assemblies sat in the central hall of the present Parliament building to draft the Constitution. On August 29, 1947, the Assembly set up a seven-member drafting committee headed by BR Ambedkar. BN Rau, an ICS officer, was appointed constitutional adviser. The meticulous work of preparing the Constitution has begun in earnest. The Assembly finally adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949.
All those involved in the drafting of the Constitution had witnessed the catastrophic events which had just taken place in India – the communal riots, the partition, the mass transfer of population from one country to another, the bitterness and the hatred between the two great communities, the fact that Pakistan has decided to become an Islamic republic and the temptation to do something similar in India. Yet they settled for a liberal, democratic and secular Constitution, even though the word “secular” itself was not enshrined until later during the state of emergency.
Who persuaded India to adopt a democratic, liberal and secular Constitution and, despite the difficult times the country has gone through, not to turn it into a Hindu Rashtra? It was the leadership of the time – Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad and Ambedkar. It was India at its best; an India that throughout the centuries has been a liberal, tolerant, inclusive and largely non-violent society. The leaders responded only to this innate character. The people celebrated the adoption of the Constitution with jubilation.
What has changed today? Is our independence threatened? Is our unity in danger? Has the Constitution not served us well? Has the Hindu become dangerous? Have unprecedented communal riots broken the back of communal harmony for good? What has changed is the nature of leadership. The destiny of the country is in the hands of people who want to change the age-old character of Indian society. They want the Hindu community to feel threatened, and if current events are not conducive to creating that atmosphere of fear, they will dig deep into history to do so. And why? To win the elections. Religion is the opiate used by politicians hungry for power over an unsuspecting people. They have no use for Hinduism except as a means of seizing power. Hinduism does not teach hatred and violence. Anyone who spreads hatred and violence is not a true Hindu. The country today is hungry for statesmen like Nehru, Patel and Vajpayee.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? I do not know. I am now 85 – mentally alert but physically not fit enough to put up a fight. But India is in peril today and I hope some selfless person or group will take up this fight before we are completely consumed by darkness. The important thing is to recognize that this is a clash of ideologies, and not just a change of government. People who were in the shadows in 1947 are out in the open today. The misuse of social media and the total control of print and visual media and the lies they spread day in and day out are impacting people’s minds. I see it happening in my own extended family.
Of course, this clash is not limited to India alone. The war in Ukraine is a struggle between a democracy and a dictatorship. In India, the rhetoric of opposition parties to the BJP uniting to challenge and change the government is shortsighted. The struggle is bigger and harder than it was during the state of emergency.
Indians’ commitment to democracy is proven. We only need leadership to get the right message out to people. Those who seek power cannot do it. Jayaprakash Narayan succeeded because he never sought power for himself. We need a group of leaders who must declare that they are fighting an ideological battle and that they are not seeking power for themselves. Only then will they be believed. Will I live to see this day? I am not sure. But I know one thing. People will wake up one day from their slumber no matter how good the opium used to keep them sedated.
I have great faith in the Indian people.
This column first appeared in the print edition of March 25, 2022 under the title “Fight Against Darkness”. The writer is a former Union Minister and currently Vice President of All-India Trinamool Congress
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