Monthly Archive

“Friends and Comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Nevertheless, we will never see him again as we have seen him for these many years. We will not run to him for advice and seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not to me only, but to millions and millions in this country. And it is a little difficult to soften the blow by any other advice that I or anyone else can give you.The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented something more than the immediate past, it represented the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom.

All this has happened when there was so much more for him to do. We could never think that he was unnecessary or that he had done his task. But now, particularly, when we are faced with so many difficulties, his not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear.

A madman has put an end to his life, for I can only call him mad who did it, and yet there has been enough of poison spread in this country during the past years and months, and this poison has had an effect on people’s minds. We must face this poison, we must root out this poison, and we must face all the perils that encompass us, and face them not madly or badly, but rather in the way that our beloved teacher taught us to face them.

The first thing to remember now is that none of us dare misbehave because he is angry. We have to behave like strong and determined people, determined to face all the perils that surround us, determined to carry out the mandate that our great teacher and our great leader has given us, remembering always that if, as I believe, his spirit looks upon us and sees us, nothing would displease his soul so much as to see that we have indulged in any small behaviour or any violence.

So we must not do that. But that does not mean that we should be weak, but rather that we should, in strength and in unity, face all the troubles that are in front of us. We must hold together, and all our petty troubles and difficulties and conflicts must be ended in the face of this great disaster. A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things of which we have thought too much. In his death he has reminded us of the big things of life, the living truth, and if we remember that, then it will be well with India…

It was proposed by some friends that Mahatmaji’s body should be embalmed for a few days to enable millions of people to pay their last homage to him. But it was his wish, repeatedly expressed, that no such thing should happen, that this should not be done, that he was entirely opposed to any embalming of his body, and so we decided that we must follow his wishes in this matter, however much others might have wished otherwise.

And so the cremation will take place on Saturday in Delhi city by the side of the Jamuna river. On Saturday afternoon, about 11.30, the bier will be taken out at Birla House and it will follow a prescribed road and go to the Jamuna river. The cremation will take place there at about 4 P.M. The place and the route will be announced by radio and the Press.

People in Delhi who wish to pay their last homage should gather along this route. I will not advise too many of them to come to Birla House, but rather to gather on both sides of this long route from Birla House to the Jamuna river. And I trust that they will remain there in silence without any demonstrations. That is the best way and the most fitting way to pay homage to this great soul. Also, Saturday should be a day of fasting and prayer for all of us.

Those who live elsewhere, out of Delhi and in other parts of India, will no doubt take such part as they can in this last homage. For them also, let this be a day of fasting and prayer. And at the appointed time for cremation, that is 4 pm on Saturday afternoon, people should go to the river or to the sea and offer prayers there. And while we pray, the greatest prayer that we can offer is to take a pledge to dedicate ourselves to the truth, and to the cause for which this great countryman of ours lived and for which he has died. That is the best prayer that we can offer him and his memory. That is the best prayer we can offer to India and ourselves.

JAI HIND.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru, January 30, 1948

It’s easier to criticize than to govern. This lesson applies to military adventurers all over the world. New Age’s Editorial today is worth highlighting, although the question remains as to where we would be today had the army not stepped in. Gotta love those counterfactuals!

If we were an ethnically defined society would we be in the grips of a civil war without army intervention (look at Kenya)?  Would we have faced a civil war regardless (Colombia in the 1950s)?  Are army takeovers a necessary evil in countries like Thailand and Bangladesh? Military coups are certainly better than full blown civil wars but is it an either-or choice that we faced in 1/11? What could the army have done short of taking over the reigns of power and disrupting democracy? Is it a good idea to have the army waiting in the wings as some sort of an overseer of national destiny (Greece, Turkey). How can we fix our political parties so that they know when to bow out in the interest of the greater good (like Al Gore in 2001)?

Lessons to learn from Thai army’s admitted misadventure

It is hardly surprising that the military council, which ousted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 in a coup, accusing him of corruption and irreverence towards the Thai monarchy, and governed the country for the past two years, has proved entirely inept at running state affairs. So much so, in fact, that the council has promised that ‘there will be no more coups,’ as a Thaksin-backed political party prepares to assume office after the country’s recent elections, according to a report published in New Age on Wednesday. What is surprising, however, is that the Thai military has acquired the wisdom to recognise that ‘the military should not be involved in politics’ as the council’s spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday.
   The Council for National Security has been widely derided in Thailand over the past two years for its inability to handle the country’s economic and social issues. Even though the council accused Thaksin of rampant corruption, they have so far only been able to prove one of the cases against him in court, and have had his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) political party’s senior leadership disbanded and banned from political activity for five years. Thaksin himself is living in exile, facing imprisonment if he returns to Thailand, but this has not decimated his popularity in predominantly rural Thailand. Thaksin supporters and activists joined the almost defunct PPP en masse and, on a pro-Thaksin platform, have fallen just short of gaining an overall parliamentary majority in the recent elections. While Thaksin’s regime is widely accused of corruption, his tenure as prime minister also saw unprecedented economic prosperity in rural Thailand.
   There are important lessons to be learnt from these international experiences with military interventions into the polity, especially in South Asia, and specifically in Bangladesh. The concept of political and socio-economic reforms imposed in a top-down method, while undoubtedly tempting, is also heavily weighed down by historical proof of its utter lack of success. In Nepal, the frustration and animosity that ordinary Nepalis felt towards corrupt political parties ultimately led to their popular support for a state of emergency which made way for King Gyanendra’s dictatorial rule in 2005. That violent and autocratic regime ultimately had to be toppled by a popular uprising in the spring of 2006. In Pakistan, popular support for General Musharraf’s 1999 coup has not only led to his destructive and polarising autocracy, it has paved the way for the largest contingent of radical Islamist parties in the Pakistani parliament. As lessons may be learnt from the processes through which such top-down reforms are instituted, so lessons should be learnt from the outcomes of such attempts.

I am now back after winter-break in Dhaka, and I should restart posting soon. A lot happening right now - a lot to write about.

But to get rolling again - my stock filler on this blog.  From today’s Daily Star:

  When the country was facing an acute dearth of edible oil supply last year, two business groups exported over 20,000 tonnes of edible oil to India at rates below those of local and international markets to get tax benefits on importing from traders there.

Three separate investigations have found that these traders–United Edible Oils Ltd and Bay Fishing Co Ltd–were involved in under-invoicing in order to help their Indian partners get tax benefit.

But this kind of thing also creates some additional headaches for the authorities - beyond the lower supply of the commodity:

“The business houses might also have involvement in money laundering under the guise of exporting to India,” the official said preferring anonymity.