Lifting Olympus
Do you people realize the Herculean task confronting me ?
I had once said that 90% Indians are fools. This was said not to belittle, disparage or denigrate Indians. I love you, I want to see you all prosperous and happy, I want to see India emerge as a highly industrialized nation,with its people enjoying a high standard of living, so how can I do that ?
But the truth is that the vast majority of you ( including the so called ' educated ' people ) are mentally very backward, full of casteism, communalism and superstitions. Until this mentality changes India cannot progress.
I don't want you to remain backward, I want you to become truly enlightened and scientific in your thinking. All my efforts are directed to that end.
Consider just one example ( and I can give hundreds ). How many of the non Scheduled Caste people in India ( including the so called ' educated ' class ) marry, or would willingly give their daughters in marriage, to a person belonging to the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes ? Very few. And why ? Because they consider SC people as inferior. Those who undergo such marriages ( and there are very few ) are often threatened, assaulted or even killed (' honour killing ). In a University in Tamilnadu non SC boys attacked SC boys some time back. When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I was told by a non SC lady married to a SC High Court Judge that when she married her husband her relatives performed her funeral rites.
And this malaise is not confined to Hindus, it is also in Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, whose religions preach equality of all men.
I know of a SC young man, who was a magistrate, and fell in love with a Muslm girl belonging to a Muslim community who were Rajput converts. She too was in love with him, and he converted to Islam to marry her. But the girl's relatives refused to let her marry him, saying " humne mazhab badla hai, jaat naheen " ( we have changed our religion, not our caste ). Do non SC Sikhs not look down on mazhabi ( SC ) Sikhs, though the Sikh religion does not recognize the caste system ? And is that not so even among many Christians ?
Islam, Christianity and Sikhism preach equality. But what happens to them when it comes to marriage between non SCs and SCs ?
In the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 it was said " We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal--". But 239 years thereafter many Indians regard a section of their own countrymen as inferiors. Is this not a clear proof of their mental backwardness ?
And do not the vast majority of our countrymen believe in astrology, which is pure superstition and humbug ?
And do most of you not follow like children some Pied Piper of Hamelin, some ' Sapnon ka Saudagar ' ( dream seller ) in politics ?
So I have to change the mentality of almost 1250 Indians, I have to remould the minds of this ocean of human beings, and make them scientific and rational. Is this an easy task ?
What, will I lift up Olympus ( Shakespeare : Julius Caesar, Act 3,Scene 1 ) ? Well, when I see no one else doing it, I will sure give it a shot, even if it means I am crushed in the process.
I know the dangers in this herculean endeavour. There are powerful vested interests which wish to keep Indians backward and feudal. But what of that ? I have a responsibility to my nation, and I am going to discharge it,whatever the personal cost.
As Atticus Finch said in Harper Lee's novel ' To Kill A Mocking Bird ' : " Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It is knowing you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
So I know I am licked even before I begin, but I will see it through no matter what throughout the few years of life remaining in me.
Do you people realize the Herculean task confronting me ?
I had once said that 90% Indians are fools. This was said not to belittle, disparage or denigrate Indians. I love you, I want to see you all prosperous and happy, I want to see India emerge as a highly industrialized nation,with its people enjoying a high standard of living, so how can I do that ?
But the truth is that the vast majority of you ( including the so called ' educated ' people ) are mentally very backward, full of casteism, communalism and superstitions. Until this mentality changes India cannot progress.
I don't want you to remain backward, I want you to become truly enlightened and scientific in your thinking. All my efforts are directed to that end.
Consider just one example ( and I can give hundreds ). How many of the non Scheduled Caste people in India ( including the so called ' educated ' class ) marry, or would willingly give their daughters in marriage, to a person belonging to the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes ? Very few. And why ? Because they consider SC people as inferior. Those who undergo such marriages ( and there are very few ) are often threatened, assaulted or even killed (' honour killing ). In a University in Tamilnadu non SC boys attacked SC boys some time back. When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I was told by a non SC lady married to a SC High Court Judge that when she married her husband her relatives performed her funeral rites.
And this malaise is not confined to Hindus, it is also in Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, whose religions preach equality of all men.
I know of a SC young man, who was a magistrate, and fell in love with a Muslm girl belonging to a Muslim community who were Rajput converts. She too was in love with him, and he converted to Islam to marry her. But the girl's relatives refused to let her marry him, saying " humne mazhab badla hai, jaat naheen " ( we have changed our religion, not our caste ). Do non SC Sikhs not look down on mazhabi ( SC ) Sikhs, though the Sikh religion does not recognize the caste system ? And is that not so even among many Christians ?
Islam, Christianity and Sikhism preach equality. But what happens to them when it comes to marriage between non SCs and SCs ?
In the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 it was said " We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal--". But 239 years thereafter many Indians regard a section of their own countrymen as inferiors. Is this not a clear proof of their mental backwardness ?
And do not the vast majority of our countrymen believe in astrology, which is pure superstition and humbug ?
And do most of you not follow like children some Pied Piper of Hamelin, some ' Sapnon ka Saudagar ' ( dream seller ) in politics ?
So I have to change the mentality of almost 1250 Indians, I have to remould the minds of this ocean of human beings, and make them scientific and rational. Is this an easy task ?
What, will I lift up Olympus ( Shakespeare : Julius Caesar, Act 3,Scene 1 ) ? Well, when I see no one else doing it, I will sure give it a shot, even if it means I am crushed in the process.
I know the dangers in this herculean endeavour. There are powerful vested interests which wish to keep Indians backward and feudal. But what of that ? I have a responsibility to my nation, and I am going to discharge it,whatever the personal cost.
As Atticus Finch said in Harper Lee's novel ' To Kill A Mocking Bird ' : " Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It is knowing you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
So I know I am licked even before I begin, but I will see it through no matter what throughout the few years of life remaining in me.
Bravely said, Mr. Justice Katju sir. But just for the record, we're 239 years past 1776, not 139. See you next week.
ReplyDeleteVery correct sir. I know its a hard task even my parents don't agree with me when I tell them these things. BTW who is Atticus Finch. You quote him many times
ReplyDeleteJustice Katuji Ji, I am pained to see as human first that my country India where i was born is poverty ridden. Not only minorities, but people of majorities are suffering badly with hunger, poverty, disease, malnutrition. The Below Poverty line too is manipulated by previous government appointed Tendulkar committee which says above Rs 32/day earning is sufficient to be considered above poverty line. The criteria is if you can provide 3 times nutritious meal to your family in a day then you are above BPL. In this continuous rising inflation, the criteria remains unchanged which baffles me and the poor keeps on adding. To stop the population explosion which is the root cause of this problem, all government instead of taking proactive steps, say population can benefit economy if we educate them like China. China has different state capitalism system where they have one child policy, else pay 4 times tax . China has superior technical training centers to employ their youths. This proves even educated people in India do not have iota of idea about the alarming situation. They believe democratic social fabric should not be disturbed and in fact following democracy in a Soviet style where license raj is way of life of looting people. Freedom to enjoy maximum freedom can only come in an orderly place not contention and anarchy.
ReplyDeleteThis raises a serious question. What have we achieved by unification of 562 princely states. Had there been an autonomous system in governing each one of them, some states would have prospered by now. The rulers thought like five fingers if we become together we would become powerful unit. You know in this world, Japanese and Singaporeans are considered as most cohesive unit, disciplined and prosperous. Why? They do not have complex structure like us in the society. No singapore person can govern India and bring it out of backwardness.
DeleteNow the solutions...
How can India end this caste based system?
By educating the people with one system of education and not madrassas, regional schools which still preaches those caste system. Meritocracy in Singapore helped them to end the social division which was there in chinese society like Emperors,Shi (Scholars),Nong(peasant farmers), gong(traders and craftsmen), shang(merchants) and laborers
But I feel laughing when our PM at center says terrorism is one of the biggest threat to India. In fact the statement is not correct. India is a very diverse country. Terrorism in Pakistan spread because hardliners formed a social and racial enclave and found linkages between them like in Pakistan there were anti India groups called mujahid (nurtured by Pakistan army and govt for operations in Pakistan), Taliban groups (created by CIA of USA to fight soviet and before it was under peaceful soviet rule), sectarian groups targeting minorities like shia and other communities, rebels from middle east coming by largely unguarded Afghan borders, mafia groups hired by politicians for their gunda rule, Federal Administered Tribal area groups in Pakistan (FATA) who helped Afghan in their freedom struggle. Pakistan society did not produce good quality education. They spent as much as 40% of their budget in defense once to level with India neglecting their people. America came and bombed Afghan, displacing many families, America came and droned tribal area displacing large families in swat area. Pak army conquered and displaced thousands tribal families in their operations.
To make matters worst, Pakistan produced many madrasas graduates of them they can only become pehmams and maulvis since they do not have skills to get job. Inflation kept on rising. They became easy target for hate preachers and anti India elements targeting kashmir where funding came from saudi and other gulf nations who spreads wahabi brand of islam. Out of all the chaos in Pakistan, different terrorist groups were different, they build linkages and came closer making Pakistan army and America as common enemy and radicalization went out of control.
Pakistan is responsible along with USA and Afghanistan for messing up the society. Had America not displaced Soveit forces and rule in Afghanistan and bring Taliban in Afghanistan and helping Taliban to establish their rule there, Afghanistan would have remained more neutral and secular. Had Pakistan not supported anti India elements in Pakistan and spent maximum budget of theirs in education instead of crazy military spending just to outshine India, the situation would not have got out of control. The Tax to GDP ratio in Pakistan is 3% compare to India which is 18%. People in Pakistan do not trust their government and instead give charity or zakat which makes matter even worst, since many of times zakat money could have used to aid terrorism activities.
DeleteNow about India, the problem we need visionary and realistic leader to get India out of trouble. May be Modi has good intention, but some of things he says are impractical like he says I am planning to build India into 20 trillion economy from 2.. China has 1o trillion, USA has 16 trillion and Japan has 4 trillion.. all four has rich manufacturing base. Modi says if we make all black money into white by showing in bank accounts, and transaction then we can increase our GDP.
Even if India do that, and it grows at 15% growth every year which no country has achieved or next to impossible it will take at least 20 years to come in level with China.
like 2 *15%= 2.8 trillion
2.8*15%=3.2 trillion
3.2*15%= 3.7 trillion
Like that even if we show everyone account you add 2 trillion more. How can we reach 20 trillion before 20-20 years that too following international governance and with so much corruption.
China follows state capitalism, we rely on private companies and free economy which requires India to follow international governance system. If China see India as competitor it would manipulate its state policies to push India out of market like their policy of producing products by stealing technology or copyright or patent rights infringement...
It is undoable. My only concern with PM when he talks is to talk sense, else people call him FEKU
Now my last reply and conclusion is all PM or leaders of India says india is growing at 5% anum. Most common men cannot understand. What is the value of that growth when 80% of the country's income lies in the hand of few industrialist. They become more rich with that growth. 5% growth means more transactional activities done in the economy by those cronies.
DeleteDoes it bring poverty down? Does it reduces communal tensions? It is just a way to distract people. Even GDP per capita ratio is not good indicator to describe the success of an economy but much better than only GDP since Kuwait is one small nation which enjoys highest per capita in world because their citizen has such mass amount of wealth with their oil rich reserve that anyone of working class or person who go there for job get only decent package but it gets balanced out with those massive income elites.
The real indicator can be jobs to many people, less infant mortality, more education.
In financial capital Mumbai, every year 4000 people dies on accident traveling in mumbal local train because it is so much overcrowded that even cattles and cows would feel shame and with no safety measures followed there. People hang on doors, sit above bogie of train and dies. In comparison count how many people die of terrorism? I am not saying or comparing, but just comparing Indias deplorable and pathetic animal or beast like living conditions
Now many people will say in big countries these incidents happens, no Sir. In China on new year eve 36 people died due to mishap. Chinese people were angry and aghasted on government saying we dont want Shanghai to become a gutterland like Mumbai or like India. It means they have system in place.
Very sorry and painful to see India. Trust me it will not change unless it breaks out like USSR or give full autonomy to each states. India is a mess right now