The terrible times which are coming in India

" A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use and dreadful objects so familiar

 That mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;

All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:

And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell,

 Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war;

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.

 (Shakespeare: Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1) "

The above speech of Mark Antony before Caesar's body in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' accurately depicts the days to come in India.

 I do not wish to frighten you or sound alarmist, but it is time someone told Indians the truth : terrible times are coming in this country.

 After the Chinese Revolution succeeded in 1949 ( it took about 25 years to complete ) an assessment was made by the Chinese authorities of the number of people killed in the Revolution. It was found that about 50 million Chinese were killed in it, which was about 10% of the then total population of China ( which was then about 500 million, but has now become about 1300 million ). Similarly, when the Vietnamese war was over in 1975 it was estimated that about 4 million people, i.e. about 10% of the then total population of Vietnam of about 40 million ( it is now about 75 million ) were killed in it.

 A revolution is coming in India too, as I have earlier mentioned several times, but it will not be an easy or pleasant affair. May be 10% of our present population of 1250 million, i.e. 125 million ( 12.5 crore ) will be killed in it. This is no doubt horrible, but that is unfortunately how history functions.

As I had said earlier, we are passing through a transitional period in our history, from feudal agricultural society to a modern industrial society. Do you think historical transitions take place easily or quickly ? No, they are terrible things, full of turbulence, turmoil, wars, revolutions, chaos, social churning, intellectual ferment, etc as a study of European history from the 16th to the 19th centuries ( when Europe was passing through this transition ) shows. The vested interests in the old order fiercely resisted the transition..Only after going through this fire did modern society emerge in Europe.

 India is presently going through this fire, and things are going to get much worse in the coming years.. We are passing through a very turbulent and painful period in our history, which I guess will last another 10-20 years. In a historical transition society is totally uprooted and torn apart. The old values are destroyed, but new values are yet to be created. Everything becomes chaotic and topsy turvy.

Our national aim must be to create a highly industrialized, prosperous country and a just social order in which people are getting decent lives and enjoying a high standard of living. But to achieve that we have to make tremendous sacrifices and pass through terrible times.

 There are powerful vested interests, both external and internal, which do not want to let India industrialize and modernize These vested interests, who are enjoying pleasant lives, will fiercely resist any change. They want India to remain backward and semi-feudal and maintain the status quo, and not become another China ( since then the Indian economy will become a powerful rival to their economies ). The vast majority of our people are gullible, they are still casteist, communal and superstitious, and fall easy prey to the wicked deigns of the vested interests.

There is discrimination against minorities and women, and dalits are looked down upon. Half our children are malnourished, and healthcare is largely non existent for our masses. Honour killings, female foeticide, dowry deaths, farmers suicides, etc are commonplace in our society. There are people whose actions tend to disrupt the unity of the country, like those who propagate the son of the soil theory or discriminate against North East people.

 The Indian economy is practically stagnant, and the business atmosphere is gloomy. The Indian Government, despite all tall talk of vikas and Make in India, is directionless. Despite all the Prime Minister's foreign tours there is hardly any investment in India. ( in fact a big American investor, Jim Rogers, has exited recently, saying that one cannot invest in only hope ). Unemployment has reached massive proportions, with 10 million youth entering the job market every year, but only half a million jobs being created in the organized sector of the Indian economy annually. This naturally results in increase in crimes.

 What I foresee in the times to come are large scale communal and caste riots resulting in deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of innocent people, as happened during Partition in 1947. The recent incidents in Pathankot and Malda are only ominous portents of the coming times. Agent provocateurs will be used as they are being used, to instigate blood baths.

 The interests of our politicians is diametrically opposite to the national interest. The aim of our politicians is only to win elections, and for that they have to polarize society and rely on caste and communal vote banks. Caste and religion are feudal forces, whereas our national interest demands destruction  of feudal forces and spreading of scientific thinking to every nook and corner of the country.

So the solution to our country's massive problems of poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, price rise, lack of healthcare and good education, etc lie not within the present Constitutional system but outside it.