Just read these words:
“They felt that the money power generated by such economic liberalization would percolate down step by step to a large number of middle and higher sections of the Indian society, which sections in turn, with the help of their money power, would eat away the purity of all democratic institutions of national governance, viz., political parties, Parliament, judiciary, bureaucracy etc.”
These lines about India were written long back in 1992. This is what is happening in India today in 2021. Let us have a close look at our situation.
About 6-7 years ago there was a news that the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) had approached the Rashtriya Sewak Sangh (RSS) for reaching an agreement between the two organizations to exchange their organizational skills and secrets and that the RSS had declined the offer saying that there was nothing new with the Chinese Communist Party that could teach the RSS and it doesn’t want to part with its (organizational) secrets.
The RSS had an estimated 10 – 12 million members in 2020 and approximstely 56,859 Shakhas (or branches) spread through out the country, in which members hold meetings on daily basis. More particularly, all members of RSS are volunteers motivated by Hindu nationalist ideals who willingly join this organization without any coercion or expectation of reward. The RSS is a comprehensive organization, having its cultural, social, intellectual, educational and political affiliates. Its political affiliate is Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which is ruling the country today.
In comparison, the Chinese Communist Party has an enrollment of about 82.6 million members with numerous party units and affiliated organizations. However, all its members and affiliates are not motivated by the Communist ideals. Many of them join these communist organizations in the expectation of advantages and rewards that flow from a ruling dispensation – and some with an element of coercion just to evade the bad consequences of remaining on the political other side of the divide. In this comparison, the RSS fares not so bad with the CPC.
For the fast development of any country and solve its accumulated problems historically pending for long – particularly for poor and backward countries like India or China – there are certain things that are absolutely necessary. For this, it is necessary that the central governing authority of the country holds the power with full command and without any challenge, and that it also has a conscious aim and strong will to progress fast. Both – the Chinese Communist Party as well as the Indian RSS – know this secret of making a fast national progress very well. In this respect, neither of them needs to learn from another.
The RSS knows this secret and also intends to follow its recommanded path. It wants to become the central governing authority in India with full command of this country and without any challenge. We also do not doubt even for a moment that the RSS has a conscious aim and strong will to make India a front raking developed nation in the commity of nations.
However, in following this path the RSS is not doing anything new for the first time in the world. It is simply imitating what the Chinese Communist Party had already done in their country. And we know where China stands today. Today China talks to the US – the world’s sole super power – with an eye ball to eye ball position.
How India compares with China in their common nationalist ambition? India is a Hindu majority democracy. This Hindu majority is dwindling fast into minority with its political consequences. The fact is that Hindus in India are faced today with two predators. It is like a wolf standing on one side of them and a lion on the other side – both ready to devour them and to their own different tastes. One of them is waging – somewhere open and somewhere camaufladged – an Islamic Jihad to vanquish these “Kafir” Hindus and plunder their women, children and property as “Mal-e-Ganimat”. And the other one is the capitalist monesters who are out to extract the last drop of their blood in the form of profits. Nobody knows which one of these two is a wolf and which one is a lion. But both are predators ready to plunder them in their own fashion.
In imitating the Chinese Communist Party for laying hands on the full and unchallenged central governing command of India, the Indian RSS has to learn from China many things that it does not know.
Firstly, the Chinese Communist Party has its own army – the Red Army – to give power to its claim of an unchalleged supreme governing authority of China. The RSS has no army of its own. Its claim for supreme governing authority has no military power to support it. The popular support at the nationsl level – even if it is complete – is not comparable with the support of military power. Secondly, in China there are no elections – Chinese Communist Party can remain in power against the will of Chinese people and for an indefinite period – till their regime is not toppled. In India there is electoral democracy and BJP, the political extention of the RSS, has to win periodic elections; elections need huge amount of money to win them; RSS has to collect this money from somewhere; this money comes only from the big industrialists (called capitalists) who have such big money; in exchange of giving this huge money, the ones who give money extract economic promises and relaxations for them from the government. Thirdly, in China as the Chinese Communist Party does not depend on the money of capitalists (yes, in China there are capitalists), it is not dictated by capitalists of China. On the contrary, Chinese capitalists serve the agenda and interests of CPC.
China is not a communist country – it is a country of dictatorship of nationalists, which camaufladges itself as a communist country with the Chinese characterstics. Chinese follow not the “Communist Manifesto” of Karl Marx but the teachings of “Han Fei” (an ancient Chinese war philosopher living in 280 BCE) to serve the interests of their country.
Unlike China, in India there is no dictatorship of the nationalists – though the RSS aspires to become one. If it wants to fulfil this aspiration, it certainly needs to learn a few things from China.
To repeat, in China CPC does not need to take money from capitalists to win elections. But in India it is not so. In India RSS needs to take money from capitalists and as such it is dictated by the wishes of those who give that money, which wishes serve their own private interests and not the interests of Indian nation.
Their interest is just to earn more and more profit, which profit comes at the cost of ordinary people. It compels them to bear a high cost of living, even when they do not earn enough or are unemployed. It makes them suffer lay-offs by companies to make more profits resulting in their unemployment. It all results in miseries to them and makes their life a living hell. It generates general popular discontent against this whole affair of the loot by private companies. Unlike China, in India the interests of the Indian private companies do not serve the national interests of India.
In China there are capitalists but there is no capitalism. In India there are capitalists and there is capitalism. In China, as it is not the money of capitalists that enables the Chinese Communist Party to rule that country, so CPC is able to rein the Chinese private companies in their drive for more profit beyond a certain limit. But in India, as it is the money of capitalists that enables the RSS and its political extention to rule India, they cannot rein Indian private companies in their profit making drive, even if the profit is exhorbitent. RSS has an ambitious aim like that of China to fulfil that ambition but it does not have the way that China has.
This is the difference. This is the dilemma before the RSS.
And, also this is the subversion of the democratic institutions of India by money. This is step by step defilement of Indian Parliament, executive and judiciary by money, of which we had spoken in 1992 and stated in the opening lines of this write-up.
The social media has created havoc in society – but it is a boon also. It is a source of information – good or bad information. It has empowered people. It has liberated them from the slavery of media houses, who distort information to serve their agenda. Let us see how this money is defiling in action the Indian institutions of legislature, executive and judiciary in 2021.
A few days back there was a live FaceBook video of Haryana kishans, who were agitating and demanding to meet the DC (Deputy Commissioner) to resolve their grievance. Mentioning about kishan agitation going on in this part of India doesn’t mean that we support or oppose their agitation.
What was their grievance? Their grievance was that some Adani or Ambani is laying down gas pipe lines through their agricultural fields and without their permission and consent; when they objected to this illegal act, police was called by the pipe-laying company, which threatened them not to obstruct the work; the courts did not give them any relief; when they (kishans) approached the government authorities to stop such pipe-laying work, the authorities declined even to meet them; and, that they are completely powerless to do anything against this big company.
This is the subversion by money of the democratic institutions, which is spoken of in the opening lines here. What is the legal position in this respect?
Under the Indian Constitution the kisans (farmers) have legal right of property in their fields and nobody has got any right to interfere in their property by laying down pipes there without their permission. They have this right over the surface – and not under the surface – of their fields.
The company wants to lay down the pipes there and the kisans do not want to allow this. Also, India needs to develop fast by having a good network of gas pipe lines, wherever they are required. This requirement is decided by the private companies that instal industries running on gas. The job to develop India in every sphere has been given by the government of India to private companies. Now these companies need a suitable network of gas pipelines in India.
The farmers have a legal right over their properties, which is enforceable in a court of law, and the private companies need to lay down pipes through their fields but wish to minimize their cost. So what is the way out of this problem according to the law?
We know the government has the power to forcibly acquire this land of kisans but for that a huge amount of money by way of compensations will have to be paid to the effected kisans. But the company (through the govt) doesn’t need these fields; what is needed by the company is only laying down of pipes under the surface of fields of those kisans. Permission to lay down pipes may be got from farmers by paying money to them but it means a huge amount to be paid by the company to the kisans, which money the company doesn’t wish to pay. Pipes may also be laid along the public highways but that would mean covering an extremely long distance and a huge cost for the company, for which the company is not going to agree.
So, the only way left out for the company is to defy the law of the land. This is the subversion of democratic institutions of executive and judiciary with the power of its money.
Let us see how India solves this problem – the problem of corrupting influence of the private money over the democratic institutions of people’s self governance – and is still able to make a fast paced progress.