The Covid-19 epidemic will leave a lasting impression on the mankind about how lives of poor or rich, privileged or underprivileged, powerful or powerless became vulnerable, helpless and unsecured before it. Neither technology nor social status, not even wealth could pose any threat to this virus. This is bound to lead the humans to burry divisiveness and hatred to secure a new world order of fraternity, generating fellow feeling and mutual care beyond national boundaries to overcome such global challenges.
India’s ancient civilization wisdom conceives world as one family which in past sheltered people of different faiths. In the Ramayana, Jatayu, the divine bird, knew that it cannot fight with Ravana to release Sita from his clutch; still he fought and laid his life in a show of fraternity.
In return, Rama performed the funeral rituals of the bird as a mark of his gratefulness. Are humans now showing such fellow feeling and gratefulness? Lord Ram himself lived in simplicity and followed path of probity, justice and well being of all lives and created numerous such examples. It is said that he punished a saint for hitting a dog, on the latter’s complaint. Vendetta reigns today’s political world. Everybody thinks he is right and others are wrong. Any dissent is treated inimical and the adversary looked down as enemy.
Great saint and freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak criticised highhandedness of the British Government in the name of containing plague in Pune in his paper Keshari and in return was threatened by the British authorities to which he wrote back in his paper “governance does not mean taking revenge” which led to his arrest in July 1897 in Mumbai under sedition law.
Post independence, the Governments still adopt the same sedition law to intimidate political rivals. Tilakji, Gandhiji, Netaji and countless men and women met unbearable suffering to free the country from the foreign rule.
The founding fathers of the constitution giving the country a republican polity, guaranteed fundamental rights. They were foresighted incorporating “fraternity” along with justice, liberty and equality in the preamble, to cultivate the spirit of fraternity at all spheres of life. Leaders during freedom struggle were a synthesis of multiple ideas, tolerant of opposite opinions and it nourished relations above party and ideological differences.
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose during his second tenure as Congress president could not constitute the AICC due to non-cooperation by some supporters of Gandhiji and hence resigned from the presidentship in April, 1939.
But this never diminished his respect to Gandhiji and during INA days in his broadcast to Indian people from abroad, he addressed Gandhiji as father of nation and named one of INA regiments as Gandhi regiment.
Gandhiji never reduced his admiration to Netaji in spite of ideological differences with him about mode of freedom struggle. Netaji had a great feeling of fraternity also. I was once told by freedom fighter Jagganath Mishra that prior to Netaji’s disappearance from the country, Dibakar Patnaik and he had gone to meet him at his Kolkata residence when after brief discussion both went to take a round of the city and returned late night till which Netaji was waiting at his front varanda to take dinner with them.
Supporters of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gokhle virtually had come to blows in Surat session in 1907 on an ultimatum resolution to be served to British but both jointly worked to strengthen freedom struggle irrespective of differences.
According to some authors, Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was critical of Gandhiji about the manner on uplift of Harijans but Gandhiji advised Pandit Nehru to take him in his cabinet. Pandit Nehru and Dr Rajendra Prasad differed at many issues. As a true democrat, Pandit Nehru accepted Dr Rajendra Prasad for the office of president of India, when his suggestion for another leader to the high office was reportedly turned down in the Congress meeting.
Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, the veteran socialist leader, was a strong critic of Pandit Nehru. I was once told by a veteran leader that Dr Lohia had written a letter to Prime Minister Nehru but did not get any reply.
Subsequently when both met on some occasion Dr Lohia enquired about it and Pandit Nehru instantly cross checked with his PA, who agreed about the receipt of the letter which he had not taken to his notice. Pandit Nehru became furious on his staff on this and asked the person concerned to apologize to Dr Lohia.Gandhiji demonstrated humbleness and led a simple life as he was very much sad about poverty in the society. On the contrary, many in positions prefer to adopt luxurious living to show a distinct.
I recall one incident probably in the year 1980 how former CM Naba Krushna Choudhary was carrying his own luggage alighting from a train at Bhubaneswar station while moving to catch a riksha when I was waiting at Bhubaneswar railway station along with former Union Minister Samarandra Kundu to travel to Puri to attend a HMS meeting.
Kundu asked me to immediately lift the luggage from his shoulder which I did; when I found that he was none but the great Gandhian Naba Krushna Choudhary.
During his tenure as CM, Biju Patnaik decided to support a Congress leader for Rajya Sabha to facilitate his continuance as a Minister of State for railway as mark of fraternity and in the interest of the State. On several occasions, Bijubabu used to tell to keep Panchayat elections above politics to safeguard the traditional fraternity in the society.
Gandhiji’s dream of “Rama Rajya” conceived “Swarajya” underlining sovereignty with people to transform villages as self reliant units both politically and economically limiting the role of rulers as trustees in the governance mechanism. After independence some of the national parties have used the Rama Rajya concept as a vote catching slogan.
Loving every life including people of other faiths, respecting adversaries, becoming judicious and achieving equality among citizens is essential to fulfill the goals of Ram Rajya. In Ram Rajya, “deception” and “hypocrisy” had no place.
(The writer is a former Odisha Assembly Deputy Speaker. Phone: 9437412877; E-mail: pandarcp@gmail.com. The views are personal