{"id":5006,"date":"2018-12-19T12:02:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T12:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/?p=5006"},"modified":"2018-12-19T12:02:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T12:02:08","slug":"india-in-the-new-year-paulos-gregorios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/?p=5006","title":{"rendered":"India in the New Year \/ Paulos Gregorios"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>(Editorial of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/star-of-th-east-vol-3-no-1\">The Star of the East Vol. 3 No. 1<\/a>)\r\n\r\n1981 has come, with little fanfare and much foreboding. In India \r\nthe twin recognition, on the one hand that Mrs. Gandhi is unlikely \r\nto come up with any major realistic programme for ameliorating the \r\nsituation of poverty and injustice, worsened by fresh outbursts of \r\nhuman cruelty, widespread government corruption, and general \r\nindiscipline in the nation and on the other that there is no alternative \r\nin sight to Mrs. Gandhi that could be any better deepens the prevail- \r\ning gloom and catalyses the latent cynicism of the Indian middle \r\nclasses. This in turn leads to a further disintegration of values in the \r\nnation. \r\n\r\nMrs. Gandhi may be doing better in handling foreign policy \r\nthan in solving domestic problems. The dangers are many and not \r\nall of them imaginary. A nuclear armed Pakistan can, with the help \r\nof allied forces, start a rumpus in Kashmir with unpredictable conse- \r\nquences for national security and integrity. There is some reason to \r\nbelieve that outside forces are involved in fomenting communal riots, \r\nand in making the North-East problem beyond conciliatory settlement. \r\n\r\nAmerica, starring Ronald Reagan, may turn out to be no more \r\ndisastrous in fact than a Wild West movie. But then, if the Indian \r\nOcean becomes the place of concentration for U. S. naval and nuclear \r\nforces, India may have difficulty sleeping. In a crunch, some of that \r\n\u201c force de frappe\u201d can be used as a tool of \u201cdiktat\u201d telling India \r\nwhat to do in Kashmir or the North-East, as once happened during \r\nthe Bangladesh crisis. India, (along with Vietnam, Kampuchea and \r\nLaos), seems to be in danger of being punished for refusing to line \r\nup with the west, following all other nations in East Asia, including \r\nthe People\u2019s Republic of China. Mrs. Gandhi understands this as \r\nwell as anybody else in India, and may have already taken measures. \r\nThe visit of Brezhnev to India, which the media in India as well as \r\nelsewhere sought to depict as unproductive, may have had more signi- \r\nficance than these vested interest defending newspapers are willing to \r\nconcede. \r\n\r\nThe concern about the Reagan regime, which, thank God, \r\ncannot last beyond four years, is not limited to India. His victory is \r\nwidely acknowledged as a slap in the face for the American liberal \r\ntradition \u2014 a definite swing of the pendulum from the liberal East \r\ncoast to the conservative Mid-west and the insular Far-West. Mr. \r\nReagan and his colleagues have far fewer inhibitions than better- \r\ninformed Americans about the once-inspiring dream of a great and \r\npowerful America as leader of the west, champion of democracy, \r\ndefender of the free world, and crusader against ungodly communism. \r\nIn any case Reagan\u2019s bid to win back the leadership of the world \r\nthrough a posture of Wild West toughness can be no more realistic \r\nthan Carter\u2019s costly claim to set the world right through simple \r\nhonesty and straightforwardness in diplomatic relations. Reagan \r\nwill soon learn what Carter took a little longer to learn\u2014 that the \r\nAmerican President is neither omnipotent nor able to make all \r\ndecisions on his own even in domestic matters. \r\n\r\nThe point for India is two-fold \u2014 first that Reagan has openly \r\nexpressed his desire to increase the strength and duration of America\u2019s \r\nmilitary presence in the Indian Ocean and second that he knows even \r\nless than Carter did about our problems in India; nor has he so far \r\nshown any signs of special friendship for India. Not that India has \r\nany particular reason to prefer the cow-boy hug of Reagan to the \r\nmuch berated bear-hug of Brezhnev. The realities of the situation \r\nare so obvious even to such an anti-communist figure as B. J. P. \r\nleader Vajpayee; we need the help of the Russian bear to ward off \r\nthe sharp claws of the American eagle. But there is perhaps another \r\nside to it. The USSR has few friends on whom she can rely in Asia \r\nas much as on India. And Mr. Brezhnev has left Indians in no doubt \r\nthat for the Russians, support of Mrs. Gandhi is even more important \r\nthan supporting the communist parties of India, in order to express \r\nthat reliance upon India. \r\n\r\nNaturally this reality can be used by interested parties to argue \r\nthat India is deviating from the Non-Aligned path. Such arguments \r\ncome in very handy for those interests in the world who desire to \r\ndrive a wedge between the USSR and India, as well as to Two-third \r\nworld interests jealous of India\u2019s leadership in the non-aligned move- \r\nment. What they forget is that non-alignment by no means implies \r\nequidistance from the great powers. Non-alignment is a refusal to \r\ncommit oneself to support one side or the other and an insistence \r\nthat each issue will be settled on its merits and not on the basis of \r\nwhich of the great powers is on which side. If the non-aligned \r\ndecisions tend to agree more often with the policy objectives of the \r\nUSSR than those of the USA, this means that there is more conflict \r\nof interest between the Two-third world and the market economy \r\ncountries than between the former and socialist countries. \r\n\r\nOne bit of cheering news in the New Year has been the release of \r\nAmerican hostages in Iran. But does this ending of many months of \r\nmisery for the hostages mean also that Iran has finally made up its \r\nmind that any price is not too high for getting the spare parts and \r\nthe additional arms necessary to win the war with Iraq? Does it \r\nmean that Khomeini has decided, by force of circumstances, to follow \r\nthe path of the Shah in totally lining up with the west? It is possible \r\nthat the American ploy of making Iraq attack Iran has really worked. \r\nIt has more than secured the release of the hostages. A multi-million \r\ndollar market has been opened up for the western arms trade, which \r\nin itself is a big boost to a sagging western economy. An almost \r\ncomparable market in both Iraq and Iran has been provided by the \r\nneed to repair the oil installations that have been damaged by war. \r\n\r\nObviously the Russians do not want openly to side with Iraq, \r\nfor fear of pushing Khomeini into the bosom of the West. But will \r\nKhomeini himself last? Are there not generals waiting in Paris to be \r\ncrowned in Teheran by the Americans? And what would a Pakistan- \r\nIran axis in league with the West and China mean for the security of \r\nKashmir and communal harmony between Muslims and Hindus in \r\nIndia? Mrs. Gandhi and India\u2019s very sober foreign minister Rao \r\nseem to be aware of these questions, though their efforts to reconcile \r\nIraq and Iran stand little chance of succeeding. \r\n\r\nThe heavy arms build-up in the Indian ocean is justified by \r\nAmerica on the assumption that the vital interests of the American \r\npeople are buried in the oil-fields of the Gulf area, and the charge \r\nthat Russia\u2019s move into Afghanistan is a first step towards the take \r\nover of West Asian oil fields, which would give the USSR a strangle- \r\nhold on the Western economy and on the Market Economy system \r\nas such. \r\n\r\nAs far as Afghanistan itself is concerned, events go to show that \r\nthe forces for socialism in that peasant land of warring tribes have \r\nless influence on the minds of the Afghan people than the vibrant \r\nemotions of \u201cIslam in danger\u201d or \u201clife and death struggle of belief \r\nagainst unbelief\u201d spread by sophisticated propaganda interests, speci- \r\nally trained in Pakistan to use Islamic feelings as a most effective \r\nanti-socialist weapon. \r\n\r\nWe do not want to play the game of the World Astrologers \r\nConference recently gathered together in India, nor to take their \r\nword that the Third World War will not come this year. If there is \r\na third world war, it can come only as the result of a wrong decision \r\non the part of the leaders of the two leading powers. Such an error \r\nis even more likely this year than the next. For in a year\u2019s time, \r\neven Reagan would have understood the harsh realities of a nuclear \r\nwar, which despite arguments to the contrary, can neither be conta- \r\nined nor won. If the folly of being armed to the teeth as counter- \r\nproductive in terms of national security is realized on all sides, there \r\nis nothing other than the fact that the arms race and arms trade are \r\nprofitable to a small group of powerful people, to stop the world \r\nfrom beginning to disarm, and to use the resources so saved to solve \r\nthe problems of poverty and injustice all over the world. \r\n\r\nUnfortunately in India the debate among intellectual circles \r\nseems preoccupied with non-issues like Parliamentary versus \r\nPresidential system of Government. Since everybody thinks that the \r\ndebate is part of Mrs. Gandhi\u2019s scheme to introduce again a dictator- \r\nship in the country, opposition intellectuals get into such great fury \r\nthat they affirm without batting an eyelid that the present system is \r\nworking quite well. There are three points (among others) at which \r\nthe present system fails miserably (a) its inability to mobilise the \r\nmasses for social production with justice and equity; (b) the enor- \r\nmously expensive character of the election machinery which lets even \r\nleftist political parties become enslaved to the money-bags and their \r\ninterests; and (c) the odious practice of defection and changing of \r\nparties by legislators elected by the people on a particular party plat- \r\nform. The Presidential system would help only in the third point, \r\n\r\nbut would make little difference in the other two areas. A Presiden- \r\ntial system has the advantage that the President would not have to \r\nspend all his (or her) time trying to stay in power. Elected for four \r\nor five years, the President can devote the time not for ensuring \r\npolitical survival but to get something done. \r\n\r\nWhether President or Prime Minister, to infuse a little discipline \r\ninto the Government and into the political system in India today is \r\nhardly possible without taking the risk of assuming powers whicn can \r\nbe used also to suppress certain fundamental rights like protest \r\ndemonstrations or newspaper criticism. The fact of the matter is \r\nthat the people sometimes feel that the protesters and the newspapers \r\nare also putting their own interests before the interests of the nation \r\nand especially of the poor. In India it is quite possible to organize \r\nprotests, provided one has someone to pay the bill (this applies even \r\nto the recent farmers\u2019 agitation), ^nd most of the English language \r\nnewspapers in our country are run by moneybags in their own \r\ninterests and in the interests of their affluent readers and advertisers. \r\nA general reduction in the number and volume of protest demonstra- \r\ntions may turn out to be healthy for the economy. And what our \r\nEnglish language newspapers say cannot always be taken as the voice \r\nof the people. \r\n\r\nWhich set of risks should we take \u2014 that of going on as we now \r\nare, drifting into anarchy and chaos, or accepting a measure of disci- \r\npline, knowing fully well that the day may not be far in the future \r\nwhen discipline turns into authoritarianism and the people\u2019s protest \r\nenergies would have to be turned full blast against that authoritaria- \r\nnism? It is somewhat unfair to forget that Mrs. Gandhi\u2019s ordering \r\na general election in 1977 was a democratic act \u2014 whatever her own \r\nmotives might have been \u2014 a democratic act which freed us from \r\noppressive authoritarianism. It was not the Janata party that libe- \r\nrated us, it was the people\u2019s vote which was allowed to be exercised \r\nand was accepted without demur. \r\n\r\nOnce that process of expressing the people\u2019s verdict through free \r\nand democratic elections can be exercised periodically every four or \r\nfive years, the difference between Prime Minister and President is \r\nsimply that the latter has political security for one term and does not \r\nneed to concentrate all effort on political survival. \r\n\r\nMrs. Gandhi is perhaps one of the few persons around in Asia \r\ncapable of world leadership. In fact, she is much better and fairly \r\nunerring in her judgments about international relations than about \r\ndomestic issues. A little peace, through the Presidential system, may \r\ngive her a better chance to do something creative in international \r\nrelations as her father trained her to do. On the domestic front, \r\nonly the hand of God working in totally unconceived ways, can open \r\nup a glimmer of hope.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Editorial of The Star of the East Vol. 3 No. 1) 1981 has come, with little fanfare and much foreboding. In India the twin recognition, on the one hand that &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,204],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-5006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-indian-identity","tag-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5007,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006\/revisions\/5007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paulosmargregorios.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}