Udayor Blog

The giant leaps that India made in the field of Information Technology (IT) has come to be envied by all other nations. It is a matter of pride for every Indian that the so called poor nation is making records in this crucial sector. India now has one of the best man-power stock in the field and the Indian presence is universally felt. Many of the so-called developed nations in the west also do not have the edge that India has in IT. How they are required to learn from India, take help from India. It is also a pointer to where modern India is heading for. New technologies decide the future history is well known. How the gun powder made the small island called Britain to subdue India long back.

Now how to stop India on its march is what the vulpine groups are brooding over. In this it is known in history that the western colonization of India did two important things, one, monopolized trade in natural resources like spices, two, destroyed the great traditions of India in manufacture. They started deciding the prices of Indian products is what trade monopoly meant. What continues to this day, hidden in the hyped rhetoric of globalisation. The notorious cases of the British killing the native skills in, say cloth making, are instances of the urge to weaken India, what was a cannibalistic trait. They promoted Birmingham cotton instead and soon India was dependent on the British to cloth herself. Every native technology was stolen and then throttled as history of Indian science tells. How India, then richest in the world, became the poorest soon.

If the British in India, with their vulpine instincts, could do that as a straight strategy they also made the Indians fight among themselves. They plotted to put one king against the other, one caste against the other and became the benevolent protectors. What was later called the ‘divide and rule’ policy. The missionary spread stories of upper caste oppression was a clever tool. Later the reservation policy gave it concrete shape. The leading communities were branded enemies of the people, neutralized. Putting one people against the other. Once again they are doing the same, the new reservation policy is a calculated attempt to make the Hindus fight among themselves. Today’s India has an Italian woman with redoubtable past at the helm is not a coincidence. After half a century when the confidential papers are declassified things may get known. How Sonia Maino became a Gandhi, came to lead India at the turn of the millennium.

The biggest threat that the marauding global capital sees in India is the emergence of a truly native idiom in India. What can trigger a global resistance movement. The Hindu nationalists urge that reflected in the raise of Bharateeya Janatha Party, though they had no visionary leaders, had the potential to transform in to a mammoth force. What a post-colonial was waiting for. The process needed correction and it would have come about, but before that it was tackled. The BJP itself was penetrated and their policies exposed. That, due to inner contradictions and through myopic and selfish politicians who were bought over. Why the whirl wind tours of Sonia Gandhi in the last elections, with the west centered Christian church in toe, and unleashed under the banner of the Congress party, became crucial. The BJP was thrown off and the budding urge of a native idiom almost annihilated. India in circa 2006 is at the crossroads.

Now when the same government takes a crucial decision, to give increased reservations in academic institutions of excellence, there are two important objectives. One, these centers of excellence like IITs and IIMs shall be diluted. It was the IIT culture, which focused on merit alone, that gave India its pioneering edge in IT is known. IITs and IIMs and professional centers of excellence escaped the epidemic of reservations and petty politics due to some great leaders. This small island of health in the decadent Indian polity is being targeted. These shall go to dogs in another five years. The other objective is more political, it gives multiple outputs. One by pleasing the larger so called backward communities in large numbers they can buy a vote bank, and two the Hindu consolidation process shall be destroyed for ever. If it was a love for the poor it could have been he economically poor who got the benefit of this generosity. No way.

Already caste wars are on and the same white brains are on work, what if the decisions are seemingly taken by people like Arjun Singh whose ancestors were Rajputs. Or that the Prime Minister who gives the shield for the coterie running India now is a great Sikh. It is a period in Indian history where the Prime Minister’s office is reduced to a dispatch section. The Sikhs whose sight even raises the images of valour and patriotism in India have a wrong role model in this graceful but weak Sikh. But then deeper processes are not visible to the career politicians, they are not intelligent enough to do that. They are simple people who love some luxuries like palatial mansions, some money and power. Are willing accomplices in the game, whatever happens to India is not their concern. Wars of the modern era are fought in the minds, reservation is more potent than nuclear bombs, but these explode slowly, silently, and shall kill India. It is time for every true Indian to stand up and say no, or perish.

Latest reports coming from the capital talk about very unhealthy trends. Not that it was different this far, there is a discernible lack of collective responsibility. Where symptoms of oligarchic tendencies, various lobbies trying to pull the ship to their own destinations, have caused enough damage. What the Communist Party of India (Marxist) decided, about who should contest and who not, had to be compromised in full public glare. What is unheard of in the history of the Party. What now happens, like Ministries being captured as some media reports tell, is dumping all sense of collective responsibility and decision making. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs and sends a wrong message. Pulls and pushes in democratic polity are usual but for a cadre based Party this is unforgivable.

Kerala is sitting on a precipice, there are serious problems ailing the society. It is a state blown apart by hurricanes of suicides, where the economy has been torn apart after the flooding of international remittances, where the core agriculture base is almost dead, traditional sectors that people survived are ruined. And the people are looking for solutions not dramas. In such a state when the people give a mandate to a new front, pinning their hopes on the leadership, this kind of irresponsible behaviour is painful. This is no time to settle scores. But the heroes in this game are beating the comic shows on popular television channels. It seems taken straight out of stories on banana republics where tin-pot dictators reign.

Everyone knows that the so called Ministers in democratic governments in India, Kerala being no exception, are not know-alls. Infact journalists who cover the government departments hear hilarious stories of ill-informed Ministers with bloated egos being fooled by secretaries. That is an area not many write about. Just out of sympathy for the poor souls, not to disturb the system. But when the same people try to show off being capable of running every ministry, from IT to Health and Water Resources, as if these are like running 'petti kadas' it is a tragedy. For every one to go after silly media created feelings, like that of being stripped is plain naivette. They are becoming sitting ducks for shrewd media. They are stooping to be low rate politicians from what they are expected to be, statesmen.

The CPI(M) and its coalition partners are now with a mandate to run a state. The early indications are not giving a feeling of good governance, news briefings talked about 'no more stree peedanam' and such other stuff. What was expected was constructive programmes for the state. This is no soap opera where the hero and the villains clash, take revenge. Obviously the initial press briefings did not have the home work expected, no support from the Party. Now for a people who gave a big verdict this cannot be looked at with fun. CPI(M) has some of the best experts in each field and the people expect that their services be made use of. That they deliver quality governance. This is no tug of war between politicians, some of whom, as it seems, perhaps get advises from street corner experts.

As a matter affecting the state and its people it has to be said that the goings on need immediate correction. This is no street play to test who acts best and who less. It is to affect the destiny of a people. Post-colonial electoral democracy may have weaknesses and may need total changes, but that is not immediately possible. What is now there ought to be creatively used. The Party can have expert panels to advise each minister, whether there is constitutional provision or not these can be innovated. Let the Ministers show humility and own up their abilities in running a ministry. Let them not parade themselves as super heroes, they are subject illiterate in most cases. Stop fighting over how many ministries each one has. Will some of these ministers even understand what is happening in their ministries is a question, modern day governance is no joke. Fancy ministerial houses and police escorts looks nice. But good governance is a different matter. How many qualify for that.

Already wrong messages have been send, making the new ministry a laughing stock of sorts. The allocation of ministries do not seem to address the long overdue allegations. Thus the minority hold on the education ministry, which has created a lot of bad blood, continues to be under a minority community minister. Even if it is a person with impeccable integrity the message is clear. The big sharks in the education sector have succeeded again. Now there is no point in keeping caste and community hidden. Every decision in the state is taken based on that, but there is a startegy of hiding it, not talking about it as if it is obscene. No more of that, let the truth be said. Whatever the price.

A comrade with hidden caste agenda is far worse than a community leader who talks out. Let that reality be accepted, enough damage has been done. There are many wolves going around in sheep skin. Many leaders have been smoked out to a graceful retreat. The street smart ones make the kill, and the better ones leave without any fuss. In the labyrinths of power there are stories after stories of people victimised only because they belong to a community or another. Hence there is no point in wearing masks. Let the facts be known, gruesome tales come out. Because some of them are very good in acting plays doesn't mean that the truth is not known. Kerala now needs a futuristic and professional team, if possible young and dynamic, to steer herself clear from the muddle created by a mafia rule. People of courage and calibre not swayed by funny media stories. Concrete action plans in each sector and mile stones in implementing them. The Party has to be pro-active. And no more dramas please.

( A response note posted afterwards. Especially to those who wrote in to delete this blog after it appeared. It was written to pre-empt a trend in the new governmnet that would have been damaging later. It was felt desirable to speak out than keep in mind, which can become more damaging. This site and network, as can be seen from archives, ran a major campaign to see sanity return in Kerala. It was not meant to damage but to keep the sense of fairplay in balance. What is inevitable for future governance. However we regret if it has hurt anyone, it was the view of the nairsorg team and can in no way be generalised. Ed. Posted June 01, 2006)

Half a century is no time in history. For Kerala and India trying to find her feet after the period of British colonization there is a bit of confusion. There are hang overs and left overs from the British times. Myths that the clever British popularized with ulterior moties survive just as their institutions. ‘Savarna peedanam’ was a major psychological weapon that they invented to effectively neutralize the leading communities. In Kerala it was mainly the martial nobility Nayars, the Brahmins and others are insignificant numbers. Ornate stories were woven and widely spread making the ‘savarnas’ responsible for all the ills of the society, as if the creator Brahma himself was below them. For the leading communities gave them sleepless nights in their attempts to enslave a country. But despite that they could not succeed in making India, Kerala, an America where the native Amerindians were butchered and reduced to museum pieces. There were social divisions in India is true what was there in every country. When caste distinctions were there in India there was extensive slave trade in Europe. But using 'savarna peedanam' huge populations were converted by the colonisers to their faith, Christianity, and made alies. Many others were cultivated with various soaps and the local people made to fight each other. In Kerala the focus invariably was their arch enemies the warring Nayars. But the British also had a sense of nobility and the barriers were never breached. But things got worse after the British left, the clever local groups began using it to their own advantage, how reservations in that name started, prolonged for ever. The new plotters want the old leading communities enslaved, made beggars. The inner fights that ensued saw India remain divided, another British ploy working to this day.

With the new government in Kerala taking charge, where a Hindu consolidation did help them, there is a new tilt. Those who wanted to celebrate the victory stand disillusioned. For, the Chief Minister claims to be an ‘avarna’ and the message passed on is that it was an ‘avarna’ upraising. The Ezhava community leadership had jumped in at the last moment offering support to the Left Democratic Front and are now the god fathers of the win. The official Nayar leadership in deep sleep there is an anomolous situation emerging. That the majority people of Kerala, majority of the Hindu population, the conscientious from other communities, realized the folly of ‘pinnakka – noonapaksham’ alignments and the undue advantages taken by the minorities from the divided majority community is forgotten. How the Left Democratic Front government came to power. The new Chief Minister, brought to the chair with some amount of muscle tactics, is presenting himself as an ‘avarna’ Chief Minister. Even the communist party media parroting this theme. It is transparent to all that this is a clever ploy of those trying to make use of the ‘savarna – avarna’ duality promoted by the British. Being used again for selfish motives of some groups. All the good work done by the Chief Minister designate himself and all the goodwill the Hindu consolidation attempt gained are being wasted. Perhaps it is an evil design remote controlled by some one. The wider issues of the state are side lined.

Going back everyone knows that the truly disadvantaged did not gain anything from the savarna – avarna, pinnakka – noonapaksham rhetoric. When some of them gained considerably by creating this lobby. For the Communists now trapped in strong caste wars they forget the early days of Communism when it was the so called ‘savarnas’ who were in the fore-front, those who went by lofty humanistic values. Many of them who gave all their wealth to the party died starving was the poignant climax to a dream. But the way things are drifting now is visible with the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister being paraded after the elections. The trend was visible from some time before though. The graceful leaders are being smoked out cleverly in the Communist parties is being watched by the people. In this the Communist Party of India (CPI) has come to have some petty minded leaders who penalize others just because they are born ‘savarna’. The very same people who helped them climb up the ladder being dumped. It is a kind of negative apartheid that they are now promoting. But then yes, half a century is no big time. The focus ought to be there, also on how the post-colonial systems can be done away with or corrected.

In the game of musical chairs once again people of Kerala have voted out a government and installed a new one. What has been repeating every five years after independence. It is a hope that will last for a couple of years after which general frustration sets in. A state leading in suicides has lost hopes. Colonial systems pollute the most trustworthy people. The sense of relief as the outgoing government had become far too obsessed with sectarian minority interests, the process of governance becoming a tool for appropriating what is considered common resource of the state is eclipsed. It is primarily the sense of injustice that gave the new government an overwhelming mandate. Where the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as the leading political force that drives the new coalition, has a big responsibility. Especially the leadership that goes by broader humanistic values who need to take bold decisions and not get swayed by the new street mafias. Message of a strong administration has to be send out, no knee jerk responses. They cannot be bowing down to the new media muscle some of them use. The Party, within the limitations of electoral democracy, what in theory caters to the majority views, is required to fulfill many dreams. Individuals are not important but they can do it only through individuals. Why selecting those with dignity, competence and who convey a sense of fair play are important.

Nobody expects the new Communist government to form communes or bring proletariat revolution in Kerala. The sensible people of Kerala know the limitations of a state within the federal democratic set up. And most of them, barring few, are career politicians who run the show under various political formations, having common features and there is not much difference of quality, Communist or non-Communist. With the post-colonial state apparatus and its baggage of colonial ceremonies and institutions the central thrust for politicians now is the lure of power, money and fame. What best can be made out of it is the only question. From appointing a few people as personal assistants to capturing the juicy posts and contracts remains the objective. Those who aim at the chair are not necessarily the best people out there. But both the Communist parties now have mostly this breed. How best to make use of the leverage to suit their interests, also that of what they consider their own people, is the motto. In a state where the undercurrents of caste and religion play decisive roles, but seldom talked about in public, the best actors get the prize. No wonder the new Chief Minister, chosen with political pressure rather than consensus, is the epitome of crude theatrics. Despite his known stands against public offences as opposition man the way he promotes himself as the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister only shows the deep lying mindset. Thus the new government sends out disturbing signals of partisanship together with new hopes. But then eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

It is an unfortunate trend and the party newspaper itself parroting the language. That it was a myth cultivated by the colonial British to neutralize the opposing communities is forgotten. That there are more ‘savarna’ peons now who seldom sit with the ‘avarna’ chairmen at dining tables, are untouchables, is cleverly hidden. The social hierarchies and distancing exists universally in every period and this happens even between relatives. But the ‘savarna’ stick is freely used. That the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister designate enjoys the best of comforts and that his wards are in choice posts in state government, inserted through the back doors, does not seem to bother him. It is a clever device used to gain upper hand. The 'savarna peedanam' myth repeated through years, by the clever media and institutions like education, has made it something which cannot be denied. The blinded victims themselves accepting it without question now. Thus the neo-rich who enjoy all the fruits of power and who treat the underdog with contempt wear a façade of being the champions of the poor and out castes.

The rhetoric of ‘savarna’ and ‘avarna’ becomes a tool to play politics and for the smarter ones to have the choice meat. It is interesting that the pre-election campaigns saw the common Hindu card being played covertly and overtly but the post-election scene sees the ‘savarna’ and ‘avarna’ duality. Though expected, taking cues from history, it appearing so suddenly is alarming. What is to create further rift among the Hindu communities in the state, already hunted down. Though there are responsible leaders who dissuade the practice among all communities a minority uses this with gusto. The so called proponents of the ‘avarna’ myth who made a kill using that name, but not very kind to the real ‘avarnas’, if they really exist, are once again at the doors waiting for the big meal. Don’t ask them what historical contribution they made to defend this land and its people, don’t also ask them how many chavers among them spilt blood in protecting this land. What were they doing when the country was being subjugated by external forces. But now that they have freedom they want to have the cake and undo those who paid the big price.

The term ‘savarna’ comes handy and the shocked people who sacrificed everything at every historical crisis are shamed in to the exploiter label. Driven to self destruction. They forget that their fate would not have been different from that of the American Indians if the ‘savarnas’ did not take to the sword. Cultivated by the colonial British these myths and the people who benefited from that are once again taking out the ugly weapon. Hearing all the jargon if some one thinks that these saviors of the ‘avarnas’ are living in hutments and are weaklings they cannot be faulted. The real poor and marginalized get used just as the others. Thus the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister in his palatial mansion with all his wards enjoying the undue pleasures of power is paraded as the victim of ‘savarna’ persecution. It is a clever psychological device to cut to size a community. Trap them in guilt and hoodwink the under privileged sections that they can enjoy unlimited pleasures. What has been used in Kerala with great success in the post-colonial era. The secret wish is to reduce them to underdog status and rule over, a kind of perverted jealousy. But elephants even if thinned do not become cattle or vice versa.

Despite all claims it is not an equitable society that the proponents of the ‘avarna’ theory are aiming at, the dalit Christians are standing testimonies. Palaces of those who converted them and got the price from abroad can be seen lining the roads in Kottayam Thiruvalla area when the dalits are back in their shanties. A classic case of those who knew where this psychological device can be used for own individual and community benefits. Yes, they are no more able to sell the big lie of ‘pinnakka – noonapaksha peedanam’ though there are a few who still parrot the phrase. But the damage is done and the Hindu community as a whole is sinking in the crisis they unleashed by demoralizing the leading communities. Forget that the ‘avarna’ leaders are going around in their fancy cars and living in all splendour. Mainly fooling the dalits and tribals whom the ‘pinnakka – noopakshams’ cleverly used, many of them thrown out from their homes and their property captured. It is a trump card which rich ‘noonapakshams’ are no more able to use, stark reality is exposed. But the rich ‘pinnakkas’ are trying to use it still, hoping that they can extract some more juice. It was a weapon that worked to great results as they know and a graceful people watched the silent war.

The imposed logic is simple, if some one is poor it is because of the ‘savarnas’, if the tribals are in the forests it is the ‘savarnas’ who send them there. There is no god, fate or natural processes but the ‘savarnas’ are the deciding authority. Suffice to say that it is a grace that those continuing to play the ‘avarna’ card and taking undue advantage at the cost of others are not telling more, attributing the charge of other happenings in the world also to 'savarnas'. With a secret wish to be in that role. The clever tool of ‘savarna’ persecution invented by the colonial British to cultivate pro-British populations in India, is now being used by many lobbies. Reservations for those without any merit dilute all sectors of life, affecting each and every one. A kind of persecution complex is injected to new generations of various communities, making them sub-human. The Christian propaganda machinery has stopped doing it as they are far too rich now and feel ashamed to tell the old story of ‘savarna’ janmies. Those who killed and died for freedom have been painted black by the colonisers is understandable, even those who openly allied with them. But for the people who were protected, to use the same argument is the height of treachery. A graceful and noble people may not react immediately, but they know the deceit and the vulpine urges.

Most of them are also unable to differentiate who the enemies are and who the friends. The noise created by the media is such, naive people are hypnotised and driven like sheep. But they are watching the attacks silently, amused , knowing fully well that electoral politics in a post-colonial society has its own game plans. The majority saner population is also watching the games and waiting, seeing the big lies being cleverly used to great advantage by some. Enjoying the theatrical performances of dull witted and self-seeker politicians. For the Communist Party it is a tragedy as its list of founders in Kerala includes many ‘savarnas’ who donated all their property and life itself to the communist party with great hopes of a equitable order, few of them died starving. Lumpen elements capturinmg the Party. It was they who helped the ‘avarna’ comrades climb up the ladder. What is unique to Kerala, what did not happen even just across the borders, in Tamilnadu where the ‘savarnas’ there still gives tea to ‘avarnas’ in a coconut shell at many places. So it is to be watched whether it is an ‘avarna’ Chief Minister as they claim, more than a communist Chief Minister, in the chair. Where the masses elect their leaders based on various immediate reasons there is potential, to damage a mauled up state further. The other option is for the Communist government to work for a better state, undo the damages done, gain everyone's confidence.