In the world of today’s socio-political mess it is quite natural that we remember our Father of nation Mahatma Gandhi who dedicated his whole life and family for the liberation of our motherland. A question to be asked by ourselves is, did the Mahatma fight for the country and its present mess we are in? The question can be juxtaposed in another way, is this country as it is now country of the Mahatma’s dream of a new India or Hindustan as we may call it. The answer would be absolutely No. As far as I know about the Mahatma from articles, his books, My experiments with truth and Hind Swaraj, I have come to realize that besides taking the positive aspects of the western science and technology the Mahatma did not see the western nations as his model of development. Development and progress does not mean running madly after material wealth just like the European nations but it also means all round development and moral peace which is presently absent from our country. Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of a modern and resurgent India whose real pillars would be the villages and not the skyscrapers of Mumbai or Delhi. That is the reason that scholars have been again and again stressing on the growing divide between India which lives in the metropolis and the Hindustan which lives in our remote villages bereft of the basic amenities like education and health. Actually, what has led to this sort of mess is the big question mark which should be answered by the intellectual as a whole and the politicians in particular on whom the onus of country’s progress depends irrespective of party affiliations. The Mahatma dreamt of a country whose base would be the village which should be self sufficient in terms of basic needs. That would be the ideal form of Gram Swaraaj, the village republic. The village panchayat would settle most of the petty matters thus unloading the civil and criminal courts. Actually, the root cause of the poverty of Indians are our legal system and health sector which squeeze the maximum resources of the common people. But alas, our successive governments failed to see this basic fault and did little to ameliorate the conditions of we Indians. It is rather an irony of fact that the Panchayat system which should have been strengthened by the Indian National Congress was for the first time in the Indian history democratically established by the Left Front government of West Bengal. This fact was accepted even by the Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It is a different matter that the Left Front government used the Panchayats for furthering their political ambitions and did not see the overall interests of the people as a whole. For them it was, party is the people and the people party. Thanks, Mamta Bannerjee is rectifying the mistakes of our comrades. The late Rajiv Gandhi had tried to strengthen the Panchayat system but his party did not share the same zeal of their leader. For them Rajiv Gandhi was at best vote catcher and a means to climb up the ladder of power. The majority of his party leaders were power seekers and till today they are as is evident from the smouldering scams coming out one by one. So, I would say that the time has arrived that the top leadership of every political party ponder over the party affairs and begin to restructure the organistion on a strong and solid ideological base. The new India demands a new Congress with a thorough change which can face the ever growing challenges of the country. Rahul Gandhi has begun well by interacting with the mass of the people but this should not be limited to bolstering his personal image only but should be the cornerstone of the whole party. I remember that the Mahatma after independence had once told that the role of the Congress is over and it should be dissolved. Instead. In its place Lok Sevak Sangh be set up which shall work for strengthening the democratic institutions of the country. Moreover. he had realized the the ambitions of the power hungry politicians in the party and so he wanted to put check on it. But his advice went unheeded and for the next nearly forty years the Congress ruled a monolithic polity without a strong opposition party till the formation of Janata Party in 1977. We should not forget the history otherwise the history will forget us. Today, not only the Congress but almost all political parties are reserved for the rich and affluent. They seldom bring in educated and enlightened people in their fold. Neither the top leadership demands such things. Just remember that the Indian National Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi opened its organization to the common folk who could at least afford 25 paise. See the vast difference and hence is the mess. The country cannot be changed by sitting in the capital cities but the politicians should go to the villages where the actual rot lies. The real change can be ushered from there, the Gram Swaraaj of the great Mahatma.
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