Bikash Choudhury
If we travel back
in History for little over five hundred years in time then one would have experienced
‘0’ wave where India was peaking in
economically and politically. India
was also a maritime power enforcing and influencing the sea lanes of those
times. Indian organic Agriculture was highly productive and our principal
exports were Food, Agro and Forest products.
Apparently, those times Indian rulers were contended economically and believed
in peaceful co-existence. However, this did not last long. Soon they were over
powered by greed to accumulate land mass and consolidate political power for
their legacy; which, later prompted them to scheme one against another and many
times in collaboration with foreign/external forces who had designs to rule and
exploit the ‘Golden Goose’. Therefore, Europeans attempted to find the safe sea
route to India
and established trade successfully. Eventually, they became the rulers of India for over
three centuries. Wave Zero contained the seed of economic and political decline
in the shape of Political Disunity among then Indian rulers. As time would have
it; shrewd Europeans captured the opportunity impeccably.
Centuries later, our Independence movement took shape which
remained largely peaceful with few exceptional violent acts in between that contained
the “Wave-1”. That saw great leaders emerge out of the same British education
system; however, led Indian men towards complete freedom and Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi a non-resident Indian took the bull by the horn and
integrated disparate Indian people under his banner of ‘satyagraha’
which almost nearly achieved its objective of freedom; however, Lord
Mountbatten found to be a smarter operator with much better Idea from
colonizer’s point of view and ended up giving freedom to two parts of India
having many more divisions and sub-divisions the burden of which we carry even
to this day. Britishers clearly out witted Indian leaders in the charms offensive
and gave their final seal over freedom with partition in a combo offer which
Indian leaders could not refuse to accept. And, Gandhi courted death at the
hands of one of his own country men out of frustration and betrayal by his own
close followers. Therefore, first wave also ended up being a loser except the
limited liability of Independence
of a truncated Nation. Despite partition and bloodshed across the borders of India and Pakistan;
euphoria of being a free country took the people and their leaders by surprise.
However, India
was fortunate to have two immensely gifted leaders with towering personality
with diverse background and temperament; they come together in the larger
interest of their countrymen to give shape to fledging Nation and that became
“Wave-2”. Nehru and Patel managed to unite all the princely States behind
Indian Nationality; but, could not manage the affairs of Kashmir
having seen shrewd lawyer Mohamed Ali Jihnna from very close quarters.
Ironically, that has remained the “Achilles Heel” of India even today. But, during this
Wave-2 movement great Institutions were established; that took the
socio-economic-political life of this country a notch higher and serving the
Nation even today. No body could believe that a Statesman and a Global leader
of Nehru’s stature could make such a simple error of judgment with our
engagement with the Chinese and our North West Frontier Defense which rattled India and
finally took the life of Nehru who passed away a sad man.
“Jai Jawan and Jai Kisan” slogan started the “Wave-3”
which was later catapulted by Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her master stroke of
“Garibi Hatao” followed by discontinuation of Privy Purse of erstwhile Princely States, Nationalization of Commercial
Banks and liberation of Bangladesh.
However, Mrs. Gandhi did not help the cause of India by aligning too much with USSR and
imposing first and last emergency that suspended democratic rights of people.
Mrs. Gandhi was made to pay up for this very expensive mistake and she lost her
election to parliament while her party lost power at the centre. She did not
get the time to kiss and make up though she returned to power.
Rajiv Gandhi credited to have initiated the
“Wave-4” with his spotless Mr. Clean image and his visionary steps with
introduction of ICT in the country. The benefit of which is being reaped by
millions of young people today and they are able to own a house and a SUV
before clocking 30 years in their watch. Rajiv also started Ganga Action Plan,
Indira Gandhi National Open University and opened a forward looking foreign
policy with engagement on USA
and China
those served India
immensely little later. Rajiv was out witted by wily Politician J.Jayavardhane
of Sri Lanka and made to fend for himself; that expensive error of judgment finally
took his life in his prime. But, Bofors case was foisted on Rajiv by colonial
conspirators and some Congress Party & Bureaucratic insiders due to his
inexperience, lack of execution capability and skill to judge people;
fortunately, his better half gifted with such qualities and immense political
skill and maturity. Our only pouting leader in Narasingha Rao and Manmohan
Singh together brought the curtains to the 4th Wave with their
relentless pursuit of economic liberalization that managed to capture near
double digit growth and creation of jobs after a few years. “M’ae Atal Bhi Hoon ur Bhiharivi” those were
the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who managed to over throw the Hindu Rate of
growth with his two Iconic initiative of “Prime Minister Gramya Sadak Yojana
and Golden Quadrilateral Project” that enjoined our villages with four
metro cities and managed to substantially enhance the “Intensity of Human
Activity” that resulted in phenomenal economic growth after 2004. A
decade thereafter were a series of missed opportunities; Manmohan Singh, one of
the most economic literate prime minister drove a nail in the coffin of Indian
Economy during his decade long tenure with indecision and silence.
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