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FAILURE OF GOVERNING
CLASS
Third, in most of the
cases when a task came before the governing class of the society that
includes bureaucracy and politicians, mismanagement, failures and
deceptions are the outcome. The bureaucratic managers have failed to
mange the surplus food production and millions of tons of food produced
have gone waste. Our governing class lost across the table whatever was
gained by our jawans in the battlefields. A vast majority of the
people of India has contributed their bit for the growth and development
of the country during last fifty-five years of independence. A minuscule
minority comprising the political class, bureaucracy, intelligentsia and
the media have let the country down.
The tragic fact is
that despite India being a democratic polity, a small minority of the
elite controls the destiny of the nation. The intellectual community was
expected to perform as a link between the vast majority of patriotic and
duty conscious citizens and the governing class. They were supposed to
keep a watch and provide policy and action options without prejudice.
But what did they do? They lost their moorings and became a part of the
governing class and diverted their intellect for perpetuation of the
exploitative and self-serving elite class. Whereas kisans,
jawans and scientists have more than met the challenges of nation
building the intelligentsia along with politicians and bureaucrats have
miserably failed to deliver the goods.
ALTERNATE ACTION PLAN
The best proof of the
contentions made above is the manner in which the country has managed
the problem of Hindu-Muslim relations. Independent India inherited the
problem of disharmonious relationships between Hindus and Muslims.
Amongst many other major problems communal disharmony was a serious
issue before the nation after independence. There were certain inherited
realities and solutions were to be found within those parameters. The
managers of free India have not only miserably failed to solve this
problem but like a patient being treated by a quack the ailment
progressively became aggravated largely because of the wrong medication.
Is not the continuation of communal tensions between two major
communities of the country an adverse comment on the performance of our
governing class? The answer is a big YES.
The inhuman burning
of the Indian citizens traveling in a train at Godhra in the morning of
February 27, 2002 and whatever followed in
Gujarat and elsewhere is an evidence of the mismanagement of the
communal divide between two major communities of the country. The
political class having made appropriate noises to please their
respective constituencies will to back to its Kumbhkarani sleep
to be woken up only when another carnage takes place. When a physician
fails to cure certain ailment he looks for an alternative action plan
and even takes a second opinion.
INDEPENDENT
PROFESSIONALS
But do our thinkers,
planners and implementers ever sit back and ponder over their failures?
They sing the same songs with perhaps new music. Instead of looking for
their own failures they once again refuse to see the reality and
selectively isolate the data to prove their own, many times repeated and
widely known viewpoints. They are blind to their skewed perceptions.
They are either unaware or willfully remaining unaware of the need for
an alternate course of action.
It was in this
backdrop that the Council for International Affairs and Human Rights
decided to depute a Study Team of conscious and independent
professionals to conduct a field study in Godhra and other areas
affected by sectarian violence. The team comprised:
1.
Justice
D.S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice: Calcutta High Court and Punjab and
Haryana High Court
2.
Dr.
J.C.Batra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
3.
Dr.
Krishan Singh, Academician
4.
Shri
Jawahar Lal Kaul, Veteran Journalist
5.
Prof.
B.K.Kuthiala, Dean Faculty of Media Studies, G J University, Hisar
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