In an article published in Bhavan’s Journal in 1997 Nani Palkhivala had enumerated six fatal mistakes in the past fifty years which have brought the country to this sorry state:
First, our greatest initial mistake was to start with an adult franchise. No democracy has ever paid, all things considered, a heavier price from adult franchise than India. I am not aware of any great democracy which started as a republic on the basis of the adult franchise: all of them started with a more restricted system and then graduated to the adult franchise. Two of our greatest statesmen of earlier years were C Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. When the constituent Assembly was in session, both these stalwarts recommended that we should not start with the adult franchise but educate our people first to make them worthy of discharging their duties as citizens of a great democracy; but they were voted out.
The second fatal mistake was to let the population nearly treble, in the absence of any sensible or sound family planning measures and policies. Today the problem has become so acute that whatever gains we achieve on the economic front are negatived by the unbridled population growth.
Third, our most disastrous mistake was not to educate our burgeoning population and make them worthy of their right to vote. Value-based education has no political sex appeal. Our politicians gave the least importance to education, unlike Lee Kuan Yew who vowed to make education a priority of priorities in Singapore. To my mind, it is an unmitigated disgrace that in the Golden Jubilee Year of India’s independence, more than half of our population is literally illiterate.
The fourth major mistake of our central and state governments was to completely insulate the people from ancient culture and keep them totally ignorant of their priceless heritage which has never been equalled by any other country.
The fifth mistake, of which we have yet to face the consequences was not to inculcate among our people a sense of national identity. Indians find themselves totally rudderless, with the nagging question which will not go away- is India a collection of communities or is it a nation; or is India a state without a nation? The greatest curse of India is casteism – the scourage which has spread across the country more dangerously than the plague ever did.
The sixth and most unforgivable omission of politicians has been to let the people think that they are entitled to freedom without a sense of duty and responsibility. By definition, Indians lack discipline and a sense of national dedication. The reason why the Chinese, despite their huge population, are able to govern themselves admirably is that they have a sense of order and discipline.
Do we need Emergency to make us realize the paramount importance of discipline? Without such values, can we hope to transform India into a great nation?
