OPINION: Baba Anna Hazare’s victory, the Constitution’s defeat

source:Barun Roy
THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE]

BY DARJ MAN

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi “the Mahatma” – the father of the nation, delivered India independence on August 15, 1947. Immediately thereafter Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, “Chacha” and his progeny Indira Gandhi, the daughter and eventually her son, the grandson Rajiv Gandhi finally took over the reigns of the Govt. as a matter of family dynastic convention under which traditionally India had survived historically past hundreds of years immediately before British event of rule around 1600. This is to say, India has been under a system perceived close to feudalism near resembling monarchy, autocratic and aristocratic, peculiar to medieval Europe. This was a destiny predicated to the Indian evolutionary historical ethos. It has been the traditional historical content of the Indian subcontinent which since time again was impacted to convenience a foreign rule, as all attempts to any formation of federal rule was somehow symbolically delayed by the inherent implications and results of internecine warfare creating divisions within the already diverse composition of society. These happenings are so true for smaller nations of the world having their own evolution history but the same rule applied to the subcontinent of India, which is infact larger than most of Europe combined, had been a factor for claiming India’s fame of the paradigm of virtue in expressing India’s unity in diversity.

This is a accolade worth mention to the greater glory of the Indian nation but at the same time in its antithesis is implied the downgrading of the Indian national ethos, the administration of which past 64 years of independence, is yet to bring about a semblance of socio-economic and political order exemplified by the modern capitalistic order. This is not to mention the Republic of China’s success with a tryst of a marriage between partnership of communistic capitalism or vice versa in bringing about a miraculous economic formula escalating to the pinnacle of success, while at the same time the forbearers of capitalistic economies are facing a traumatic slide down despite their earlier success.
“Baba” Anna Hazare, having climbed up the social ladder, from an ordinary driver’s post in the Indian army, having retired after 15 years of dedicated service, to have achieved his present position as one of the greatest of social reformers after Mahatma Gandhi, Vinobha Bhave and Jai Prakash Narayan of recent times is the story of India being retold once again. While the American dream ushers in materialistic propensities of socio-economic and nationalistic polity on one side, India more than often has been reinstated to the path of its political destination, not by eminent personages, but instead by the spiritually guided down to earth by holistic humanism. Baba Hazare has used the age old tool of peaceful non-violence in attempting positivism to a negative aspect, a powerful natural logic propagated by none other than the one piece loin cloth dressed Gandhi perceived to have been propounding the fundamentals of vedantic (veda anta – post vedic) and puranic synthesis arriving at the dialectical philosophy of Buddhism.

On reading the history of India it is given to understand Buddhism was rooted out from the bode of its birth. This claim if properly analysed will fall short of its thesis for the simple reason, an aspect of Mahayanistic formulations came to an end in India but survived in its various contents in most of the countries where its practice still reigns supreme. In other words Buddhism brought about the advent of reforming the Brahmanical social religious content to a full circle in allowing it to grow further into the true aspects of the evolving conditions of the Indian ethos. The prevalence of the Bhagwad Gita into the background of the Mahabharata epic is itself an acclaim to this perspection in mind. The philosophy of Gita predominantly acknowledges the materialistic philosophy of Buddhism. The consideration and importance of the present reality and its logical explanation in confirmation to the now or never, however delegating the concept of soul and god to the select few affording time for the subject’s deliberation and enquiry. The path of the elders was the style of the Theravada. This aspect maybe compared to Adi Shankaracharya’s pronouncement in the nihilistic doctrine of Sankya philosophy governing the country’s religion of the times. Strangely history relates he was assassinated in Nepal, the very seat of Tantric Mahayanistic power. This is paradoxical when considering firstly and primarily that the Sankya philosophy and Hinayana path more or less form the same part of the whole, whether one calls it Hinduism or Buddhism. Secondly, the very act of violence to the incident is a cause of concern to derive that the assassination was outside the fold of Buddhistic precepts.

It is this Indo Buddhistic approach seen in Baba Anna Hazare’s which incidentally is significantly important in displaying a holistic approach to a dialectical materialistic resolution, with the Constitution on one side and the vox populi, if at all it may be called so, of the people demanding transparency in justice on the other. Whatever the future holds in this bizarre endeavour, history will unfold it in script in time. However, what is of critical importance at this moment of time is the peoples voice ruled supreme while containing acts of defiance by the institutions of the Constitution. The entire episode is a blot on the character of nationalism which is being reasserted in the breakdown of constitutional law, which it is hoped will not be repeated again. This will not bode well for the country and the people. The question will always hang in the peoples psyche is, if an ex-army driver has the integrity and perseverance to bypass the Constitution, what in the future will be the fate in store, if ex- railway drivers, pilots, captain of ships eventually take over the act in personating Baba Anna Hazare.