People's Power Shall Prevails

PEOPLE'S POWER is to be seen to be believed. Individually the meek Manmohan type of citizens wield no power. Collectively they are a force to reckon with. The unarmed mass of men and women are known to have subdued armed to teeth imperial armies of mighty empires. What is it that empowers ordinary citizens? It is the unity that forges individuals into a mass with a common goal for the good of one and all. Unity is strength, so goes an old saying.

SANGHE SHAKTI

The above words in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India that is spoken today too, means that united we stand but divided we fall. The People have risen from slumber all  over the word. Right from WUKAN in southern China through India, Africa, Middle-East, European Russia to New York Wall Street in the New World, the People are up in arms holding peaceful demonstrations and displacing corrupt rich and vested interests from places of power. In many cases they have been successful but in an odd case the old demons have stuck to their guns and refused to budge. By and large, the People have been successful in displacing the corrupt criminals from seats of authority but in a case here or in another case there, People have failed to effect a peaceful transfer of power.

It is unbelievable but true that in a monolithic society like the Communist China, there have been180,000 mass outbursts of public protests in the year 2010-2011.Economic frustration fuels mass protests. Justice delayed is justice denied In the Chinese legal system cases both civil and criminal are unduly delayed for one reason or the other. Common Man feels upset and has no option but to join the nearest mass protest rally.

Spasm of social turmoil in China has become increasingly common. It is seen by social scientist as a piece of evidence of widening income gap between the rich and the poor. The population of coastal areas is comparatively well off and that of the north-west mountainous regions is living on edges. Of course, it is true that no Chinese citizen goes to bed hungry but it is equally true that what they wear or the type of houses they live in reveals more and hides less about their economic standing in the Communist society that boasts of an egalitarian State policy in social and economic matters.

Corruption is a common factor between India and China. Perhaps this is one field where India excels. An average citizen in China is angry that his farm land is confiscated by the State and later sold to builders by the local Chinese Communist Party officials at exorbitant prices. Part of the sale proceeds is passed on to the official who facilitated the sale and transfer of property from private farmers to private builders with the State as a just stop over junction. When many cases of this nature accumulate, the anger of the people bursts in the open, demonstrations held, communist party officials fired and farmers are compensated Thus People’s Power plays a role at the village level too.

Once an official tried to corner a bar maid and rape her. She resisted and killed the official with a kitchen knife. Law Enforcement officials put her in jail but mass protests forced the local authorities to release her from prison within two months. She was honoured by the People as a Hero who displayed chivalry in killing a potential rapist. The People’s Power was manifest in the episode.

We may recall here the true story of ordinary women of a Nagpur suburb where a goon used to harass and molest young women of the locality off and on. They jointly decided to confront him and when arguments led to a scuffle, the women killed him with ordinary kitchen implements, roller pins, and what have you. The case was still born because of lack of evidence. Thereafter, the harassment of young women of the locality stopped completely It was People’s Power sans legal sanction.

If the State or its main organ, the government fails to redress the grievances of the people for a long time, people have notion but to take law into their own hands. The unresponsive legal system and corrupt system of governance fuel people’s anger that in turn empowers them. One may speculate that if Afzal Guru is not hanged in the near future, people may stage a jail break and lynch the criminal themselves. On 13 Dec 11 the people in power saw the anger of the widows of the martyrs of that attack on Parliament. The writing is on the wall. Those who do not read it will be attending their own funeral soon.

PEOPLE’S POWER IN INDIA

The ancient Ganrajya inspired by the Vedas were a perfect model of democracy. It was in fact a government run democratically by the people, for the people and of the people. The Mantra exhorted the Nagriks to be together through thick and thin. The mantra is:

“Sangachchdhwam Samwadadhwam Samvo Manasi Jantam

Devabhagam Yatha Purve Sanjanana Upasate.”

The tradition was passed on from generation to generation and the Samaj or the social order was run well. In the Ramayan period of history, Maryada Purshottam Shri Ram trained an army of Vanaras and jungle bears to fight against the Demons of Rakshas Raj Ravana. Here is a perfect example of common man being trained to measure swords with a well armed and better equipped army of Lanka Pati.

The mother of all wars was fought for eighteen days and named Mahabharat. The common man was keen on receiving training in the art of warfare that was denied to them by the Kshatriyas and others of the royalty. Eklavya is a shining example of this kind of class struggle and People rising to gain power on their own. The common folks had fought a revenge battle against Arjun after the sad demise of Yogeshwar Shri Krishna and plundered his entourage. It was People’s Power against the State power where the People carried the day.

SPIRITUAL SPHERE

In India, that is Bharat, one should look for the soul of the society in the spiritual sphere. The primary source of Spiritualism has been the Veda. It is the belief of votaries of the Vedic Dharm that Ishwar revealed the Veda right at the beginning of the Creation for the guidance of the entire humanity without any discrimination. Vedas are for all irrespective of caste, creed, region or religion. However, some vested interests of the Brahmin class monopolised the Veda and did not allow men and women of other castes to read the Vedic hymns and meditate on them Then came the Vedic Renaissance in the 19^th century and a Rishi named Swami Dayanand Saraswati brought the Vedas out of the closet, translated them into the lingua franca of the commoners. Above all, he cited the Vedic hymns to prove that men and women of all castes and creed were permitted by the Almighty to read the hymns and be benefitted Women were permitted for the first time after the Vedic Age to be even priestess and preside over the Havan and Sanskar ceremonies. Indeed this was the empowerment of the underprivileged and untouchables and above all of Women. The power in the realm of religion was passed on to women and the socially ignored classes. It was real People’s Power in Spiritualism.

The wave of Empowerment of Women of all classes has swept across barriers of religious and social conservatism. The Muslim women demanded and received the right of going inside mosques, a male preserve heretofore, to say prayers. This privilege is enforceable among the enlightened population only. The Christian women pressed for and acquired the right of vote in the conservative European societies.

POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT OF PEOPLE

In modern India the political empowerment of rural folks, farmers, artisans, men and women of ignored classes became a possibility with the advent of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on the political firmament. He burst on the `British Raj that stood for the classes and not the masses. Gandhiji’s simple techniques like the Satyagrah, the Non-cooperation and civil disobedience movements awakened the illiterate folks and shook the mighty British Empire. The Salt Satyagrah, the Quit India movement sounded the beginning of the end of the Raj in India. Truth, Non-violence, unity of all communities, awakening of sense of pride in self and own country were Mantras so powerful and effective that guns and roses, carrot and stick  policies of consummate political pundits of the Empire found themselves powerless. The People’s Power prevailed eventually.

Anna Hazare walks away with the cake as a motivator of the masses. Swami Ramdev Ji, Sri Sri Ravi  Shankar Ji and the 74- year old war horse Anna Hazare have influenced the masses to such an extent that their word is law for them It is their selfless service and opposition to corruption that shook the Manmohan government and it is bending backwards  to accommodate their wish for installing a  strong  Lokpal to checkmate  corruption rampant  among the ministers of the government, the bureaucracy, the Police, the investigative agencies and what have you. The common man hopes and prays that the patriotic trio bring about a corruption free India and empower the common man through Gram Sabhas.

Power to People – that is the ultimate aim of all movements across the world. Be it the African-American movement for Civil Rights and their assertiveness for winning the right of participation in political process at all levels or the Arab Spring or the agitations for freedom of thought and expression across the Latin America, they have won battles against heavy odds by adopting the strategy of Truth and Non-Violence. Barrack Obama could make it to the White House not only by singing WE SHALL OVERCOME but by making sacrifices where needed for the future of their children and children’s children. Peaceful Revolutions are a fact of life that can be achieved in one’s life time   and many people have reaped the harvest of what they had sown. One may solemnly say that the direction of the wind indicates that People’s Power is not a myth or a mirage but a Reality.

By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM

UPVAN  609,  Sector 29,  Noida – 201303  INDIA. 

Email :  upvanom@yahoo.com or sawantg.chitranjan@gmailcom