Years of Non-governance

We had gained our independence after sacrificing a great deal and had come to believe that independence was going to be the panacea for all our ills. Nehru talked about the “commanding heights of economy”, and set about the task of governing the nation. Mixed economy, land reforms, improving the lot of the economically weak and of those belonging to schedule castes and schedule tribes, establishment of an egalitarian society, abolition of zamindari system and providing dignity and respectability to women were some of the lofty and avowed aims and objectives of the government. 

Nehru began his long innings with a special thrust on industrial and technological advancement. But his problem was he wanted to achieve Indian goals with British administrative set-up. The only discernible change was that Indian Civil Service (ICS) became Indian Administrative Service (IAS). An elderly person commented on this change by saying that “steel frame of ICS has been replaced by the wooden frame of IAS”. Zamindari has indeed been abolished. But the benefits have hardly flown to those who needed them most. Governance meant attending to the basic problems and delivering facilitating inputs. The basic problems had not only remained, they also grew rapidly because of the galloping increase in population. People were nevertheless willing to wait.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s intention to let India have benevolent dictatorship for ten years had fuelled scepticism about the system’s ability to deliver, because it undermined the need for the rigours of training and guidance before actually vesting powers to those who would ultimately rule. One could call it Netaji’s prescription for better governance. This presupposed that the Indians were not quite capable of governing themselves; and in order to make them ready for the task at hand, it was necessary to subject them to a brief dose of benevolent dictatorship. Was Netaji lending credence to what Winston Churchill had said in British Parliament about the ability of the Indians to govern themselves? Churchill had said, “Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and free booters. Not a bottle of water or a loaf of bread will be free and the blood of their hungry millions will be on the head of Attlee. These are the men of straw of whom no trace will be found after a few years. They will fight amongst themselves and India will be lost in political squabbles”. These are strong words and surely Netaji could not have been echoing them. But he expressed doubts just the same and the significance of benevolent dictatorship was not lost on anyone. One can understand the concerns of Netaji, but it was well nigh impossible for the leaders standing at the threshold of power to accept this prescription. Besides, time frames do not work in such situations. In the heat of moment, one may agree to a proposal. But when the actual moment of transition comes, dithering becomes a greater possibility as we have seen in the case of reservation policy. It was intended as a purely temporary measure not lasting more than ten years. The monster has not only continued for fifty years, it is there to perpetuate itself. It has already acquired the proportions of a national goitre. Similarly, the special status to Jammu and Kashmir by way of Article 370 was intended to be a temporary measure, but has continued till date and maybe will continue for ever. Whether or not one agrees, these twin policies have done immense harm to the nation. Some individuals may have benefited here and there. But the nation as a whole had to pay and is still paying a heavy price for this.