DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI
India, the sick man of the East, is in the most critical stage of its life. Although the disease has rightly, though partially, been identified, the diseased is not prepared for surgical treatment. That, to the observers, is not the tragedy. The tragedy is that the climate is not salubrious for the patient whose vital organs have already been eaten up by the virus.
The ailment is lack of sincerity, deficiency of truthfulness, drought of probity, paucity of life-giving higher moral values and honesty of purpose that ensures rather strengthens the will to live and overcome the insurmountable difficulties.
Lust for power, followed by struggle to retain it, greed and self aggrandizement have added to the problem in the form of fat on the skeleton of the patient who may collapse anytime.
Immunity developed over the decades by the system does not allow the known medicines to work.
NATIONAL TRAGEDY
What makes the national tragedy complete is lack of unanimity among the doctors and surgeons on the line of treatment. One of the said doctors is the social activist, Mr. Anna Hazare, whose sincerity is beyond question. But he too does not see deeper in the patient’s body. His sight stops at the crust of the wound.
As far as his motivated critics rather denunciators are concerned, they do not care to look at the wound at all. They suffer not from night blindness but from day blindness that is just sightlessness.
A few questions to prove the point: Had the situation been today what it is if the findings and recommendations of the Haldar Committee, set up in 1956, the Santhanam Committee, set up in 1964, the NIPP Committee, set up in 1970, and the Wanchoo Committee set up in 1971, been implemented in letter and spirit?
THE QUESTION
How the various governments at the Centre – the Congress rule has been the longest – would explain the horrendous fact that a Bill (Lokpal) to this effect has been hanging fire for over 42 years. Does it not show our netas’ calculated aversion to accountability?
Usually the tummies, so feel the cynics, of the moth are filled with the reports of the Estimate Committees, those of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the probe reports of communal riots. Otherwise how one can rationalise their tardy, selective implementation?
A common man cannot bring a dollar illegally from abroad. How and with whose cooperation was Indian money stashed abroad? Did a single head roll for the crime? It is estimated that between $500 billion and $1,400 billion till 2007 was stashed in foreign banks. Will these illegal doings vanish through stricter laws?
A swindler, a scamster, a murderer, a rapist, a professional false witness knows the consequences of what he should not do. IAS and IPS officers do what they should not. The judges, ministers, MLAs indulge in what they should not. A fake encounter specialist, while pulling the trigger, knows what would be the result of his doing. Can stricter laws alter the situation?
There are already quite effective laws like Prevention of Corruption Act, Evidence Act, Code of Criminal Procedure and various provisions of Criminal Code. The issue is their honest execution.
The root of this problem is the total control of the government over the CBI. Had that not been the case, the crime narrative would have been different. Even the creation of the CVC to supervise the CBI functioning has failed to bring shady politicians to justice.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, the government accedes to all the demands of Mr. Hazare – will that change the social ambience or political environment in favour of law-abiding citizens? Will the change transform the Harshad Mehtas and Abdul Rahman Telgis into sadhus and saints?
BANISHMENT OF GOD
Our learned Constitution makers – we are of the concerted view – failed to give sufficient thought to the consequences of banishing God from society. Today, nobody fears Him and indulges in all sorts of objectionable activities that bring disrepute to the Asian giant. We are No. 4 on the list of corrupt nations today.
It is not Him Who needs us. It is we who need Him the most today. It is fear of God, piety and the sense of accountability and responsibility in a person that can transform society.
Mr. Hazare ignored this important dimension of the issue.
What is surprising is the alleged shady doings in the office of the Prime Minister and Delhi’s Chief Minister. Now the government has, as a counter-measure, charged Mr. Hazare also with corruption. What makes the necessity of a stronger Lok Pal Bill covering the Prime Minister as well as the higher echelons of judiciary is this very trumped up argument against Mr. Hazare. And if so, let all the Hazares too face justice.
BEYOND COMMON SENSE
It is beyond common sense that a premier, a High Court or Supreme Court judge, can under no circumstances succumb to their baser instincts and become corrupt. Had Mr. Chandrashekhar, who allegedly distributed petrol pump licences among his near and dear ones like peanuts, a clean slate as a prime minister?
Is the image of Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao not sullied with suitcases full of notes through which he allegedly purchased majority in Parliament?
Instead of facing, isn’t Mr. Justice Dinakaran evading the music? If these are disturbing facts of our lives, why the Congress-led UPA government is shying away from accepting what should have been accepted much earlier?
Except his own honest admirers and professional yes-men, Dr. Manmohan Singh has no buyers of his inexplicable obduracy. The allies like Trinamul Congress, the DMK, the NCP and the National Conference are keeping a safe distance from the too vocal Congress. So are doing the Congress supporters like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal – all facing corruption charges in the courts are quiet on the issue.
SERIOUS MISTAKE
A serious mistake of the Congress in these circumstances is heaping evidenceless rubbish on Mr. Hazare. Some Congress spokespersons charge him with ties with the Right while the others accuse him of playing in the hands of the Left. A “foreign hand” too has been discovered by the Congress. The August 15 speech of the Prime Minister was devoid of substance. Observers feel “I have no magic wand” is no argument.
On the other hand, Mr. Hazare’s plank has caught the imagination of the nation. The Prime Minister appears to be fighting a losing battle. Would he find turning the searchlight inward?
One need not be a political pundit to conclude that the Congress may survive the current crisis, but it is going to lose power in the next elections over the issue.
However, this analysis should not divert our attention from the central point, the climate, the atmosphere, the ambience that plays the most effective role in a society’s health. India has no moral giants today. We have no ideal personalities and model personages. We live amidst either moral lepers or pygmies.
If we are serious about change, let us go to the root of the problem which is deliberate disbelief in God, deliberate disbelief in the Divine Prophets and deliberate disbelief in the Day of Judgement. There are three significant values that dramatically help transform a society. Just a few examples: It is half past midnight. Caliph Omar is busy in his office. A friend of his barges in and starts talking which has nothing to do with caliphate or state affairs. It is an exchange of pleasantries between two friends. The Caliph puts off the flame of the candle. The surprised friend asks: Why? The Caliph submits: “We are doing a friendly talk, which has nothing to do with state business.”
Once, a lady from a noble family of Madinah was caught stealing. The simple-minded thought that the Last Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) should be persuaded through any person close to him. However, the response of the enraged Prophet was: “If Muhammad’s daughter Fatima had committed this crime, her hand too would have been chopped off.”
TINY TOT & APPLE
Another example: A tiny tot of Omar bin Abdulaziz came into his office and picked up an apple. The Head of the State snatched it from the child’s hands who then went to his mother weeping and protested. When the Caliph returned home, the wife drew his attention to the complaint of the child. He coolly replied: “The apples belonged to the Bait-ul-maal (state exchequer). If you want an apple for our son, I am going to market to fetch one.”
Yet another instance: Omar bin Khattab was making rounds of the city as a part of night vigil. He heard the advice of a mother to her daughter. Mother: “Rise up daughter, rise up and add water to the milk.” Daughter: “Mom! It is a sin. The Ameer-ul-Momineen (leader of the faithful) has issued a proclamation that no one would adulterate milk. Mother (raising her voice): Where is Ameer-ul-Momineen here? Rise up, be quick and add water to the milk. Daughter: “Mom! Maybe the Ameer-ul-Momineen is not here, but Allah is very much here.”
More: The same second caliph whose height was above average was about to deliver his speech in the Masjid-e-Nabawi. Listen, he said. A Bedouin, perhaps raising his voice, reacted: “We will neither listen, nor obey till you explain to our satisfaction where from you got two sheets of cloth of which you are putting up this long shirt. One sheet of cloth had been given to us all from the state exchequer.
The Caliph coolly pointed out towards his son and submitted: “He would explain the point.”
The Caliph’s son stood up before the uneasy audience saying: “The sheet of cloth that he had received from the Bait-ul-maal was given to his father by him so that the Caliph could make his shirt.
The Bedouin questioner stood up and respectfully submitted: “Now we will listen to you and obey you.”
POINTED QUESTIONS
Can the so-called Lokpal Bill, as strong as possible, produce the daughter who had refused to add water to the milk?
Can the so-called Lokpal Bill produce an Omar who denied an apple, belonging to the Bait-ul-maal, to his tiny tot or one who put off the candle burning while he and his friend were exchanging pleasantries?
Let the plural nation seriously think in terms of believing in One God, the various Divine Prophets and the Last Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and the Day of Judgement. This formula will not only solve the problem of corruption in Bharat but will also ensure redemption of Bharat in the hereafter. The only condition is these beliefs should run in your blood.
We are just trying to show you the Right Path.
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