In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishmachaarya’s accord on “Aapad-Dharma” to Yudishtra. Now we’re witnessing an important accord within this important section – The “Ganatantra Raajyam”. This could be translated into “Democracy” in today’s terminology. Yudishtra asks a very important question here to Bhishmachaarya that can people be empowered to be leaders and if “yes”, when and how it can be done. For this, we’ve to first understand what Yudishtra exactly means in this context, and in these lines, we’ve understood the real meaning of “Democracy” and how in today’s context, especially in India, the concept of “Democracy” is continuously on the decline. So with this understanding, we shall move forward with Bhishmachaarya’s answer to “Democracy” as asked by Yudishtra.
Bhishmachaarya explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You’ve asked a very important question here. Yes. The “Ganatantra Raajyam” is possible, but before that, there are certain parameters that you need to fulfil. Firstly, for a “Ganatantra Raajyam” to be successful, people should be aware of what their roles and responsibilities are. People should be physically and mentally capable of handling themselves in the path of “Dharma”. If this is not there, the first thing that a leader should do is to create awareness amongst people to inculcate the necessary value systems into them. Only if this is done, the “Ganatantra Raajyam” is possible in the first place!” Now this is an extremely important point that Bhishmachaarya is stressing here. We are talking of “Democracy” in today’s context, but Bhishmachaarya has already spoken about this 5000 years ago! If we’ve to expand upon these important words of Bhishmachaarya, we’ve to understand an analogy – When we were a child and we’re going to school for the first time, our parents ensured that we were dropped and picked up from the school campus every day, didn’t they? They hand-holded us in whatever we did – Both in terms of our studies and also in terms of satisfying our basic needs such as food, clothing, etc. However, as we grew older, the same parents arranged an auto rickshaw or a school bus to take us to school, rather than coming and dropping us every day. This is because we were old enough to walk to the street corner to board the school bus on our own. However, as we came into the crucial 10’th or 12’th standard classes, we ourselves started going to school, either in a two-wheeler or a cycle. Even if our parents would have wanted to drop and pick us up from the school, we would have openly denied it because our peers would start mocking us! Thus, we can see here that at every stage of life, we were becoming mature and till we attained that maturity of going to school on our own, our parents were hand-holding us at every stage. Similarly, Bhishmachaarya is explaining here that until the point when people have that maturity to be their own rulers, the leader’s responsibility is to hand-hold them to bring them to that level.
Now based on what Bhishmachaarya is saying here, we’ve to see why “Democracy” is failing in India big time – When India attained independence in 1947, we never came out of the slavery mindset which the British put us into for the past 200 years or so! This is a generational problem which we imbibed. In other words, we might have physically got independence, but mentally we were still slaves. Thus, when “Democracy” was suddenly introduced in India, people were not mature-enough to handle themselves correctly, and this started resulting in widespread corruption at several levels. People were not mature enough to think that we should rule ourselves per the principles of “Dharma” and value systems. People were not ready to see the bigger picture of the country’s development at a holistic level. Instead, those who came into politics started having a very narrow-minded thought process – They started thinking of their own progression with regards to money, name and fame, rather than putting the country in front of them. This is why we’ve seen successive governments in India until today, failing to reduce corruption in the system. In other words, the main reason behind India not being able to develop beyond a point is because people are immature. “Democracy” is still not a good way of administration in India. With the present mindset of people, the only way to bring things in order is to have a military-like rule wherein punishments are made severe for those who loot the system. In the present democratic setup, the judiciary has been reduced to a mere joke, because people in several higher echelons of the society can virtually get away by doing any kind of crime in India – Be it murder, looting public money, etc. If such is the case, what is the purpose of having a law & order, courts, etc.? Recently in India, there has been a stunning revelation that judges take bribes to deliver verdicts! Can there be a more shameful situation than this? Given such low levels to which people can go, where is the “Maturity” for India being a “Democratic Republic”? Do we really deserve “Democracy” at all? This is something that the society has to ponder over in a collective manner.
Of course, I’m not trying to criticize anybody in particular here – But it is very sad to see that we Indians are not mature enough to be part of a “Democratic” setup. We’ve to raise awareness amongst ourselves per Bhishmachaarya’s words. We should ponder over our actions, to check whether we are doing things for our own private interests or for the interest of our nation. So for today, let us understand this point very clearly, and let us start this thought process within ourselves individually. The moment we start introspecting, we will definitely become better individuals in the near future! We shall wait till the next episode to continue further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 