In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishamchaarya’s detailed explanation on several aspects of “Raaja Dharma” to Yudishtra. Particularly, we’ve been witnessing over the past few episodes with regards to the “Ganatantra Raajyam” (Democracy) and when it would be successful. Bhishmachaarya in this accord, lists out several pointers, saying that if these are satisfied, the “Ganatantra Raajyam” will be successful in any country. Firstly we’ve seen that people in the country should be able to put up a united face. There should be no cracks amongst people. Secondly, all of them should have and work towards a common goal. Thirdly, we’ve seen that people who adorn higher positions in a democracy, such as a Prime Minister, Chief Minister, other Ministers, Government bureaucrats, etc. should be highly qualified in terms of education. They should be scholarly in nature, and only then will they be able to guide people accordingly. Fourth, people in higher echelons should be epitomes in controlling their senses. Only if this is happening, will they not run behind petty money to fulfil their personal brownie points. Finally, Bhishmachaarya explains that people who are in top positions should be selfless in nature, and public service should be their top most priority. If all these boxes are ticked, the “Ganatantra-Raajyam” will be a successful one.
Moving on further thus, Yudishtra is going to ask a very important question here. So far, he has been listening to whatever Bhishmachaarya was explaining about the “Ganatantra Raajyam”. Now, he is getting slightly confused with what is being said. Yudishtra is asking Bhishmachaarya thus, “Oh Bhishmachaarya! You’ve been talking about how ministers should be, how people should be aware and united, etc. However, this seems to be slightly contradicting with what you’ve said earlier. You had said before that a friend might be very loyal to you today, however, the same person can ditch you later on. Vice versa can also happen, wherein an enemy might be very fierce with us today, but tomorrow this bitter enemy can also become our good and a loyal friend. If such is the case, won’t this concept apply to the ministers and people also? How can we conclude that the ministers would be having a common goal of serving the public at all times? Won’t their mindset and intentions be subject to change? How do we handle such people and such situations? Should we keep changing ministers time and again?”
Now this seems a valid question from Yudishtra, and Bhishmachaarya is giving an important reply here. Bhishmachaarya explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You’ve asked a very important question. For keeping the ministers and bureaucrats under check, you should have a team of “Pandithas” (Scholars) who will monitor them continuously and render advice to you on a periodic basis. In other words, we can call them a panel of “Advisors”. This “Advisors” panel will constantly keep interacting with these ministers, to check if they are on track or not. This “Advisors” panel will not be the ones who will interact with people on the ground. The Ministers are the ones who will be working with the people on the ground. It is like two layers of a hierarchy that you’re creating. First level is the common people in the country. Second level is the team of ministers who will work for the welfare of the people. Third level is the panel of “Advisors” who will be monitoring the ministers. As and when the advisors give some red flags / warnings about the performance of a few ministers who might deviate from the expectation, you as a leader should be in a position to either warn them or in extreme cases, fire / sideline them as well. Thus, in other words, you should constantly keep paying heed to the words of your advisors at all times, so that you can understand what is going on in your “Raajyam”. For you to get quality and authentic inputs, your advisors should be extremely trained and qualified. This is also very important!”
In today’s context also, we have this setup more or less. If we look at the circle around the Prime Minister, he would have a set of ministers working under him as a cabinet, in different domains like Finance, Defence, External Affairs, Internal Affairs (Home Ministry), Commerce, Agriculture, Industries, Railways, Roadways, etc. The Ministers of all these respective domains will have a big government bureaucrat machinery which will work to execute the orders of the Ministers / Prime Minister. Apart from this, there will be a team of “Advisors” to the Prime Minister for every domain. For instance, the Prime Minister will have a direct “Financial Advisor”, “Defence Advisor”, etc. to give constant updates to him on whatever is happening. These advisors may not directly interact with government bureaucrats, people on the ground, but they will be in constant touch with the ministers of the respective domain. Constant updates on the performance of the ministers will keep going to the Prime Minister’s table, and if the Prime Minister finds someone not performing well as a minister, he will have the direct authority to warn / fire / sideline that person while performing the “Cabinet Expansion / Shuffling” exercise.
Thus, we can see here that whatever Bhishmachaarya explained around 5000 years ago, is closely being followed even today – Not only in India, but also in several developed Western countries like the USA, UK, Australia, etc. as well. So for today, let us understand up to this point clearly, and we shall wait till the next episode to move further from here! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 