For ages the Indians have choosen their heores foolishly. This very fact has affected their perspective on how a citizen, leader, and a nation should be. Between Dharma and Bheem, we chose to glorify Dharma. It was Bheem who overcame each peril, by killing Bakasur, Hidimba, Jarashandha, Duryodhan, Dusshasan, Durmukh etc. On the other hand Dharma had to be provoked by Kunti to fight the war. It is another thing that Dharma took his revenge after 14 years. Today, its more than 16 years since the '93 bomb blasts, and there is no sign of justice. There are these two images of Krishna. The brave warrior, able administrator, cunning visionary, calculating leader, wise philosopher Krishna. And the Raas-garbha / Dahi Handi Krishna. The second one is popular. Every year thousands of "Govinda" gather to break the dahi-handi. Thousands gather to play dandiya during Navaratri. Where are the followers of “leader Krishna”?
Among the verses of Geeta, "ma faleshu kadachana" is popular. What about "paritranaay sadhuna ..."? Where are those leaders who seek to punish the culprits?
Given a choice between Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Samrat Ashok, we chose to glorify the peace-loving, Buddha follower Ashok. Chandragupta was the creator of the biggest ever Indian empire. Where as Ashoka who renounced war was responsible for the later disintegration of this empire. Between Lokmanya Tilak, Swatantryaveer Sawarkar, Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, we chose Gandhiji. Gandhi-giri does have its own place. All the internal issues within India need to be treated the Gandhi way. Kashmir, Nandigram, Ayodhya, Ram-Setu, Marathi-Bihari issue ... use Gandhi-giri. But our immature leaders choose to use voilence here. Burn down public property, kill our own people, create a rift between Indians all in the name of leading a country! And these same leaders choose to use Gandhi-giri with Pakistan and Bangladesh!
They praise Gandhiji, but do not share his 'simple living' life style. He could walk into Bengal when riots were at its peak. Today's politicians are no where near Gandhi and far far away from visionaries like Sawarkar.
For more than thousand years Indian leaders have laid down their lives to protect the borders of this country. Prithviraj Chouhan, Ch. Sambhaji Raje, Maha Rana Pratap and so many others died for us. Do we have the right to recklessly squander away the freedom we inherited? Will history forgive us if we forget the lessons taught by Arya Chanakya? |
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