People’s verdict against the Congress

By K.N. Pandita

Four States went to assembly polls. Three have fall in the lap of BJP and only one goes Congress. BJP has won with a thumping majority.

Before we proceed to analyze the result of these elections, we generally and the contesting parties particularly forget that winning or loosing the elections is not as important as the purpose for which elections are held.

Our political culture seldom understands that loosing the elections does not mean rejection for all times to come. It also does not mean lessening the burden of responsibility and commitment for the winning group. Winning the election is not a passport for indulging in vulgar excitement.

The Congress party has to learn many unsavory lessons. It can no more cash on its past history, idealism and rhetoric. It has to come out of that cocoon and behave in a pragmatic manner.

Surely, it has outplayed the card of Hindu communalism attributable to the BJP. The generation to which the Congress sold the commodity for several decades is gone but the hollow slogan has remained. The tantrum is unintelligible to the contemporary youth.

Ever since the BJP – led NDA government at the center and BJP governments in some states came to power, the Congress has been ritually reciting the mantra of BJP’s Hindutav agenda, BJP as the communalist party and BJP as the spoiler etc. This one-point agenda like that of Pakistan’s one-point agenda on Kashmir, has boomeranged on it. This is one of the biggest caused of Congress debacle. Yet the diehards in the party would not concede the truth.

Congress must try to feel the pulse of the people. Te verdict of the people is that of outright rejection of the above stated one-point agenda. Congress must realize that BJP and its coalition partners are as genuine nationalist parties as is theirs. It has to learn to respect the status and popularity of the BJP. In doing so it will be respecting the Indian electorate, from which the ultimate power flows.

The incumbency phenomenon is no more tenable. It was at one point of time. But things have changed. Essentially, the voter has matured and is more responsive to social responsibilities. Incumbency is an alibi that the Congress and for that matter all big nationalist political parties should put in cold storage.

In ultimate analysis it is the concrete contribution to the raising of the level of life that counts and that the electorate considers as the test of the person it would be voting for.

Another serious flaw of which Congress is a chronic patient is the blind observance of and faith in the cult of personality. Those legendary personalities are confined to the pages of the books of history. Their replicas will never be produced. Therefore, Congress echelons should learn to be original, discreet and have an integrity that carries weight. Discipline is all right but it does not mean compromising with originality, discretion and integrity.

During past four years of NDA rule, Congress has, by and large, behaved like a quarrelsome urchin. It has learnt to oppose everything at every place and every occasion. Essentially what Congress needs to learn and to teach its cadres is the culture of responsible opposition.

Generally Congress leaders have been reaping the harvest sown by their illustrious predecessors. We have seen how they created rowdy scenes during the sessions of the Parliament. We have seen how they staged walkouts when crucial bills were debated: how they obstructed the treasury benches from replying their allegations. In short we have seen them behaving as if they were in the battlefield arrayed against an enemy whom they must vanquish with all the weapons in their stockpile. This would include defamation, disinformation, calumny, blackmail and proxying.

In true sense of the term the loser from this negative politics is the nation in the long run. It is extremely disappointing that the Congress stalwarts while analyzing their defeat at the polls try to tell the audience in muffled voice that the BJP played the communal card with the voter.

Lastly, the minority vote bank strategy has begun to fail. It’s failing symptoms been visible in the previous Lok Sabha elections. But now it has become crystal clear to all and especially to the Congress, which has been projecting itself the sole protector of the minorities, that vote bank strategy has not only failed but is likely to become counter productive. The common Indian voter including the members of the minority community, have given ample proof of this healthy change. If the Congress wants to recover from the present onslaught, it must publicly say that it will seek votes on the basis of more important priorities than on so-called protection of minorities. Country’s politico-social system is now strong and dependable enough to provide protection to the minorities and all other sections.

The election has shown that the real plank for success would be the ability of the political parties to provide good governance. During the period of the NDA, many mega scams have been uncovered that have had roots deep and widespread. This is one facet of good governance. However, it does not mean that the NDA has been able to stem the rot and that there is nothing more to be done. Far from it. But at least accountability process has started. Being a democratic country run by the law, one cannot be impatient with the wheel of justice moving slowly but surely and at its own pace.

Parliamentary elections are round the corner. Both of the major political parties of national standing will now gear up to the parliamentary polls. Congress’s path is strewn with thorns. There is in fighting in the party, the legacy carried from generation to generation. There is, unfortunately, great dearth of great minds and intellectuals in this party to think big and act big. The minions and sycophants, the self-servers and flatterers hanging round the top leadership are the rot that needs scalpel. We do not know whether the party leadership has the vision and the strength to act drastically. The situation as one perceives it today is that the top leadership is shaky and its vision is blurred. Only a supernatural force can guide the beleaguered second rung leadership, which must now come out of its cocoon and act swiftly.

This does not mean that the NDA and more particularly BJP are out of woods. This party must do something to shut the mouth of loose talkers and brow beaters. It must chalk out the roadmap for true and genuine secularism – not to be produced through appeasement, blackmail or flattery. The minority, in whatever form and shape it is, shall be served fine if it is made to share political power and decision-making process. This principle should have universal and not selective application. It should become central to a process of good governance.

I think the winning party should be extremely modest and humble because the people of India have reposed trust in it, and given them an opportunity not to loot the country but to serve the nation. Any sincere servant of the people should have the humility to fulfill the promises he or she has made.

Ranjit Dev, an enlightened king of Jammu

By Prof Jigar Mohammed

The modern Jammu region was divided into twenty two states during the medieval period. Almost all the twenty two states were ruled by the Rajput dynasties. Jammu, Jasrota, Bilaur, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Bhimber were the important states of the region. Jammu as a state occupied the dominant position in the region. The rulers of Jammu not only enjoyed respect and power at local level, but they established close contacts with the Sultans and Mughal emperors of Delhi. The Mughal emperor Jahangir (1605-27) was very much impressed by the administrative qualities of Raja Sangram of Jammu. In his autobiography, entitled Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, Jahangir mentions Raja Sangram as one of his important commanders. Similarly Raja Hari Dev (1658-1707) of Jammu acted as one of the prominent commanders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707). However, Jammu became one of the dominant states of the north India during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Dev (1733-82), During his reign Jammu witnessed substantial changes in its socio-political and economic life.

Before the accession of Ranjit Dev several social evils existed in Jammu. The people not only practised them, but they also legitimized them with their conservative arguments and ideas. The existed social evils such as Sari system, girl infanticide, adultery, interest demand (sud) and certain other superstitious practices narrowed the socio-economic and political developments of Jammu region. When Maharaja Ranjit Dev ascended the throne he decided not only to work for the removal of the anti-social practices from Jammu, but he also planned to accelerate the economic and political developments of his State.

To check the sati system Maharaja Ranjit Dev first decided to restrict his own family members to follow the practice. He asked his sons, chiefs, courtiers and other relations that no woman was to be allowed to perform sati with him after his death. Despite the people's arguments and requests that sati system was part of the prestige and honour of the king and his family, he did not approve it. In favour of the continuation of the sati system people tried to exploit the sentiments of the Maharaja saying that a sati woman was source and medium of the heaven for the deceased king. The Maharaja replied them that if he has to take the help of a sati woman to go to heaven, he did not want to go to heaven. Finally, the Maharaja succeeded in convincing at least the people of his own surroundings that sati was a social evil and not a tradition. The impact of the Maharaja's efforts for the eradication of sati system may be estimated from the fact that after his death no women performed sati with him.

To stop the girl infanticide he spread the message that birth of a daughter was not against the prestige of the Rajputs. He himself established an example of it. Despite having two sons he sought the blessing of the faqirs and prayed to the God for getting a daughter. Ultimately a queen of the Maharaja gave birth to a daughter. He named the daughter Bua Bodhan and brought up her with all care. He did not make any distinction between the sons and daughter in terms of affection. He asked the people to follow him in this regard. It is said that most of the Rajputs followed the suggestions of the Raja and welcomed the birth of daughters during the Maharaja's period.

During the Maharaja's period the kaftar was an other social evil which caused great harassment to the women. The kaftar practice was an illegal source of the income of some people. According to this practice, if any child of a particular area suffered from any serious disease or died. The people made a woman responsible for the death of the child. They levelled a charge against her that she ate the lever of the child. Through the divala, the performer of the Kaftar they publicly declared the woman as liver eater. Afterwards the Government officials imprisoned her and imposed fine on her. If she failed to pay the fine, she was humiliated through different ways such as shaving her head, blackening her face and seating her on an ass. Maharaja Ranjit Dev put a ban on the kaftar practice.

Maharaja Ranjit Dev was a very liberal and enlightened king of Jammu in terms of formulating state policies. He extended large favour to the Muslims. George Forster, an English traveller, visited Jammu in second half of the eighteenth century. He was very much impressed with the broad religious policy of the Maharaja. According to him, the Maharaja provided allotted a large number of houses to the Muslims and named that locality Maghalpura. He built a mosque for the Muslims. The Maharaja respected the sentiments of the Muslims very much. Whenever he passed through the areas of the Muslims during their prayer, he came down from his house and did not move till the priest continued the rituals. George Forster records that once some Hindus complained the Maharaja that the public wells of the town were defiled by the pots of the Muslims. Therefore, the Muslims were to be stopped for fetching water from the wells and they were to be restricted to the water of the river. The Maharaja dismissed the complaint and declared it irreasonable. He told them that water was a pure element, designed for the general use of mankind, and could not be polluted by the touch of any kind of people.

The liberal and tolerant policies of the Maharaja Ranjit Dev made Jammu state as one of the most secured and powerful states of the enghteenth century north India. A large number of merchants came to Jammu from the neighbouring states and contributed to the flourishment of trade and commerce in the region. According to Ganeshdas Badehara, a historian of the nineteenth century and author of Rajdarshani,"...on account of the fame of the justice and equity, high morality and virtues of Raja Ranjit Dev merchants and respectable persons from all around came of the Chakla of Jammu and settled there; wealthy people came in so large numbers that heaps of uncovered ashrafis were seen in shops but no body dared to look at them with covetous eyes, and women bedecked in ornament travelled alone on deserted roads and through jungles without fear. Every body lived in his days in peace and pleasure. It is said that about ten thousand shops were strewn in the bazaar of Jammu spreading from Dhaunthali to the site below Gumat. A number of famous Punjabi Khatris like Lala Pindi Das, Jwala Nath, Bal Hira Nand, Jog Das, Shahzada Mal, Kunj Lal Manh, Milkhi Shah, and father of Bahar Singh Bedehra, and others, who were men of lakhs lived in Jammu. What to speak of the Dogra merchants, Brahmans and Mahajans, whose description is beyond the scope of this brief accound." Ganeshdas Badehra describes Jammu as Darul Aman (Abode of Peace) under Ranjit Dev.

It may be mentioned that eighteenth century was the period in which most part of the north India were facing socio-economic and political crisis. Most part of the north India were affected from the foreign invasions of Nader Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali. But it was Maharaja Ranjit Dev of Jammu who kept Jammu socio-economically safe and strong with his liberal and broad policies.

Thus Maharaha Ranjit Dev did many things for the welfare of his people for which many states of India are struggling during modern period. Maharaja Ranjit Dev established that only the enlightenment and reason could be basis of the progress of humanity. Through his policies he not only established himself as just and wise ruler, but more importantly he also gave a right direction to his people for progress and peace.