அறிஞர் அண்ணாவின் கட்டுரைகள்


Daddy in Doldrums

Daddy is in doldrums, and the dutiful daughter has come out with the helping hand— what daughter would not! A dotting father, Pandit Jawaharlal, should feel highly elated to find his one and only daughter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi attempting to extricate 'papa' from the coils in which he is caught. So, out goes the daughter, to offer suggestions for recovery and plans for resurrections. Daddy is in doldrums because, the Congress party has been fast losing its hold over the masses. True, Pandit Nehru, is still the mass-charmer—but now-a-days, he is called upon to play the tune too often—and that with diminishing returns! The masses do hiss, now and then, and the charmer is tired, worried, sometimes dismayed.

Pandit Nehru plans grandiloquently—but the finances available being meagre and fast dwindling, he is asked by stark reality to heave a sigh and make feverish efforts to save at least the core of the plan!

Pandit Nehru as presented a rosy picture about the success of the first plan—especially on the food front—but the people find, desolation threatening them.

"What has become of those 'Statistics' about the increased food production?" asks the Pandit, and the answer comes quick, "they are being studied anew, and we would be in a position to find out in a short while, how and why these statistics, have become faulty, unreliable." "To what heights have I raised the hopes? And how woefully are they being shattered!"—thinks the Pandit and naturally he is depressed.
At least, Gauhati should have give the much-needed vim and vigour—but no, these elephants and rhinos, damn these animals, they have spoiled the whole show! So Daddy is depressed! And as if briefed by that hard Master 'Time', to tease the Pandit, there arose this Mundhra affair! Oh! Yes! Much depressed! And Mrs. Indira Gandhi, scented this sorry state of affairs, long before this lamentable Mundhra affair, and as a dutiful daughter, and a true patriot, attempts to extricate daddy from the doldrums! Delightful Mrs. India Gandhi! It is indeed a delightful sight but, 'be prepared for a shock, the attempt is sincere, but the results are not going to alleviate papa! For, believe us when we say, that the situation is beyond redemption—the disease is too deeply seated, palliatives are of no use.

There is a press report that Mrs. Indira Gandhi, a member of the Congress Working Committee called on Congress workers to develop their thinking capacity!

A more dangerous suggestion could not have emanated—even from the worst enemy of the Congress. Asking Congressmen to develop their thinking capacity. Oh! God! What a dangerous suggestion!!

Are you imagining Mrs. Gandhi, that the moment Congress workers develop their thinking capacity, they would remain in that camp? Certainly not!

"Although ten years had passed since India attained freedom, she was sorry that many of the problems which confronted the people had not been solved"

It is reported in the "Times of India", that Mrs. Indira Gandhi has stated thus!

Ten years have passed—No tangible results!

When this is the state of affairs, how could Madame, ask Congressmen to develop their thinking capacity? Where would it lead to? Would they not ask, why are the problems unsolved? We have vested unquestioned and unrivalled powers in the hands of leaders—Daddy above all others—and yet problems remain unsolved. And why? Are they not capable of that? Do they find themselves unfit for that task? Are they just indifferent? Or, are they cajoled by some sirens, into complacency? What is the cause?
Would not the Congress workers, begin to question—if as per Madame's advice they develop their thinking capacity? And after that, where would that process lead to? To frustration! To disillusionment! And then? Oh! We shudder to think—it is just throwing daddy into something more dirty than doldrums!
The report points out, "Mrs. Gandhi also deplored the growing tendency among Congress workers to be mere YES-MEN."

It is just because of this fact, that 'Papa' is allowed to rush from one folly into another, and present rhapsodies as explanations. Dutiful daughter, as Madame is, should it fall to her lot to unwittingly undermine 'papa's' pedestal—the moment the Congress workers cease to be yes-men, the pedestal comes tottering down! That surely is not the way to extricate Daddy from the doldrums.

Mrs. Indira Gandhi should have tasted the bitterness, then and there itself. Some of those assembled there, began thinking—aloud!

Several workers drew attention to the growing unpopularity of the Congress and said that the national organisation was fast losing its hold on the masses.

A worker wondered how many of the Congress workers had understood the meaning and implications of the socialistic pattern of society, and complained that many paid lip sympathy to this ideal. He said that the Congress was fast giving up the glorious traditions handed down to the people by Mahatma Gandhi.

Another worker was critical of the policy of the Congress in regard to middle class. He said that Congress workers were only interested in personal publicity.

To what lengths, they would go, if they develop their thinking capacity, could be gauged by these remarks.

And Madame, wants them to think, and also to carry the message to every lane and by-lane!

Carry what? That the Congress has become unpopular! That they pay but lip sympathy to socialism! That they have not been good towards the middle classes!!

Surely, carrying these 'messages' to the lanes and by-lanes, is to court chaos—nothing short of it. In her anxiety to be of some service to papa—a very natural and much-to-be appreciated sentiment—Mrs. Gandhi, is not only attempting the impossible, but is offering a method that would aggravate the situation and quicken the pace for the final chapter!

Daddy is certainly in doldrums, but the prescription is worse that the disease! Daddy needs, Yes-men, all around, more! Daddy finds himself in doldrums, just because, here and there some raise up their voice of protest against the policies adumbrated by him. To ask all to develop the thinking capacity and to carry the message to lanes and by-lanes, is not the solution—no—it is too dangerous an attempt.

Madame would not have seen lanes and by-lanes—the dirt, the squalor, the hunger, the cruelty, there! Sometimes, 'papa' sends his men there, just to shoot them down—as in Bhangi Colony at Delhi. At other times, he himself goes to such places, to offer solace to widows and orphans, and to assure them that there would not be an unnecessary increase in such 'shootings' during the second and third plans as the amount earmarked for ammunition would be cut down, and diverted to other useful channels.

These lanes and by-lanes, Madame, are not fit places, for receiving those 'messages'. Better confine them to seminars and consultative committees.

We are sorry Mrs. Gandhi, is thus, attempting the impossible. The situation is not as simple as Madame imagines it to be. The dirt is not skin-deep, to be washed away by a liberal use of lux! Let us quote a notable's words, to substantiate or statement.

Mr. N.V.Gadgil, Vice-Chairman of the State Bank, Bombay, addressing the Students' Union of the Department of Economics, Sociology, Civics and Politics and Statistics of the Bombay University said:-
"The Congress then (40 years ago) was out of bounds for wealth and pomp. To-day it is out of bounds for honesty and poverty. The traditions then were of struggle with no prospect of office or sacrifice. To-day it was no longer one of struggle. It is a scramble for power and position."

(Editorial - 23-02-1958)