DIALOGUE QUARTERLY Volume-17 No. 2 October-December, 2015 DIALOGUE QUARTERLY Editorial Advisory Board Mrinal Miri Jayanta Madhab Subscription Rates : For Individuals (in India) Single issue Rs. 30.00 Annual Rs. 100.00 Editor For 3 years Rs. 250.00 B.B. Kumar For Institutions: Consulting Editor Single Issue Rs. 60.00 in India, Abroad US $ 15 J.N. Roy Annual Rs. 200.00 in India, Abroad US $ 50 For 3 years Rs. 500.00 in India, Abroad US $ 125 All cheques and Bank Drafts (Account Payee) are to be made in the name of “ASTHA BHARATI”, Delhi. Advertisement Rates : Outside back-cover Rs. 25, 000.00 Per issue Inside Covers Rs. 20, 000.00 ,, Inner page coloured Rs. 15, 000.00 ,, Inner full page Rs. 10, 000.00 ,, Financial Assistance for publication received from Indian Council of Social Science Research. ASTHA BHARATI DELHI The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily represent the view-point of the journal. Contents Editorial Perspective 7 Learn to Tolerate Modi 1. North-East Scan Can AFSPA Restore the Rule of Law? 11 Patricia Mukhim The Tragi-comedy of Manipur’s Three Bills 14 Pradip Phanjoubam 2. Marginalization of Indian Thinkers 18 © Astha Bharati, New Delhi B.B. Kumar 3. Self, Silence and Ramana Maharshi 25 Printed and Published by Ashok Vohra Dr. Lata Singh, IAS (Retd.) 4. In Days of Great Peace 37 Secretary, Astha Bharati M. Soudoski Registered Office: 5. Swami Dayananda 49 27/201 East End Apartments, Sri Aurobindo Mayur Vihar, Phase-I Extension, 6. Swami Vivekananda: A Charismatic Spokesman of India’s Delhi-110096. Eternal World View 61 Damodar Thakur Working Office: 23/203 East End Apartments, 7. Swami Vivekananda – The Key Thinker of Mayur Vihar, Phase-I Extension, Modern India Need of the Hour 74 Delhi-110096 Gokulmuthu Narayanaswamy Phone : 91-11-22712454 8. Sri Aurobindo’s Vision of India’s Resurgence 83 e-mail : [email protected] Michel Danino web-site : www. asthabharati.org 9. Sri Aurobindo and the Hindu-Muslim Question 102 Printed at : Nagri Printers, Naveen Shahdara, Delhi-32 Kittu Reddy DIALOGUE, Volume-17 No. 2 5 10. Rishi Bankim Chandra 113 Sri Aurobindo 12. The Basic Facts of Gandhism 117 Ram Swarup 13. What Gandhiji Stood for 122 Editorial Perspective Dharampal 14. The Perennial Elements in Gandhi’s Thought: Some Reflections 141 Learn to Tolerate Modi Ram Chandra Pradhan I will start with a basic question: “If someone selects a person to 15. Rabindranath Tagore 156 perform a given task as his representative, then whether the man Prof. Kumkum Bhattacharya selected has the freedom of choice to perform or not to perform?” The answer is simple: the person selected has only two options, he has 16. Interpreting Arguments in Contemporary either to perform the allotted task or quit. This applies to the Indian Political Philosophy: Swaraj, representatives of the all-empowered, the people of India, who select Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in Tagore 162 their representatives to the legislative bodies to deliberate, rather than Professor Bindu Puri disrupt the proceedings, and prevent the proper functioning of the 17. Rabindranath Tagore: A Universal Thinker 176 legislative bodies. This is not the lone ‘undesirable’ in Indian politics; Shankar Sharan there are many others also. In India, a political party gets elected on the basis of certain promises, certain programme of action, and 18. My Father is Merged into the Majesty of Infinity 189 shamelessly goes on back-foot, abandons its pledge on flimsy ground, Dr. Lokesh Chandra such as the dictate of coalition-dharma. And yet, there are parties 19. Late Prof. Dr. Raghu Vira: Vision and Mission 198 having born-leaders from the selected families; it is immaterial whether Prof. Dr. Shashibala the leader is capable or not. Whether he understands the complexity and problems of the country and the society, is immaterial for such 20. Ramswarup: A Great Yogi of Contemporary World 211 parties. Such parties forget that the very prospect of an incompetent Prof. Rameshwar Mishra Pankaj person leading a vast and complex country, like India, worries us; and 21. Self-Awakening of India: our worries increase if such a leader is surrounded by an army of The Life and Work of Dharampal1 220 sycophants. J.K. Bajaj There are other worrisome features also, such as growing trend of atomization in politics; the number of aspirants for the highest political 22. Dharampal: Beyond Categories 234 post in the country, based on the arithmatics of hung Parliament and Pawan Kumar Gupta political instability, has also increased. Again there is pathological 23. Lohia’s Understanding of India and its Religio problem with the parties and the individuals; they find it extremely – Cultural Identity 241 difficult to remain out of power. Besides, the party level rivalry, intra- Prof. R.C. Shah party rivalry regularly shows its ugly face. Such problems come in the 6 DIALOGUE, Volume-17 No. 2 DIALOGUE, Volume-17 No. 2 7 way of delivery; the elected Government faces problem in doing what Modi has certainly delivered, and delivered more than any Prime they are supposed to do. The ultimate loser are the people of India. Minister in such a brief period. But there is a communication gap; the This equally applies to the functioning of the Narendra Modi people are not properly informed, and they often believe his adversaries Government. If he is delivering, and, he is really delivering, then he that he has not done much. should be allowed to do so. Putting obstacles in his path, not allowing Communication remains a problem with NDA govt. allowing him to perform, may help some political parties or the individuals; but frustrated opposition to gang up even using undemocratic means. it is certainly harming the nation and that too in diverse ways. The Communist leftist intellectuals were tremendously and If we take into consideration the achievements of the last 18 disproportionately helped during the Congress rule. They owe the months of the present Central Government, the same have been party their dominance in academia, media, and even in administration impressive; Narendra Modi has proved himself to be the best Prime to some extent. Marxists gang up and oppose, as I have written Minister. The economy of the country was in bad shape, when he came elsewhere in this issue, their adversaries in such high pitch and voice to power; in the brief period, we have overtaken China in GDP growth; in unison, as they did during the recent Bihar election by enacting the steps have been taken towards economic empowerment of the people, award-returning drama, and ‘intolerance debate,’ which terrorizes their foreign investment is coming in a big way, no cases of corruption or adversaries, the BJP and the RSS. The timing was chosen to help the scams has come up. The boundary problem with Bangladesh, peace Congress and its allies in the election. When Communist intellectuals, initiative with the Nagas, pending for the last 67 years, have been and they have their foreign friends also, enact such drama, the BJP and settled, our international image has tremendously improved, and the RSS get terrorized and forget their own agenda, and even start Prime Minister has initiated many social movements, which will change promoting that of their political adversaries; they start begging the face of India in the years to come. There are many other achievements certificates from the Marxists of being secularists. Non-Marxist careerist also to his credit, including steps towards economic and tax reforms. fence-sitter littérateurs and academia often join the Marxist chorus, due But the passage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not smooth. to fear or prospects of gain. There are many, who have pathological hatred of him. He could come A lesson, which BJP and RSS, must learn, is that they can’t win to the pinnacle of power, in spite of their dozen-year tirade against him; the overall battle by ignoring the intellectual front; their soldiers in the he had to overcome the intra-party negatives, and the challenges from field are too weak; and self-hypnotism is not going to help them. inside the party still continue. His opponents, including the intra-BJP The Khan’s—Shah Rukh Khan and Amir Khan—joining the ones, were worried when he came to power. They miss no chance to ‘intolerance debate’ shockingly reveals their skin-deep secularism; the target him even now. Naturally, a Delhi, or a Bihar, makes them extremely moment you just scratch, their secularism becomes suspect. happy. They may feel that the enemy is not invincible; he is vulnerable. A fact, which many of us feel, and feel deeply, is that there is none The problem with the adversaries of Narendra Modi, is that they lack in India, who has suffered more due to intolerance than Narendra Modi. the realization that while trying to harm Narendra Modi, they are It is time his adversaries should try to learn to tolerate him. This is harming the country. essential, because it is going to help the nation, which includes all of Narendra Modi became PM in spite of more than a decade long us. warnings, and lodging court cases against him. Obviously people of — B.B. Kumar India did not believe Modi-baiters. After his elevation as the Prime Minister of India, his detractors should have honoured people’s verdict, and learnt to tolerate Prime Minister Modi. But they have vowed not to learn the lesson and are tenaciously trying to oppose him. Needless to say that the Bihar election verdict has emboldened them; they have started seeing the possibility of his ouster at least after 40 months.