Letter to editor, Volume 3, Issue 3 & 4

Dear Editor,
The 2009 election manifesto (http://www.aicc.org.in/new/home-layout-manifesto.php) of the Congress Party states, "Balance-or the middle path-has always been the hall-mark of the policies of the Indian National Congress." It then goes on to mention how the balance between the public and private sector, organized and unorganized sector, urban and rural needs, regulations and entrepreneurship has stood India well in this time of global crisis.

Dear Editor,
The 2009 election manifesto (http://www.aicc.org.in/new/home-layout-manifesto.php) of the Congress Party states, "Balance-or the middle path-has always been the hall-mark of the policies of the Indian National Congress." It then goes on to mention how the balance between the public and private sector, organized and unorganized sector, urban and rural needs, regulations and entrepreneurship has stood India well in this time of global crisis.

"Middle Path" conjures up images of harmony and of the little snippet of Buddhism we are taught in school about Buddha’s discovery of the Middle Path as the road to ending human suffering. So it is perhaps instructive to examine what the Middle Path really means and if the Congress party’s manifesto fares well in that regard. Buddha’s Middle Path was a radical middle – a clean break from all the existing philosophies of its time. It is about seeing reality as it is – interdependent and ever changing. This Middle Path wasn’t some comfortable mixture of everything India’s religions had to offer about salvation, nor was it something which avoided taking a stand on difficult subjects. It railed against false dichotomies that were prevalent then and sought a way to transcend these in a way that was scientific in its rigor, internally consistent in its logic, practical in its emphasis and ultimately about compassion for all. In many ways, the congress party’s middle path has a long history of doing the exact opposite of what Buddha taught. Let’s go back to the early days of India’s independence when the party and the country proclaimed themselves non-aligned not wishing to antagonize the Soviet Union or the West, cutting deals with both, which ultimately were not in the interests of the common Indian. Buddha had to confront philosophers like the skeptic Sanjaya Belatthiputta who wasn’t willing to take a stand on any issue. Buddha and his followers called them "eel wrigglers". So the Buddhist Middle Path clearly wasn’t about saying "Yes" to all sides or asserting that every side had something to offer.

The Middle Path of Buddha was about avoiding the extremes – the extremes of asceticism and drowning in sensual pleasure for example. But it wasn’t about artificially created opposites. Why for example should there be a balance between the organized and unorganized sector? Shouldn’t the goal be to not have an unorganized sector at all, so that those in the unorganized sector have some bargaining power to earn a living wage? The Middle Path teaches that it is an interdependent world. No matter how brilliant an idea an entrepreneur may have no wealth will be created by him unless there are workers who toil to bring those goods to the market place. Each needs the other and ultimately it is about balancing the needs of innovators and the workers. But the Congress party’s manifesto seems to give the impression that it is entrepreneurs alone that create wealth and it is simply about "regulating" them.

There are indeed many and sometimes conflicting demands that various groups place on society. Sometimes there are no easy answers and only a vigorous debate can resolve what it means to achieve balance. But it most certainly isn’t about balancing the needs of urban and rural India or any of the other conflicts suggested in the Congress Party’s manifesto.- R Chari, New York


 

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the issues of Ghadar Jaari Hai. Its contents are provocative and fresh and I am moved by your passion for clarity and rationality as much as for justice and equality. – Girish Karnad, Bangalore


 

Dear Editor,

Recently I got to know about GJH. The issues really made for very interesting and thought provoking reading. It is indeed the need of the hour for us to rediscover our history and our heritage. But here again we should be careful about two things. Firstly in the process of de-Europeanising or de-Westernising ourselves, we should not indulge in bashing everything Western. At the same time while rediscovering ourselves we should not slip into glorifying all that goes in the name of Indian culture. – Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni, Dharwad

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *