'Greater Common Good'

The most important principle which is operative in corporate endeavors and production and service sectors is undoubtedly 'profit'. Everything is geared towards accruing greater profit. The people who had invested a lot of money wish to make more money, several times more than what they had invested. The 'business' people do not care for what happens to the rest of humanity, so long their purses are full. But the law of nature prescribes that every attempt to have 'profit' is bound to deprive some deserving person from his/her share of due wealth.

Unfortunately in most of the countries, the political leaders belong to the cream of the society, who have the least experience of the poverty, sweat and blood of the poor, who earn wealth for the nation. Depriving the voiceless masses is seen in almost all the nations, rich or poor. It happens in the South African countries, in the developing Third World countries, and in the developed nations too. The concerns of the poor and the majority most often do not appear in the national agenda; it is only the interests of the moneyed and muscled men and women who control the policies of development.

India had so many instances where the political bigwigs had been pushing so-called developmental projects (supposedly at the greater interests of the masses!), which deprived the poor farmers their ancestral lands, the water, forests, rivers, and the community. The fight for the holy river Narmada by Mehta Patkar and her Narmada Banchao Andolan is just the tip of an iceberg. There are projects which are aimed at displacing thousands of people, without proper rehabilitation and infrastructural facilities. Some years ago I had the privilege of witnessing what the people who would lose Narmada riverbed were going through.

Today the phrase 'greater common good' has become a mockery. One would hear this phrase repeated again and again at all political platforms, at every election campaigns, and it has become a cliche today. But then who cares? The people who sponsor the election campaigns and political meetings and rallies would have their pound of flesh by hook or by crook, and no one can stop them from doing it. The state machinery would in fact, stand by them to make sure that no one lays his/her hands on them. That is the state we have reached in the country.

In order to live a happy life, we do not need to worry about profits! Anyone who has the profit motive in business is bound to guided by greed and selfishness, which would lead him/her to take recourse to any social and moral evil, which may be justified before a court of law. I would like to consider for a while how I respond to the genuine yearnings of the people of the land. Am I able to feel their pain and agony; their tears and blood, and cry for their fundamental human rights. If the state denies these, then where could they take refuge?

Chasing the Wind

If there are two powers which govern our fate in the country, and the world at large, they are money and muscle. There is hardly any place for creativity, sincerity, honesty, genuineness, ingenuity, hard work... No one seems to care for these. But show a bundle of bills, you can get whatever you wish to; or just flex your muscle, and your work is done. Unfortunately this is the world we live in, and maybe this is the world we will die one day. Blessed are those who have either of these, for their lives are apparently secure, and their dreams may be realised at some time or other in their lives.

The fate of the nation is determined by who hold the reins of these two dominant powers in the society; in our country, unfortunately they are vested with politicians, who by no means can claim credibility. It is not the time to go back to the pages of history to see how we have given way to a corrupt form of governance, which is based on these two powers; rather it is for us to assume a greater role in the society, so that at least in the personal lives, we are not controlled and monitored by them.

I was joyed to read in the newspapers how two persons had reacted to politicians who tried to make hay while the sun shines - the father of slain National Security Guard Unnikrishnan, and the wife of the slain chief of NSG, Karkare. If each one of us who matter in the society were to keep the politicians at arms length, we would shape the world according to our dreams. Politicians are the people who do not know how to look beyond the tip of their noses, and such people can think of all reality only in terms of the vote-bank they crave for - for the vote bank is the seal of approval for making undue claim over money and muscle.

But let me not bemoan the fate of India, as regards the role of politicians in the life of a nation; the same is true of all developing nations. It is no different in Philippines, or Bangladesh. We have heard stories of how the Imelda Marcos had amassed national wealth in Philippines for herself and her posterity; if the bank accounts of all politicians were to be frozen, that would amount to a huge chunk of the national wealth, most of them ill-wrought. But what can we do about them. Unnikrishnan and Mrs Karkare have taught us something that we all can emulate - keep the politicians at arms length; don't let them come close to you. The famous adage is a constant reminder to all of us : no sincere person can survive in politics.

The fate of the nation is in the hands of the citizens, conscientious persons, who care for one another. If we can call the cards, then there is no place for the vile games of politicians. There is a greater power beyond that of the 2 m's that the politicians wield, the power that rules and governs the universe. Recognising the power of this supreme being flowing deep within us will give us the temptation to submit ourselves shamelessly to the powers of the world. Today my prayer therefore to the Lord of the Universe is : do not allow us to be tempted to the powers of the world.