Dr.Rabindra Nath Tagore- the Nobel Laureate, prior to the independence of India in his masterpiece “Gitanjali” composed a poem dreaming of a free India and ultimately a world order entitled “Where The Mind Is Without Fear.”The opening lines of the poem always haunt us,quite relevant even now too :
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken in fragments By narrow domestic walls.”
In light of afore-quoted lines created in the year 1910, these questions ironically and quite spontaneously spring up: is the mind these days sans fear in the world, Is head really held high,is knowledge free and is the world at present not fragmented? The same questions too are worth introspecting so far as the spectre of fear psychosis in India is concerned?
The answers are big NO, the looming scare and panic dimensions not only in India but in all the four directions of the globe abound.
The reasons for uncertainty, pell mell, confusion and restlessness, evidently are the power centric and magalomaniac tendencies. Once one tastes power yearns for it blindly till one’s last breath is the bare truth.There are examples of Vladimir Putin President of Russia,Xi Jinping President of China manipulating to be in the hot seat till they breath their last and now two fast friends-US President Donald Trump and third time Prime Minister Narendra Modi also do not like to lag behind nourishing this dream.
They only wish to rule by dint of fanning awe and dread but on the contrary not by foresight, pouring good governance as well as delivering the goods selflessly and spiritedly.Having no room for sensitivity,collective wisdom and consensus in their scheme of things, they are guided most of the time by utmost complacency and my way high way optics.The more they unleash fright and horror more they feel awfully insecure and shaken too within because hanging the Damocles sword over the masses’ heads is their best weapon to cling to the topmost office and satisfy their insatiable lust for power- be it by hook or crook !
Donald Trump apprehended BRICS move to float parallel currency to upset his dollar regime, began sounding a note of caution in advance pressing in his imposition of sanctions and tariff war to intimidate various nations creating an upheaval in world trade circles. Hamas took and shook Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu by suprise killing large number of Israel citizens in an attack making many hostages too. Russia-Ukraine war for the past couple of years continues unabated.There are only rumours agog of cease fires of these four fighting forces and their allies but all in vain.The pall of trauma still looms large over the fierce invasions of drone, missile and air strikes of Palestine-Israel and Russia-Ukraine people as hospitals and schools with impunity are targetted where innocent men, women, students and children are bombarded to death. These leaders have no qualms but just to satisfy their whims and ego they can go to the worst possible extent.On April 4, about one hundred Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes including 14 children and five women in Darul Arqam School in Tuffah.
A bird’s eyeview of India too rings alarming bells with an atmosphere of stress and strain prevalent among the populace in the country.It is courtesy those at the helm of affairs of the nation. They feeling insecure all the time in their heart of hearts do not spare either any bait or bid to keep residents under constant trepidation to grind their own political axe.
Running short of natural – befitting answers and ideas to the burning and sensitive questions on Trump bashing of India and changing global scenario,in parliament the frightened NDA regime at Centre did not feel shy of hiding behind the passing of Wakf Board Amendment bill resisted tooth and nail by the INDIA bloc and aggrieved Muslim community in both houses only to distract public attention.Then in Maharashtra the threats of digging up of the grave of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb tension in Mumbai, further Bihar Janta Dal (United) Minority Cell leader Anjum Ara apprehending backlash from Muslim community alleged that canards were being spread among minority community by the opposition,the hosts abruptly left the press conference in a huff to escape tough questions of news persons in Patna on April 5.Then standup comedian Kunal Kamra facing the music for his controversial remarks about former Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde,Baramati Member Parliament and NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule blowing hot and cold over the possibility of ban on former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s book Diary of A Home Minister coming out with certain sensational revelations deeming it a move to do away with the freedom of speech ! These players are some how or the other are a victim of lurking fear alike on both the sides.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee was bewildered when the Apex Court found the selection of over 25000 teaching and non-teaching staff of government aided schools of Bengal to be “Tainted beyond redemption” upholding the dismissal orders of Calcutta High Court showing the door to these employees.Desperately perturbed TMC supremo Mamta Banerjee reacted bitterly and paradoxically saying,will follow but cannot accept making it clear that the supreme court order would be implemented but selection process will be repeated, as personally she refused to accept the verdict.The sacked victims are also awe stricken whether selected fairly or unfairly because at least a few might have been selected on merit.
Bypassing the legal system and the law of land, a new norm of “bulldozer justice” is spreading its wings very swiftly,where in many states-to begin with Uttar Pradesh,Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Punjab and Uttarkhand the governments have begun bulldozing buildings and its belongings on the pretext of some family member being found accused in one or the other untoward incident anywhere in the state. The corrupt,offensive and illegal acts have in present set up assumed very queer and changed connotations. Despite the apex court bench of Justices BR Gavai and K.V. Vishwanathan November 13, 2024 pan-India guidelines orders pertaining to bulldozer action, recently in light of violence in Nagpur (Maharashtra), state blatantly resorted to it throwing to winds with impunity the nation’s topmost court guidelines.If states are to grab the role of judiciary then what is fun of having the supreme court,high courts,sub-ordinate courts, law universities and colleges in the country?
It is often heard that the high courts and the supreme court take suo moto notice of some illegal,corrupt or offensive act but none took any such notice in case of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who was accused of rupees eleven thousand crore irrigation scheme by none other than Prime Minister Modi himself in public domain in Madhya Pradesh.The apex court did not take notice of another Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of his switching sides rising to the top position of Chief Minister by alleged shrewd horse trading and manipulative tactics. Despite the supreme court’s order of deeming Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s act to be unconstitutional but Shinde continued to enjoy the fruits of his labour for over two years in wake of earlier on fearing the claws of the Enforcement Directorate drawing too close to his neck.
Very amazingly, agony, anguish and chaos in India and then ultimately in the world vary from leader to leader and place to place.Manipur mayhem and on boil for more than a year had very pathetic and horrible feelings for the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi but something very normal for PM Modi,the President of India Mrs. Droupadi Murmu and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar as they did not deem it fit to spare time sometime to visit this trouble torn state.For Bharatiya Janata Party Sandeshkhali gang rape horror case was very gruesome.For the President Droupadi Murmu the rape and murder of a female doctor in RG Medical College Hospital Calcutta was very brutal but Bilkis Banu rape and murders of her kith and kin did not move her at all.Fair, foul, legal,illegal,dreadful, dauntless have become relative terms these days swapping places according to the time and persons.
In such a scenario, Guru Ji Dr.Tagore from heavens must be lamenting over his act of composing this poem about 115 years ago finding his thoughts and wish to be very irrelevant and good for nothing in the turbulent times of the day now the world turning out to be a “Theatre of Absurd and Awe” on social, economic,cultural and political fronts.
What is the fun of then sticking to offices sheer quantitatively and decoratively in term of years and numbers game but they must govern qualitatively coming up to the expectations of their people harmonising and aromatising an amiable, peaceful,humane and prosperous world order scattering small bits of sweet fragrance,beauty and pleasure hither and thither in just brief spells.
Where do five veto power nations USA, China,Russia,France and United Kingdom and the umbrella of the world United Nations,World Trade Organisation,World Health Organisation,World Bank and International Monetary Fund stand and matter in the present ferocious a global aura? Will they still bother or care at all or not?
In all humility,the bigwigs of the world must go through these beautiful and sublime lines of a celebrated English poet Ben Jonson’s poem “The Noble Nature”:
“In small proportions,we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be.”
Prof PK Sharma Freelance Journalist, Associate Professor of English (Retired), Pom Anm Nest,BARNALA
