My Experiments with Truth Romance of revolution died on 13th Feb 2004 (Part 1)

Fight between VPs Mandal, BJPs Kmandal and Narasimha Raos Bundal (Noton ke Bundel that he used to Purchase MPs) changed India beyond recognition. The man who acted as a catalyst and fused Mandal with Kmandal, Old Economy with New Economy, and Old Politics with New Politics died on 13th Feb 2004 He was Rajeev Goswami Rajeev Goswami??????????????????? Is it possible for you my reader to recollect above mentioned individual? Conducted small telephonic survey and surprisingly (Actually it was more Painful then surprising) none from whom response was sought could recallIt is sad but inevitable that New India doesn't want to remember him Since independence India had its share of social/student movements (They had the normative, value and societal orientation in bits and pieces) 1951 Acharya Vinoba bhaves Bhoodan movement (Normative still value driven and for the benefit of larger society) JP ( Jayprakash Narayan) Movement of 70s (Call for Sampooran Kranti) where in he visited colleges, addressed common man and asked them to work for a change and fight corrupt congress gov. (Value driven and societal in nature) Asom Ganaparishad and AASU movement from 1979-1985 which led to Assam Accord (Normative slightly value driven but not societal) And then in 1990 Student movement to protest against mandal commissions recommendation ( Normative value driven but not societal) These movements were primarily responsible for loads of todays leader 1. Sitaram Yechury/ Prakash karat. 2. Vijay goel/ Arun Jaitley/ Ananth kumar/ Ravi Shankar Prasad and Narendra Modi ( courtesy Nav nirman movement) 3. Or infamous youth brigade of Sanjay Gandhi comprising of kamal Nath/ Ambika Soni / Gulam Nabi Azad etc 1970s was the period when student leaders went in jail to protest against govt. policies and fought for change Come 2000 and student leaders still go to jail but this time on murder and rape charges We have our share of young leaders but 90 % of them are part of dynasty brigade Starting from Rahul Gandhi to Jagat singh (Son of natwar singh), Agatha sangma (Daughter of PA Sangma) to Supriya Sule ( Daughter of Sharad Pawar) and this is the phenomenon which cuts across party line So is it just dynasty politics, muscle or money responsible for disconnect of todays youth from politics This week I try to recollect last student movement which India witnessed in 1990 and the raw energy which separated them from us They were not like us Year 1990 City Gwalior Scene 1 Area Darpan Colony Police Station Time: Evening between 6-7 pm Police official of the rank of Inspector was running like a mad dog in search of a place to hide He stopped a scooter wala and pleaded Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee move Pleaseeeeeeeeee This was the era when a family of four (younger one will be standing in front and elder one will sit in between father and mother) used to travel in their prized possession scooter (most of the times Bajaj chetak / LML Vespa NV) The whole scene was so dramatic that we simply couldnt decode what is going on Then we saw huge crowd buildup in front of the police station Considering our safety my father decided to change the route I had mixed emotion Shock (When I saw crowd trying to burn police station) Fear (When I thought they can hit us ) Amaze (When I saw a policemen running to save his life) Scene 2 Time: Evening between 6-7 pm Area: Barahdari Chowk Distance from Darpan Colony to Barahdari Chauraha is hardly 2-3 Km but it took us 15 min to reach. Again huge crowd trying to burn MPSRTC (Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) bus Easy victim to show anger towards state and its policies I can recall the furry and anger with which they were throwing almost every single stone available on road Then someone brought a plastic bottle filled with kerosene/diesel/petrol (I dont know what type of liquid they used but one thing was clear that the resultant fire didnt generate as much heat as was visible on their facesThat was the last time when India youth came out in full force on ground to protest against formidable rival i.e. state and probably closest to a revolution for change) Thanks to some self appointed traffic regulators who saved us from this mob furry and advised us to change the route (via army cantonment/ baaj talkies) Scene 3 Time: 8:30 PM Area: Aadarsh Nagar Morar Salma Sultan (For those who cannot recollect she was famous female news anchor at doordarshan): Most of the Indian cities have witnessed huge rise in violence and protest against prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singhs Implementation of mandal commission report Mark Tully (BBC Correspondent who is till date known for his coverage of Babri Masjid demolition) compared this youth movement with Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran minus Ayatollah Khomeini She continued Then India got one when Rajeev Goswami attempted self-immolation in front of Deshbandhu College in South Delhi, this was the turning point in anti-Mandal agitation What followed it was absolute state of anarchy I saw students trying to burn almost anything and everything belonging to state and then they started following Rajeev Some claimed Mandal commission report implementation as VP singhs tool to fight against Kmandal of BJP For us (youth born in late 70s and early 80s) this was our first and last (Because I believe after that and till date India as a whole has not seen any mass movement let alone student activism) brush with raw energy We stayed in Gwalior till 1996 and from 1990 to 1996 every year one family from thatipur published remembrance of their only son who sat himself ablaze to protest against mandal commission and died Dear .. Every year as this day approaches we search you and find you in every nook and corner of this house thinking that you will come out of that door or may be we will find you with your books in your study or may be in kitchen searching for something to cookEvery day we search for you dont know when this search will end Every day we pray to god that next time whenever you come to earth please be with us only Ruth T George:-When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today Drops of salty water come out of my eyes Even after almost 20 years as I try to remember that face on last page of Dainik bhaskar They changed India forever they pushed Govt. to act, They asked difficult questions, They chose to develop their own path, They fought with the state They said we are not like you silent stupid majority which never speaks or stands up to a cause With them died romance of revolution, idealism, anger and spirit of speaking ones mind which used to form core of youth and formed part of the outlet of his/her raw energy With them died habit of questioning I believe Post Mandal economically empowered India produced most selfish and narrow minded youth then ever... Or may be the reason is that People fight when they believe they dont have anything to loose and that was one of the reason why most of the revolutions were driven by youth. However with economic empowerment it is the fear of losing what one currently holds results in a more accommodating class or one without spine They dont question they accept They dont move in an uncharted territory They dont understand socio-economic background of their own people and even bigger worry is that they dont want to You discuss any one of the above mentioned issues and they will display classic addict behavior they will wriggle out of the conversation and will begin to avoid you For them these questions are not just difficult questions they simply dont hold importance Regards, Abhishant Pant Next week With Part 2 I will search for reasons that led to the development of such a socially dead YouthTill then leaving you with few lines of Great Hindi Poet Dushyant Kumar, images of Rajeev goswami and anti mandal protest in Chandigarh. Thanks a Lot Vivek , Shailendra, Vaibhav, Abhay, Pradeep and Sourabh Jain ( My senior at ICICI Bank) for helping me understand and appreciate this topic in much wider perspective