Mr Modi, you have betrayed everything that JP stood for

Recalling that RSS and Jan Sangh leaders -- Balasaheb Deoras, AB Vajpayee and LK Advani -- had taken a solemn pledge in JP’s presence to give up communal politics and terminate the RSS-Jan Sangh ‘dual-membership’ in the event of winning the election and forming government at the Centre in 1977, the retired bureaucrat points out that they had assured JP that if any hurdle came up for this, they would not hesitate to disband the RSS. This pledge has of course been dishonoured.

The IAS officer, an ex-army officer, was the District Magistrate at Chandigarh in 1975 and technically his ‘Jailor’ during the Emergency. The two struck a bond and the officer took advantage of their interaction.

The open letter goes on to read as follows:

Dear Modi Ji,

October 8 was the death anniversary and October 11 the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, ‘Lok Nayak’ and the ‘Second Mahatma.’

Do you remember JP, Mr. Modi?

In gratitude to JP for rescuing the Jana Sangh from near-extinction, and making it part of government***, your mentor and former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, paid this tribute way back in 1978: “JP was not merely the name of one person; it symbolised humanity. When one remembered Mr. Narayan two pictures came to one’s mind. One was reminded of Bishmapitamah lying on a bed of arrows. There was only one difference between Bishmapitamah and Mr. Narayan; while the former fought for the Kauravas, the latter fought for Justice. The second picture was one of Christ on the Cross and Mr. Narayan’s life reminded one of Christ’s sacrifices.”

I believe that before you became Prime Minister you had proclaimed JP as your hero and icon, stating that you are a product of the massive movement of youth and students led by this great revolutionary. You had also claimed his legacy.

At least now do you remember him, Mr. Modi?

Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case, because what you have been doing for the last six years and more, and particularly in recent times, amount to the very opposite of the principles and values for which JP lived and died.

Let me remind you of these principles and values, which is the legacy JP left for future generations:

Democracy

“All power and authority of the Sovereign Independent India, its constituent parts and organs of government are derived from the people…It is these people who will control/regulate the use of natural resources for the good of the community and the nation.” ‘Power to the People’ was JP’s democracy mantra.

Freedom

“Freedom became one of the beacon lights of my life and it has remained so ever since…Above all it meant freedom of the human personality, freedom of the mind, freedom of the spirit. This freedom has become a passion of my life and I shall not see it compromised for food, for security, for prosperity, for the glory of the state or for anything else.”

Communalism

“Although almost every religious community had its own brand of communalism, Hindu communalism was more pernicious than the others because Hindu communalism can easily masquerade as Indian nationalism and denounce all opposition to it as being anti-national.”

Development

“Idea of development envisages independent India as sui generis, a society unlike any other, in a class of its own that would not follow the western pattern of mega industrialisation, urbanisation and individuation. India’s would be agro-based people’s economy that would chart out a distinct course in economic growth, which would be need-based, human-scale and balanced while conserving nature and livelihoods. Such a ‘development’ process would be democratic and decentralised.”

Hindutva

“Those who attempt to equate India with Hindus and Indian history with Hindu history are only detracting from the greatness of India and the glory of Indian history and civilization. Such persons, paradoxical though this may seem, are in reality the enemies of Hinduism itself and the Hindus. Not only do they degrade the noble religion and destroy its catholicity and spirit of tolerance and harmony, but they also weaken and put asunder the fabric of the nation, of which Hindus form such a vast majority.”

Hindu Rashtra

“In the long struggle for national freedom there emerged a clear enough concept of a single, composite, non-sectarian Indian nationhood. All those who spoke about divisive and sectarian nationalism -- Hindu or Muslim -- were therefore outside the pale of this nationalism, evolved during the freedom struggle. The hostile and alienating nationalism we hear about today is antithetical to the ethos of freedom struggle and against the belief of all those who helped it evolve.”

RSS

“When, following Gandhiji’s murder, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh was under a shadow, there were many protestations made about its being entirely a cultural organisation. But apparently emboldened by the timidity of the secular forces, it has thrown its veil away and has emerged as the real force behind, and controller of, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The secular protestations of the Jana Sangh will never be taken seriously unless it cuts the bonds that tie it so firmly to the RSS machine. Nor can the RSS be treated as a cultural organisation as long as it remains the mentor and effective manipulator of a political party.” (1968)

“RSS should disband itself and merge with the youth and cultural organisations of the Janata Party and admit Muslims, Christians and members of other communities. RSS should give up the concept of Hindu Rashtra and adopt in its place that of Indian nationhood, which is a secular concept and embraces all communities living in India.” (1977)

Kashmir

“It will be a suicide of our soul, if India tried to suppress the Kashmiri people by force… This would mean providing for the fullest possible autonomy to them. If, in Kashmir, we continue to rule by force and suppress these people and crush them or change the racial or religious character of their state by colonization, or by any other means, then I think that means politically a most obnoxious thing to do. To think that we will eventually wear down the people and force them to accept passively the Union is to delude ourselves.”

Prime Minister, you are 70, and in a few weeks, I will be turning 80. Yet, I do not know whether I am competent to give you advice. So, I will do it with these words that JP had written to the then Prime Minister in 1975: “You inherited a great tradition, noble values and a working democracy. Do not leave behind a miserable wreck of all that. It would take a long time to put it all together again. For it would be put together again, I have no doubt. A people who fought British imperialism and humbled it cannot accept indefinitely the indignity and shame of totalitarianism. The spirit of man can never be vanquished, no matter how deeply suppressed…”

Yours Truly,

Major M. G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd)

Chairman, People-First

(Excerpts from an open letter written to the Prime Minister by the retired bureaucrat, who lives in Chennai)