The congress spokesperson Abhisekh Spokesperson, Abhisekh Manu Singhvi seems to have run out of his wits or arguments or both. For, in trying to mount an attack on Bhairon Singh Sekhawat’s candidature for President, he made a patently absurd statement. That in 1942 when the Quit India Movement was on, Sekhawat, instead of joining the freedom movement, joined the police force to earn a living. As long as the Congress talks about the involvement or the non involvement of the RSS in the freedom movement there may be some sort of a fig leaf of an ideological cover , though the elections for the presidency are all about upholding the constitution as it exists today an not about what the past might have held. That Sekhawat has done in his role as Vice President and earlier as Chief Minister of Rajasthan fairly eminently.
But by making this patently absurdly statement, the Congress has raised the question that requires some pondering – what constitutes patriotism, what constitutes love for the nation, what is responsible citizenship. Abhisekh Singhvi, having running out of ammunition might have been trying to make an under the belt attack on Sekhawat, but these questions arise. By saying that in 1947, Sekhawat joined the police when the Quit India Movement was on, what is he trying to say? That the whole country then should have abandoned their jobs, functions and roles and gathered on the streets doing hartal and contributed to social anarchy? Would that have been a helpful contribution to the freedom movement?
When doctors keep vigil in the hospitals , police fight crime and maintain social order, farmers toil in the fields and workers labor in factories, then are they doing some thing constructive or not ? do their efforts contribute to a nation’s economic, social and political progress and evolution or not? or to serve the nation one has to join some political party – and that too the right political party – (not any one mind, you ) and then block highways and train tracks, may be loot a few shops and make incendiary speeches to make the point that one is serving the nation and performing public service. Those who man telephone exchanges, air traffic controls, post offices, railway stations and numerous other utilities and in the process, also earn a living honorably for themselves, it would seem are not serving the nation, they are serving the devil.
Let us face it, a big mass of the so called national leaders who led the Quit India Movement had deep pockets or had backers like G.D.Birla who had such pockets. Without such silent backers who made their money doing jobs that Mr. Singhvi so disdains, no movement would have lasted. And those who did quit their jobs and hit the streets to agitate and run riot, often lived their lives out in penury after the Quit India movement had run its course, India had won its independence and the British had left.
While the leaders of the day jostled for their chairs and portfolios, no body gave a damn for the poor worker. Often they had to go back to school or college to make up for the years they had lost and the leaders of the day did not even create a fast track option for those who had sacrificed their years to get an education, get employed and get back on their feet. There was no Freedom Fighter’s Administration in India like the Veteran’s Administration in India to look after their interests. That meant that for bulk of the people who were participants in the Quit India Movement there was little option but to live off their relatives in abject dependence or off measly pensions and tamra patras which often had to be obtained by greasing palms. While honest, upright political national leaders are important and are an asset to any nation, the contribution of the sincere and silent worker, be it a post man or a police man is not to be disdained. Unfortunately, Mr. Singhvi has done just that.
But by making this patently absurdly statement, the Congress has raised the question that requires some pondering – what constitutes patriotism, what constitutes love for the nation, what is responsible citizenship. Abhisekh Singhvi, having running out of ammunition might have been trying to make an under the belt attack on Sekhawat, but these questions arise. By saying that in 1947, Sekhawat joined the police when the Quit India Movement was on, what is he trying to say? That the whole country then should have abandoned their jobs, functions and roles and gathered on the streets doing hartal and contributed to social anarchy? Would that have been a helpful contribution to the freedom movement?
When doctors keep vigil in the hospitals , police fight crime and maintain social order, farmers toil in the fields and workers labor in factories, then are they doing some thing constructive or not ? do their efforts contribute to a nation’s economic, social and political progress and evolution or not? or to serve the nation one has to join some political party – and that too the right political party – (not any one mind, you ) and then block highways and train tracks, may be loot a few shops and make incendiary speeches to make the point that one is serving the nation and performing public service. Those who man telephone exchanges, air traffic controls, post offices, railway stations and numerous other utilities and in the process, also earn a living honorably for themselves, it would seem are not serving the nation, they are serving the devil.
Let us face it, a big mass of the so called national leaders who led the Quit India Movement had deep pockets or had backers like G.D.Birla who had such pockets. Without such silent backers who made their money doing jobs that Mr. Singhvi so disdains, no movement would have lasted. And those who did quit their jobs and hit the streets to agitate and run riot, often lived their lives out in penury after the Quit India movement had run its course, India had won its independence and the British had left.
While the leaders of the day jostled for their chairs and portfolios, no body gave a damn for the poor worker. Often they had to go back to school or college to make up for the years they had lost and the leaders of the day did not even create a fast track option for those who had sacrificed their years to get an education, get employed and get back on their feet. There was no Freedom Fighter’s Administration in India like the Veteran’s Administration in India to look after their interests. That meant that for bulk of the people who were participants in the Quit India Movement there was little option but to live off their relatives in abject dependence or off measly pensions and tamra patras which often had to be obtained by greasing palms. While honest, upright political national leaders are important and are an asset to any nation, the contribution of the sincere and silent worker, be it a post man or a police man is not to be disdained. Unfortunately, Mr. Singhvi has done just that.
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