The Moral Compass

Mahatma Gandhi was a moral force, the like of whom India has not seen after his martyrdom, which we commemorate annually on 30th January, five days after the Republic Day celebrations. I was born many years after Gandhi’s assassination and I still remember the one minute silence we had to maintain on this day for many years during my schooling. Our teachers, who had experienced the dark shadow of the day when Gandhi migrated to his eternal abode, used to remind us of Jawaharlal Nehru’s immortal words of the light having passed away. Gandhi was more than a great leader. A moral force. A saint.

Having gone through President Pranab Mukherjee’s  eve of Republic Day address to the nation, I found these words most relevant and worth pondering: “It is time for the nation to reset its moral compass.”

It is long since we have heard such words from any leader of eminence, official or otherwise. On the contrary, every contemporary leader seems to be reluctant to speak of morality. The only references are to moral policing, moral brigades and moral hypocrites. True. No one speaks of moral authority because there is hardly a public leader with moral authority in India. In the absence of any, we only pay lip service to the Mahatma. Our powerful media also forgets him on the Martyr’s Day when the nation should be reminded of his sacrifice.

How can we reset our moral compass if our moral authority is on the decline?

Is there a moral force?

Does our religion, whichever it may be, give due importance to morality?

The rituals, customs and traditions of our religions, with the support of technology, hold sway over the followers while the voice that upholds moral teachings is almost lost in the dust and din of our festivities with glittering lights and deafening sound.

The voice of morality is a voice in the wilderness.

The President said: ”There is the law of the land. But there is also a higher law.”

When we break the law of the land with impunity, we weaken our Republic. When we break the higher law, “we wound the soul of our civilization.” As it happened when six men brutalized a young woman in a moving bus in our capital city last December. As it happened when a seven year old girl was sexually assaulted in a school in our port town in Goa. As it happens every day, every night with increasing frequency in our modern India.

Where Is the moral compass? And how are we going to reset it?

The Mahatma spoke of seven deadly sins: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, and politics without principle.

Our religious texts are full of teachings about the ideal life that we should live. All religious directives can be reduced to a common maxim: Do unto others what you expect others to do unto you.

Instead of searching for the common truth in our religious texts, we are busy misusing our religions to divide people, build prejudice and hatred which results in blind violence. As Gandhi said, an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

The preamble of our constitution is an inspiring document which enshrines the soul of our civilization: equality, liberty and fraternity.

What better guidance can we seek than that which is encoded in all scriptures and our own constitution of India? 

The code of morality is already there in the compass. Are the pointers missing? Or are the pointers not sharp and clear? What is it that can drive the pointers to move?

The moral force. The moral authority. This force, this authority is different from the mere authority of the state or government. While law enforcing authority is very much required and derives its power from the laws of the state, the moral authority derives its power from the soul of our civilization and culture, from a higher power. Mere pious talk will not do. Example is better than precept. The person who inspires others to practice the moral code, should also be an inspiration himself or herself.

We need morally tall persons to be the pointers in the moral compass.

We don’t have to look at others or at established leaders to fill this vacancy. Each of us - whether parents, teachers, executives, directors, legislators, ministers, physicians, engineers, writers or priests (list not exhaustive) – has the potential to rise up to the occasion. 

Vacancy not advertised. It is the need of the hour. It is the cry of our civilization.

As James Q Wilson says it: “Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.”

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 03.02.2013

The Chalice of Poison

The week has been full of events related to change of guard in national parties: building consensus for peaceful transition of power. These events take place in political parties after a period of time as required by their constitutions. This time it happened in both the main national parties within the span of a week’s time: the formal anointing of Rahul Gandhi as Vice-President of the Congress, and the election of Rajnath Singh as President of the BJP. Both will be key players in the run up to the general elections due in 2014.

It is not on these events and their consequences that I will comment but on the powerful message that was conveyed to the party and the nation by the acceptance speech of Rahul Gandhi. It was a speech that touched hearts, evoked memories and inspired hope. A speech I will not forget even if it does not turn out to be a turning point in the immediate future. It has the potential to inspire, to warn, to bring about change.

The crown of power comes with the chalice of poison.

But the one who wears the crown does not necessarily have to drink the poison. He or she has to make the choice, a very difficult choice in the face of circumstances that may camouflage poison as honey. One has to be shrewd and aware all the time because the poison will always be there.

Rahul referred in his speech to the “dark and cold” at dawn when he began his day outside in the balcony at Jaipur. He may as well have been referring to the cold darkness in the corridors of power. His father, the late Rajiv Gandhi, had in his first year as prime minister often mentioned his wish to free the administration from the clutches of power brokers. He had meant well, but must have realized in the course of time how well entrenched the brokers were in the dark corridors of power. Rahul spoke of alienation and mediocrity: “People are angry because they are alienated from the system, their voices trampled upon…Our systems are designed to keep people with knowledge out.” Was he talking of the marginalized sections and the very poor whose legitimate demands are always met with deaf ears? Of those who are crushed by the might of the establishment when they choose to protest and agitate? It is true that Rahul has tried his best to meet the weaker sections and understand their problems during the last eight years as MP. He has, no doubt, shown that he has a socialist bent of mind like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

“It was dark and cold and I decided I’m not going to tell you only what you wanted to hear… (but) a little bit about what I feel… about hope and power.”(Rahul Gandhi)

I hope Rahul will also listen to what he does not want to hear, a little about what the people feel, and not be guided only by official statistics. India is such a huge country where feelings and facts can be drowned in a sea of statistics.

I should say that Rahul has begun well. His performance from now will be measured by many methods, among them the inspiring words he spoke. Words that touched hearts and brought tears. I will now share with you what touched me most: “Last night every single one of you congratulated me. But last night my mother came to my room and she cried… because she understands that the power so many people seek is actually a poison… The only antidote to this poison is that we should not become attached to it. We should not chase power. We should only use it to empower the voiceless.”

Power should never be the end but the means to a worthy end: empowering the people. Whenever power becomes an end, it becomes a poison. The poison that kills slowly. It kills others but it also kills the one who wields it.

Sonia Gandhi made a historical mark when she renounced ministerial power in 2004. That decision, in the Indian tradition as she said, marked her apart from other politicians. When she advises her son on matters of power, she does it from experience and from a position of strength. 

The greatness of power is when it is used as tool for service. The more the power, the more the capacity to serve and empower others.

The chalice of poison will be wherever the crown of power is. The greatness of a leader lies in his ability to wear the crown while keeping the chalice away. If Rahul manages to maintain this balance, we can hope for a better future for India. 

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 27.01.2013