You can't drive forward by continuously looking in a rearview mirror

Traditions, culture, history, and legacy all connect us with our past. Any country or civilization that is old enough will have enough incidents and achievements to celebrate and feel good about it, at the same time, there will be incidents about which they owe an apology to a certain section of their society. Old civilizations like the Chinese, Indians, or Romans are no exceptions to it. History is not only about glorious triumphs or grand wars or golden eras, but it is also about racism, casteism, gender discrimination, massacres, and exploitation of certain sections of society at the hands of a few privileged ones. It won't be an exaggeration to say that each golden era of any civilization is associated with some sort of travesty inflicted on some section of society. This is true irrespective of which country or civilization we are talking about. However, there will be very few from that corresponding country or civilization to acknowledge this fact, rather, we can find many who either deny or try to justify even the ugliest or most cruel historical incidents.

Learning lessons from history is important, that is why we study history, it is not just important to know what happened, but also important to know why happened. Also, if we don't feel sorry, bad, disgusted, apologetic, or angry while studying history, then we may be studying something but not real history. There is no country or civilization that does not have skeletons buried in their closet. As I mentioned, there are some bright spots in every civilization, and it is important to know about them. But the problem arises when in the mode of hyper-nationalism, people highlight only bright spots and cover up or worse, blatantly deny some inconvenient truths. The result of this is that the most vocal class of such societies keeps on indulging in past glories. They fall in love with their past so much, that they do not even recognize that their current situation is not even close to the so-called golden era about which they are harping. It is like trying to drive a vehicle on a highway by continuously looking in a rear-view mirror.

The rear-view mirror has its utility, one has to look at it occasionally while driving to check on the surroundings. One cannot look in the rear-view mirror and drive forward, if we do that we are bound to crash. Check your present situation and think about how to move forward, know about your competition today, and design a strategy to compete based on what you have today. If I want to win a gold medal in the Olympics, then I need to train hard and compete with my fellow contestants, not brag about my grandfather winning Olympic gold, such bragging is not going to help me a bit to win any medal or even get qualified for that event, rather, others might feel pity for my situation. This is what is happening in countries where hyper-nationalism is on the rise, they are forgetting that their competitors are getting better day by day, by thumping their chest about their past glories they are not doing any good to their current situation but helping their competitors to get better and better. Hopefully, these people realize their mistakes and shift their gaze from the rear-view mirror. Because if they don't, all they can go is in the reverse direction. The more one indulges in the past, the more one loses connection with the present, this is true for an individual, group, or country.  Learn from the past to create a better future for everyone, for things from the past apologize or salute and move on, don't get stuck.

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Who owns Jawaharlal Nehru?

The ugly spat between Congress and BJP, the two largest national parties of India over the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru during the celebration of his 125th birth anniversary has generated a lot of political drama. The issue was really a trivia. The Congress party organized an international symposium to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. They invited leaders from various political parties (like Mamta Banerjee from Trinamool) to take part in the symposium but not the current prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi. This has created a political storm and wrestling match between the BJP and Congress over who owns the legacy of Nehru. Who can appropriate Nehru and who can't. This controversy is totally unnecessary and displays the primitive and shallow nature of politics which both national parties are trying to play just to score some brownie points. One can agree or disagree with Nehru's policies, one can analyze or criticize his tenure as first prime minister of India, but one can not deny his contribution to India's freedom struggle and his role in establishing a democratic system in India. One also can not ignore his role in recognizing the importance of science and scientific aptitude for a young country like India. He took an active interest and all the necessary steps to establish some of the major scientific institutes which we cherish even today. No leader is perfect, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and that is why we debate and discuss them, and Nohru or Gandhi were no different. But it is really unfortunate to see such a pathetic tug-of-war between two major political parties over the legacy of a national icon.

The question people are asking is, who owns Nehru? Is he Congress party's personal property as he belonged and represented Congress for his entire political career? Is he the personal property of the Nehru-Gandhi family which is still a major player in Indian politics? Do India and its people own him as he was their first prime minister? According to me, no single political party or family owns the legacy of a leader like Nehru. Of course, the family in which such individuals are born and parties or people with whom they were directly or indirectly associated might feel more strongly for them, but any public figure is open to praise or criticism by anyone. Saying that only Congress can appropriate Nehru and no one else should dare to honor him or celebrate his birth anniversary is a sign of extreme narrow-mindedness. National icons belong to the entire country irrespective of any party or group. It is not easy to become a national icon, winning an election is fine, becoming prime minister or chief minister is also okay but not every PM or CM becomes a national icon and Jawaharlal Nehru has the status of an international icon. He belongs to everyone. Any praise and criticism about his policies or actions should not be considered a direct attack on his legacy or personality. People who don't believe in Nehru's ideology or his policies are free to disagree with him or criticize him. Of course, people will feel odd if the group or party that continuously insults and discredits Nehru or Gandhi suddenly tries to claim their legacy. At the same time, one also should understand that people may change their opinion and if now suddenly they feel that Gandhi or Nehru's policies or ideas were right, and they should respect them, then this opportunity should be given to them. Only time will tell us what the real purpose behind the sudden change of hearts of these groups is. One should not doubt anyone's intentions without any evidence, a chance must be given to prove that their feelings and intentions are honest.

I feel this drama was totally avoidable and unnecessary. Unfortunately, political parties are making personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, or Sardar Patel tools of political tug-of-war between them (especially Congress and BJP). Both parties are actually insulting these people by engaging in such public spats. The whole of India is proud of these people and everyone who is influenced by their work should celebrate their legacy, at the same time, any constructive criticism should also be welcomed. No particular party should claim ownership of these national icons. I hope this controversy settles down soon and we get to celebrate the real legacy of these people. Let's hope that people remember them for the work they have done for India not just because of the party they represented.

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[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]