Grama Swaraj alone can bring Real Swaraj to India

Confluence, the NSEF Annual convention 2010 with the theme, "Social Entreprenuership and Youth" has truly been a great congruence as its literal meaning suggests. The MLR Convention Hall was fully packed with more than 300 audience passionate about social entreprenuership listening to some of the great and inspiring talks and discussions by social entreprenuers and leaders. Kudos to the whole organising team -Yashveer, Nitesh, Nishanth, Gaurav, Sujoy, Srikumar, Anil, Devendar etc for succesfully organising such a wonderful conference.

I was fortunate enough to be called by the organising team to present the inaugural address for such a great conference. Following is the text of the inaugural address.

On this great occasion, in the presence of such an august audience, let me begin my speech by sharing a few words about the greatest social entrepreneur of this country and probably the greatest of the whole world, Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi was not an emperor, not a military general, not a president, not a prime minister. He was neither a rich business man like a Tata or a Birla or a Ambani. He is neither a Harward MBA nor a Stanford MBA nor a religious leader. Yet he has touched lives of almost every Indian through his innovative approach and inspiring leadership. Being an adamant idealist, courageous fighter, a deep thinker, and a great leader of men and ideas, he could challenge the complex socio political problem of independence and fight for it. He identified himself with struggles and pains of the common Indians and became the champion of the downtrodden and the exploited. With a strong determination and commitment for common people, for their rights and dignity and with a powerful and innovative approach, he has not only championed the cause of millions of Indians but he has also stood as an example and as an inspiration for every Indian. His nature of thinking big, his dedication to cause and his deep rooted ethics have made him rise from a common man to a Mahatma.

His life and his work are great sources of inspiration for everyone right from the older generations to the generations to come, especially for people aspiring to become social entrepreneurs. Without Gandhiji’s inspiration, we would have never witnessed Martin Luther King Junior's "I have a dream" speech, or Nelson Mandela's struggle against antiapartheid in South Africa. Gandhiji has also been an inspiration to many other great social leaders and entrepreneurs like Vinobha Bhave who fought for land reforms, Jai Prakash Narayan who brought back the country from the darkness of emergency. I have no doubt in saying that Gandhiji is a perfect role model for each one of us who wants to challenge social problems for the welfare of the people. Even if his methods and principles cannot be practiced by each and every one, at least if one can understand the spirit of his thoughts, that can help us in bringing a great change. His deep rooted ethics, commitment to common man’s cause and courage are the qualities that are needed to be imbibed by every social entrepreneur to achieve high in his entrepreneurial deeds.

India after having achieved independence under the leadership of such a great leader and social entrepreneur is today facing a very peculiar situation. India is growing rapidly at a growth rate of 7%/8%. Stock exchanges are hitting 20,000 mark, India is competing with world leaders in science, atomic power and India is organizing prestigious common wealth games, India is witnessing huge infrastructural development in cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore. But friends India is not just the metros. India is just not the booming stock markets. As Gandhiji said, India lives in village. Villages are the heart of our country. It is the culture, tradition, the customs and the life style that exists in villages which defines India.

Villages used to be self reliant. Village used to produce all the products and services by its people. Village used to have farms which produce the agri products, they used to have small flour machines and mills which process agri products, villages used to have carpenters, potters, excellent craftsmen, artists, land surveyors, architects, peasants, priests, teaches etc. Villages by producing the required products and services on their own in their villages in turn used to provide livelihood for its people. Village by itself used to be a separate world with its own resources and the system. But, today such villages are in a big chaos. With the of effects globalization slowly entering into villages and with the political leaders lacking a long term vision and strategy, with the Government adopting unthoughtful and illogical policies, our villages are put to chaos. Traditional occupations are slowly getting extinct. Traditional cottage industries are facing lot of pressures. Our craftsmen who once earned name and fame across the world for their expertise are today losing their livelihoods in villages and moving to Dubai and other Arab countries for third grade jobs. Due to climatic changes and due to illegal human intervention, lakes are disappearing; cultivable lands are becoming arid lands. Due to modern methods of farming and due to high cost fertilizers and seeds, farming is becoming expensive and becoming an ineffective value proposition for farmer. Costs of farming have gone up. Farmers are leaving farming. And as a result, Farmer who is the provider of food for the country, who once used to live with a great pride and dignity, is today working as labor in those SEZs, in small companies in urban areas.

Such is the condition of our villages, the real India. It is in this context, Social entrepreneurship assumes a far greater relevance than ever. It is in this context, social entrepreneurship assumes a greater significance than ever. It is in these pressing times, social entrepreneurship becomes a greater necessity than ever. And friends, it needs young and dynamic minds with full of energy and enthusiasm, with a complete understanding of the core of our country and with a commitment for the cause. It needs such youth who can pursue social entrepreneurship and challenge the socio economic problems of this country who can change the fate of this country. It needs such dynamic leaders who can put Gandhiji thoughts of Grama Swaraj into implementation who can bring the real Swaraj to the nation. And it’s in this context, NSEF has chosen “Social Entrepreneurship and Youth” as the theme for this confluence, The NSEF’s annual convention 2010.

I have started Nirmaan four years back when I was studying in BITS Pilani. It’s a non-profit organization which provides education and employment opportunities to unprivileged people. A good number of my batch mates and juniors joined the efforts and spent more hours with Nirmaan than they did attending classes. The result is that we were able to provide help to a considerable number of people. But the model was not sustainable. Four years of grass roots experience in Nirmaan has taught me that charity has its limitations and that it’s not a practical approach to lead sustainable solutions for addressing social problems even though charity has a continued place in society for its welfare. That’s when I realized that we need to help people build organizations that can apply innovation along with powerful tools and techniques to develop sustainable solutions.

In Mar 2009, I shared my thoughts of need for promotion of social entrepreneurship with a few of my colleagues, Sri Kumar and Yashveer at Nirmaan. And the result is what we are seeing today. NSEF with the sole aim of promoting social entrepreneurship among youth, with efforts and dedication by NSEF members, NSEF has grown from one member to three members and from one chapter at BITS Pilani to 6 chapters at Goa, IIM Lucknow, IT Kharagpur, Mount Carmel Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, BITS Hyderabad etc. conducting various events like NSEF Idea conferences, Start up exhibitions, business competitions, internships etc. Through its chapters, NSEF has been putting efforts to empower the students by exposing them to the field of social entrepreneurship. As a part of its activities, NSEF conducts an annual convention every year. In this year’s one day annual convention, we would have a series of talks by experts, panel discussions on various upcoming trends in the field by renowned social entrepreneurs and social leaders, interactive sessions among the audience etc. Convention would act as a learning platform for the audience where we discuss various topics related to social entrepreneurship and how youth can pursue it to challenge complex socio economic problems.

Friends, Swami Vivekananda, the greatest patriot of this country who has let the whole world know about greatness of our country and the culture and the traditions over here through his speeches has once said “Give me hundred pure and selfless men and women, I will shake the world”. I pray to God to let this conference inspiration to atleast ten of us whom Swami Vivekananda wanted. With this, I wish you all the best for the next 8 hours of inspiring and learning sessions.

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

May our victorious organized power of action and social entrepreneurial deeds, with God’s Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our supremacy and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.

Is This Gandhi Real or Duplicate?

The Indian media specially the Indian English media often refers Rahul Gandhi as the youth leader of the country. Each time I hear such statements, it wonders me. How can someone at the age of 39 be called as a youth leader! Isn’t it funny? Under what definition someone at the age of 39 be called as youth? Had he got married at the age of 20, he would have probably had a son or a daughter of age 18 or 19. What would have this media called them? Kids? Ok fine. For the moment, Let’s agree to media’s argument that Rahul at the age of 39 is a youth leader. Then, what happened to Agatha K Sangma, Jyotiraditya Scindia who, Sachin Pilot, Dushyant Singh who are younger to Rahul and who are doing very well in political field? Are they not Indians or are they not youth? Why don’t the media call them as youth? Can’t the media calculate their ages using simple calculations? Are they so poor in simple arithmetic? Probably their arithmetic logic is different. It’s because Rahul is from Gandhi family and he is from the congress party, they call him youth at the age of 39. I think that’s the only logic that they can apply to call him so. Else, no other logic in the world can help them say so. And the funniest part is that Rahul Gandhi himself calls as a Youth leader. I am not sure how he says so? I think he should keep meeting his classmates and batch mates every now and then to help him realize that he is no more a youth.

Here are some of the statements he has made which I would like to analyze to understand how matured Mr.Gandhi is.

During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign in 2007, Rahul Gandhi said that "if anyone from the Gandhi-Nehru family had been active in politics then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen". What an arrogant statement? Isn’t it a statement that underestimates and insult the socio-political talent in this country? Does that mean that only Gandhi family has the capability and the eligibility to rule this country? Has Indian constitution laid down any special provision that Gandhis alone can capture Gaddi in this country? I am not sure if Mr.Gandhi is unaware of the Sikh Riots that his own party has initiated during his grandmother’s reign? Or is he conveniently and wantedly forgetting this fact? One must understand the fact that none of the non Gandhi family congress leaders, be it Patel or Lal Bahadur Shastri or P V Narsimha rao, neither of them are recognized and remembered by congress party for their contributions to their party and to this nation.

In another instance, Mr Gandhi says its congress party alone which can protect and preserve democracy in India and that he would continue the tradition. Isn’t it a big joke? Isn’t it congress which has misused article 356 more than 100 times to dismiss the democratically elected state governments formed by non congress parties? Isn’t it congress party which distributed cash in the house of Parliament to protect their Government? Isn't it his Grand mother who has thrown this country into a complete darkness by illegally imposing emergency? Should we assume that he is unaware of such kind of worst history of congress and making such kind of statements? Probably for him, preserving and protecting democracy in India means preserving and protecting congress party and their Governments in India either by hook or crook.

In his recent congress youth meetings, he said there are equal opportunities for youth in congress party. Isn’t a hypocritical statement? Can ever in congress party, a term called equal opportunity exist? Can a party that’s known for its hereditary politics talk about equal opportunity. Let’s assume for the moment what he said is true, then how the hell Rahul has become the head of Youth Congress as soon he entered politics? When there were so many youth leaders working for the party for years? Can someone ever in congress’s history other than Gandhis occupy the Presidnet position? In my view, Gandhis have no moral right to talk about equal opportunity in politics.

Recently when Kashmir started burning and when everyone is so worried about the tensions prevailing there and when almost all the leaders in the power and in opposition including the PM and the opposition leader are worried about the way state Government handled the situation and taken the decisions, Mr. Gandhi showered Omar with appreciation saying Omar is handling the situation very well. Isn’t it a testimony for Mr.Gandhi’s judgment skills? Isn’t it an indication of what will happen to this Nation if Mr Gandhi is made the PM?

In a meeting yesterday at Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi equated RSS and SIMI and also added that the only difference is that SIMI is a banned organization while RSS is not. Both question and answer lies in his statement. He himself says SIMI is banned and RSS is not. Then how the hell this Gandhi scion says RSS and SIMI are same? If RSS is a terrorist group, then doesn’t his Government ban RSS? Had he even attended RSS shaka to comment on RSS? Had he at least tried to know what happens in an RSS shaka to comment on RSS?

The swayamsevaks in their daily shakas sing the following verses in their daily prayer:

mahaa mangale punya bhoome twadarthe
patatwesha kaayo namaste namaste

which means that let our bodies be perished in the service of the motherland

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

Which means “May our victorious organised power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.”

Can such patriots be compared with terrorists? Can a Vajpayee and a SIMI terrorist be compared? Is Kalam and Kasab equal? By making such statements, Rahul only proves his immaturity and poor judgment skills. Now, it’s up to the nation to think if they want such a person to lead this great nation. They need to realize if they want a Real Gandhi and Gandhian principles or the duplicate Gandhis and their appeasement policies and their power politics.

Ram lalla wins the title of the disputed land in Ayodhya

It may sound very unusual. But it's true that Ram lalla in Ayodhya wins the title of the disputed land. Ram lalla was included as the petitioner in the petition filed by Hindus claiming for the title of the land. Indian law in its unique way considers and recognizes even idols as the petitioners. And in its verdict, Allahabad High court yesterday has awarded the title of the main disputed land to Bhagwan Shri Ram Chandra Murthy filling happiness in millions and millions of Hindus who believe that Ram is born at the disputed site.

Finally the path is cleared for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Ram is a symbol of unity, integrity, good governance, victory of truth over evils and protector of the common man. Ram is a national hero for Indians. Bhagwan Ram is the epitome of eternal, inclusive and tolerant culture of India. Courts recognizing and respecting the faith of Indians in such a hero and what he stands for will remain in the history forever. This verdict can be treated as a historic verdict respecting the sentiments of all communities and a verdict that protects the unity of this country and a verdict that believs in Indian culture. The final judgement given by Allahabad High court that the land should be split for all the three parties including Hinuds, Muslims and Akharas should be hailed and welcomed by all Indians belonging to all communities. One shouldn’t expect a better judgment than this.

I think the court's verdict is a befitting reply to all the pseudo secularists who branded all those who believed in Bhagwan Ram and who believed the existence of Temple at Ram Janma Bhoomi as communal. It’s a slap on the face of those pseudo secularists who questioned the belief of Hindus in Holiness and sacredness of ram Janma sthan. It's time to understand what kind of secularism Burka Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai talk every minute and every day misleading this nation. Now, it’s time for everyone to realize who is communal and who is secular. It’s time for people to understand who fought for truth and who fought for vote bank.

It’s time for Muslims also to realize that they are being used as vote bank by pseudo secular parties and that they are misled by certain political parties for their electoral benefits. It's time for them to extend their cooperation for building a magnificent temple for Devine Bhagwan Ram and to invite Hindus cooperation for building a mosque. That will stand as a great example for our secularism and unity. That will strengthen the Indian secularism that we believe in and practice from time immemorial.