Pandavas of the modern Mahabharata
"In the happiness of his subjects lies the king's happiness, in their welfare his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects" – Arthashastra by Kautilya, circa 300 BC.
India, as we know, is a land of hoary antiquity, the cradle of civilization and its people are the inheritors of a glorious unbroken cultural tradition whose evolution spans a time interval of over seven millennia. India is endowed with unparalleled diversity and amount of natural wealth and its people have been the pioneers of significant advances the human race has made along with other great and ancient civilizations.
Today’s India appears as an epitome of extreme dichotomy. We are viewed by the world as a third world country, still recovering from a colonial hangover, and struggling to counter the poisonous tides of terrorism, poverty, unemployment and numerous such evils. At the same time we are one of the few nations who possess nuclear weapons and satellite technology, a world class pool of highly skilled professionals and a rapidly expanding economy, to name a few of our great national achievements.
If we analyze our successes and impediments, we would come to a conclusion that the successes we have achieved, be it the Indian IT industry, Green revolution, Operation Flood, Chandrayaan or even the military victories owing to a loyal and professional service rendered by our armed forces to the nation, they are largely removed from electoral politics. As for the large scale problems faced by the country, most would agree that they stem from the rot of corruption and moral decrepitude plaguing our political and administrative system. A complete overhaul of the political setup in the country is needed for progress to be achieved on all fronts.
Starting from the romanticism and hope generated by independence from alien occupation, our political system has witnessed a continuous fall in moral and ethical standards, and it seems now like a vicious cycle which has fractured our society to such an extent that it has turned into a seemingly unwieldy mass of innumerable divergent interest groups.
This reformation of the political system of the country cannot be achieved by exemplary achievements in other spheres removed from it. It has to be initiated from within the system. The conditions prevailing in our country from historical times intrinsically prevent any other political revolution than a democratic one, which may seem as a drawback in the short run, but is a positive aspect of the nature of our society and a byproduct of our history.
Every true nation is like an evolved living organism, and produces resistance to the disease threatening its existence. India has produced in past great warriors, rulers and statesmen and the rise of the forces of national revival can be anticipated in these testing times. Five years ago, a group of patriotic young men decided to constitute a political party, named Lokparitran, for the purpose of relieving India from this distress,. These patriots were the alumni of the Takshashilas and Nalandas of modern India, the Indian Institutes of Technology. What could be more fitting, than the cream of the Indian youth answering the call of the motherland? They left their high paying jobs and lucrative overseas assignments and decided to take a plunge into active politics.
After its formation Lokparitran spread rapidly among the professionals and students in many parts of the country, namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan and the major cities. It tasted its first electoral battle in the form of 2006 Tamilnadu Assembly elections where its candidates polled more votes than the national parties in some of the constituencies.
Every nascent political movement has to undergo a series of very tough survival tests in its initial stages to become a formidable force capable of securing the reins of power. The enthusiasm and romantic idealism, with which the Lokparitran movement was started, could not prove to be a substitute for the political maturity attained through a series of setbacks and the movement faced difficulties in the form of differences, personal, ideological and of functioning style. Some of the founding members parted ways and a new political party named Bharat Punarnirman Dal (www.bpd.org.in) was formed. Most of the original founders and supporters are now a part of the Bharat Punarnirman Dal.
This was certainly disheartening for many of its supporters, to see a split, on the lines of established political parties, and skeptics chided the party for failing in its initial stages of development. But it is important to note that every revolutionary movement goes through these kinds of upheavals in its formative phase. Throughout the history of the world, we see that rapidly succeeding revolutions are a product of an extraordinary leadership exploiting a sudden catastrophe befallen on a fairly united people, and even those movements have had to undergo decades of gestation time. This is not the case with India as the there has been a steady gradual decline in the political standards and there has been a gradual desensitization of the Indian people in its regard.
The Bharat Punarnirman Dal faced difficulties initially in accumulating resources which are necessary for political growth and survival. It has matured over the course of a couple of years and has been able to spread awareness through various media. People across various states are supporting it and the party is now in a position of fighting assembly and parliamentary elections. In Andhra Pradesh, the first electoral victory of the party came in the form of two of the candidates supported by the party winning MLC elections in 2007. The party also contested the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi assembly elections. They are now contesting from 40 seats for the 2009 Loksabha elections.
The chief planks of Bharat Punarnirman Dal are complete nationalism and cleansing politics of corruption and criminalization. Party is also in the process of forming opinions and solutions for the specific issues facing the country through scientific study and deliberations.
Political parties with very similar objectives and agenda have been formed across the nation. Some of the prominent ones are the Loksatta Party by retired IAS officer Jayprakash Narayan (www.loksatta.org), Professionals Party of India (www.ppi.net.in) and Peoples Guardian Party by retired IAS officer Arun Bhatia (www.arunbhatiaelect.com). Loksatta is contesting in Andhra Pradesh for all seats in the assembly and loksabha elections and has been getting a lot of support from the people and has very bright prospects. The Professionals Party of India is contesting two loksabha seats in Mumbai. Mr. Arun Bhatia is a retired IAS officer and is a well known crusader against corruption in administration. He is contesting from the Pune Loksabha seat.
These forces are the Pandavas of a modern Mahabharata, the rays of dawn penetrating the darkness before an impending sunrise. More than anything else, they symbolize a revolt against the degeneration of Indian politics and embody patriotism, morality and idealism at their core. Efforts are on for bringing about a national level co-ordination between them and eventually unify them to realize the ultimate aim of national revival, reconstruction and resurgence.
It is a duty of all of us, nationalists, patriots and right thinking sons and daughters of the motherland to help this great revolution attain its ultimate goal.
Vande Mataram!!
India, as we know, is a land of hoary antiquity, the cradle of civilization and its people are the inheritors of a glorious unbroken cultural tradition whose evolution spans a time interval of over seven millennia. India is endowed with unparalleled diversity and amount of natural wealth and its people have been the pioneers of significant advances the human race has made along with other great and ancient civilizations.
Today’s India appears as an epitome of extreme dichotomy. We are viewed by the world as a third world country, still recovering from a colonial hangover, and struggling to counter the poisonous tides of terrorism, poverty, unemployment and numerous such evils. At the same time we are one of the few nations who possess nuclear weapons and satellite technology, a world class pool of highly skilled professionals and a rapidly expanding economy, to name a few of our great national achievements.
If we analyze our successes and impediments, we would come to a conclusion that the successes we have achieved, be it the Indian IT industry, Green revolution, Operation Flood, Chandrayaan or even the military victories owing to a loyal and professional service rendered by our armed forces to the nation, they are largely removed from electoral politics. As for the large scale problems faced by the country, most would agree that they stem from the rot of corruption and moral decrepitude plaguing our political and administrative system. A complete overhaul of the political setup in the country is needed for progress to be achieved on all fronts.
Starting from the romanticism and hope generated by independence from alien occupation, our political system has witnessed a continuous fall in moral and ethical standards, and it seems now like a vicious cycle which has fractured our society to such an extent that it has turned into a seemingly unwieldy mass of innumerable divergent interest groups.
This reformation of the political system of the country cannot be achieved by exemplary achievements in other spheres removed from it. It has to be initiated from within the system. The conditions prevailing in our country from historical times intrinsically prevent any other political revolution than a democratic one, which may seem as a drawback in the short run, but is a positive aspect of the nature of our society and a byproduct of our history.
Every true nation is like an evolved living organism, and produces resistance to the disease threatening its existence. India has produced in past great warriors, rulers and statesmen and the rise of the forces of national revival can be anticipated in these testing times. Five years ago, a group of patriotic young men decided to constitute a political party, named Lokparitran, for the purpose of relieving India from this distress,. These patriots were the alumni of the Takshashilas and Nalandas of modern India, the Indian Institutes of Technology. What could be more fitting, than the cream of the Indian youth answering the call of the motherland? They left their high paying jobs and lucrative overseas assignments and decided to take a plunge into active politics.
After its formation Lokparitran spread rapidly among the professionals and students in many parts of the country, namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan and the major cities. It tasted its first electoral battle in the form of 2006 Tamilnadu Assembly elections where its candidates polled more votes than the national parties in some of the constituencies.
Every nascent political movement has to undergo a series of very tough survival tests in its initial stages to become a formidable force capable of securing the reins of power. The enthusiasm and romantic idealism, with which the Lokparitran movement was started, could not prove to be a substitute for the political maturity attained through a series of setbacks and the movement faced difficulties in the form of differences, personal, ideological and of functioning style. Some of the founding members parted ways and a new political party named Bharat Punarnirman Dal (www.bpd.org.in) was formed. Most of the original founders and supporters are now a part of the Bharat Punarnirman Dal.
This was certainly disheartening for many of its supporters, to see a split, on the lines of established political parties, and skeptics chided the party for failing in its initial stages of development. But it is important to note that every revolutionary movement goes through these kinds of upheavals in its formative phase. Throughout the history of the world, we see that rapidly succeeding revolutions are a product of an extraordinary leadership exploiting a sudden catastrophe befallen on a fairly united people, and even those movements have had to undergo decades of gestation time. This is not the case with India as the there has been a steady gradual decline in the political standards and there has been a gradual desensitization of the Indian people in its regard.
The Bharat Punarnirman Dal faced difficulties initially in accumulating resources which are necessary for political growth and survival. It has matured over the course of a couple of years and has been able to spread awareness through various media. People across various states are supporting it and the party is now in a position of fighting assembly and parliamentary elections. In Andhra Pradesh, the first electoral victory of the party came in the form of two of the candidates supported by the party winning MLC elections in 2007. The party also contested the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi assembly elections. They are now contesting from 40 seats for the 2009 Loksabha elections.
The chief planks of Bharat Punarnirman Dal are complete nationalism and cleansing politics of corruption and criminalization. Party is also in the process of forming opinions and solutions for the specific issues facing the country through scientific study and deliberations.
Political parties with very similar objectives and agenda have been formed across the nation. Some of the prominent ones are the Loksatta Party by retired IAS officer Jayprakash Narayan (www.loksatta.org), Professionals Party of India (www.ppi.net.in) and Peoples Guardian Party by retired IAS officer Arun Bhatia (www.arunbhatiaelect.com). Loksatta is contesting in Andhra Pradesh for all seats in the assembly and loksabha elections and has been getting a lot of support from the people and has very bright prospects. The Professionals Party of India is contesting two loksabha seats in Mumbai. Mr. Arun Bhatia is a retired IAS officer and is a well known crusader against corruption in administration. He is contesting from the Pune Loksabha seat.
These forces are the Pandavas of a modern Mahabharata, the rays of dawn penetrating the darkness before an impending sunrise. More than anything else, they symbolize a revolt against the degeneration of Indian politics and embody patriotism, morality and idealism at their core. Efforts are on for bringing about a national level co-ordination between them and eventually unify them to realize the ultimate aim of national revival, reconstruction and resurgence.
It is a duty of all of us, nationalists, patriots and right thinking sons and daughters of the motherland to help this great revolution attain its ultimate goal.
Vande Mataram!!
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