Independence, the Smart Way

Most people have problems accepting parts of an idea or an ideology. They prefer an all or nothing choice. In some cases, that makes sense, like when one part of the ideology will necessarily cause a particular consequence that you find abhorrent. Thus, Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian streak is what caused a Bangladesh to be created and also an Emergency to be imposed. But Gujarat’s rating on almost all economic progress parameters is not caused by the BJP’s Hindutva ideology; which means you should be able to admire Modi as CM while still hating Godhra. Unfortunately, most people can’t make such distinctions.

Fortunately for India, during our independence struggle, both Gandhi and Nehru were men capable of such distinctions (I personally don’t agree with either on all their post-independence decisions; but on many counts, I do agree with them). Thus unlike other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, India could separate the components of Western ideologies and pick and choose from them. So we picked the ideas of “Progress, Rationalism, Universalism and Secularism” while dropping “imperialism and colonialism”, says Salil Misra. Gandhi even wrote the same in his weekly Young India as far back as 1921:

“I want to write many new things. But they must be all written on the Indian slate. I would gladly borrow from the West.”

Today, most companies do exactly that when operating in India!

Additionally, one needs to be pragmatic and not just idealistic when dealing with ideologies; and be willing to adopt short term tactics for long term strategic gains. This too was done perfectly by India’s independence movement when faced with the following question:

“Should the Indian National Movement therefore welcome and support the Fascist Juggernaut? The conflict was clearly between short-term and long-term goals. Fascism might eliminate old imperialists and thereby enable India to gain freedom. But it would be impossible to hold on to that freedom in a world dominated by Fascism.”

And while we are on India’s freedom struggle, the files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose got released recently. Regardless of what they reveal, I realized a risk associated with freedom the Netaji way while reading Yuval Noah Harari’s book, Sapiens. He pointed out that when the Greeks fought against the Ottoman Empire in 1821, British investors (not the British government) financed them via bonds. When it became evident the Greeks would lose, the investors who now stood to lose money got the British government to intervene and win the war for the Greeks. Had we won independence the Netaji way, I am guessing there would have a financial cost we’d have owed to the people who funded the effort. Not to mention having someone else intervening in our struggle because their money was at stake!

Sometimes, we don’t give enough credit to the guys who got us independence.