Notes from North-East: Politics, FTI and Corruption
Continuing the series of posts from North-East, here is a brief compilation of some of the questions I was asked at various meetings and dicussions re. politics, FTI, corruption etc. Hopefully you will find them thought-provoking. I have summarised my responses too.
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Q1: Why did you decide to leave your job/work and get into politics?
A: Because I believe this to be the only way to improve the current situation in India (along a number of dimensions -Â not just in terms of socio-economic conditions but also in terms of policies etc). The long answer is here.
Q2: Are you working with someone else? other groups?
A: Yes. This task cannot be done by 1 person, or 10 or even 100. We will need thousands of actively involved leaders – and we will need to work together. There are many of us involved in these efforts. Some activists have been doing this full-time for the last several years. The challenge is to get everyone to work together in a coordinated fashion for maximum impact. The group that I am most closely associated with is FTI.
Q3: What are your plans? Do you have a roadmap?
A: My personal plans (in the near term) include continuing such outreach efforts, learning first-hand about the issues and challenges we face as a nation, raise public consciousness and get more amongst us involved in these activities. Over the next 2-3 years, I intend to move back to India and get involved in these efforts/activities full-time. As regards our group, FTI does have a road-map of where we wish to be and how we hope to get there. I would encourage all of you to visit the site.
Q4: How can we stop corruption?
A: Corrupton cannot be stopped by one person’s effort – or by simple acts like not paying a bribe (although that is good in itself). To think about eliminating corruption, one needs to understand the roots of this issue – and tackle the root cause rather than attacking the symptons. Please read this thought-provoking post on this subject (Thanks to Sanjeev Sabhlok).
Q5: What can we do if we cannot join politics full-time at present?
A: 1] You can consider supporting one (or more) of the various reform initiatives. 2] You can get yourself better informed and aware of the rot in the system and the flaw(s) in our policies. 3] You can spread awareness about our efforts and encourage others to join.
Continued below…
At IIT-Guwahati (L to R): Prof Rafik Alam, Sai Prakash, me, Tanmay and Jyoti
Q6: What can we do if we do not wish to enter politics ourselves?
A: We will need leaders – but equally supporters – lots of them. Please consider if you can donate a modest amount to FTI – or consider if you can devote some time on a regular basis. If you can, please get in touch with me and I can share details of how.
Q7: What is your ideology?
A: My ideological leanings have evolved gradually over the last several years. I believe in nationalism. I believe in the principles of individual liberty and classical liberalism. I believe in equal opportunity, minimal government and free-market policies. I am a strong believer in “Dharma” (although it is not a very well understood concept; pl see these few links if you are interested). I am an admirer of Swami Vivekananda.
Q8: Why did you decide to come to the North-East?
A: I had two objectives: 1] to get a first-hand understanding of the problems and challenges faced by our fellow citizens in the north-east and 2] to raise political consciousness amongst youth/students and professionals in the region. Also read Changing India – Step IV: A Monsoon Outreach
Q9: What is your main focus (at present)?
A: Raising political awareness and improving my own understanding of the challenges we face in trying to bring about systemic reform in a democratic manner. For more, pl see my response above at Q3:Â “What are your plans?”
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On this note, please feel free to ask me a question here about myself, the various efforts and initiatives, FTI, outreach efforts and of course this blog!
I want to take this opportunity to specifically thank Jyoti (and Asim + Tanmay) for her indefatigable energy, enthusiasm and tireless efforts to get all these discussions organised and get the logistics of meetings in place.
This outreach effort would not have been half as successful without her involvement (- and Asim + Tanmay). Thank you Jyoti! Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
P.S. There are more photographs of talks at various places on the Facebook page.
Related Posts:
Notes from North-East: Weekend Reading
Notes from North-East: Indigenous Cultures, Demographic Invasion
Fantastic work Shantanu, something which our elected leaders never ventured to do! From what I read and what I understood, the situation is dire but all is not lost! There is hope. Good work! When you have more time, please try to provide your route map for folks like us to take up similar trips.
Dear Shantanu
This has been a wonderful trip. Well organised, and you’ve done very well to reach out widely. I looked at the pics on Facebook you’ve posted. Very impressive.
Could I suggest that you write to everyone whom you met during the trip to consider joining either as FTI members or Freedom Partners? They can do so by going to http://partners.freedomteam.in/ and joining the national group as well as the Guwahati group.
I’d also love to have a brief article from you with pics for the next TAGI magazine. If you have time, please write and send it to me, else I can use material from this post.
As you are aware, FTI is actively looking for its first member from the North East. I hope your work will find us our first leader from NE. Readers of this comment – if you are from the NE, please send the link to FTI’s website widely around to your friends (http://freedomteam.in/)
(Btw, a friend posted these flood affected pics of Guwahati. Some of you might be able to access them: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=12957&id=100000707371278&ref=mf)
Regards
Sanjeev
Good and admirable initiative.But its reach is limited to only the net users, that too who chance upon your site.
I don’t want to sound pessimistic but look what happened to Mira Sayaal of Bombay who fought the last Lok Sabha election and miserably lost.
The situation is really, really gloomy.One feels so helpless thinking about the darkness all around.
Shantanu,
Couple of questions about your plan as you mentioned getting into politics is the only way to fix the situation and you intend to get into it full time in 2-3 years time.
I totally agree with you that getting aware and getting into politics is the only solution, commenting/lecturing from outside is not going to help as most of our intelligentsia does.
What are you going to do once you are in it Full Time, say 4 years down the line.
1. Are you going to contest elections?
2. Is your group FTI going to contest elections as a political party?
3. What if FTI doesn’t find enough leaders to contest 2014 elections, are you still going to contest elections in 2014?
4.How do you plan to win if you contest elections?
5.How do you plan to bring change if you win?
6.What will you do if you don’t win?
Looking forward to your reply. This is not an attempt to question your approach, this is an attempt to seek answers to some of my own queries.
@ Uma: Thanks a lot for your kind words…The route map was very straightforward…I had intended to visit Meghalaya and Upper Assam but lack of time and patchy connectivity put paid to those plans. In the end, I spent almost all my time in Guwahati…but I am not regretting it. Lesson learnt: Next time, need at least 10 days to do this properly.
And you are right, there is hope…(still)
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@ Sanjeev: Thanks a lot…The hard work was really done by the youngsters…they were a huge help and without them this would not have happened..Have mentioned to almost everyone I met (and had a serious conversation with) about FTI…unfortunately I did not have someone local with me to follow-up…that is another lesson learnt.
The photographs did not come as a shock…I was very very lucky to avoid getting caught up in bad weather…Unfortunately not everyone is so lucky…
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@ Kishan: You are right. The site is unfortunately only limited to net users – and that too only those who chance upon the site (and of course can read/write English). Not satisfactory at all…which is why I am putting more time and effort into these kind of outreach initiatives. One reason why the Guwahati visit took a long time to plan was the lack of good internet access in the region (and consequently low usage of email etc)
There are many reasons why Meera Sanyal could not win in Mumbai..but it was not for want of trying…
Yes, the situation is gloomy – but so it was before MahaBhaarat…and so it was for the several years before we finally achieved independence…Remember the darkest hour is the one just before the dawn..As I have mentioned before, I remain hopeful..
One initiative that you must consider looking seriously into is FTI..Pl do take some time to go through the site…and happy to discuss it in more detail here or on the FTI forums.
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@Anonymous: Thank you for your questions – they are good questions – and some of them were actually asked during my meetings…So I am glad you gave me the opportunity to respond…
I might put them as part of the main post – if you don’t mind (they are really good; separately it would have been nice to know your name; you dont have to reveal your email id – simply use satyacomment AT gmail.com)
Now to your questions:
What are you going to do once you are in it Full Time, say 4 years down the line.
1. Are you going to contest elections?
No – Too early and premature to contest elections. I am not doing this to get a seat in Parliament..There were other ways if that was the main objective…(one of the more *appealing* ones was to get nominated post retirement from the civil services; this was available to Sanjeev too!!)
2. Is your group FTI going to contest elections as a political party?
Not until we have sufficient numbers to contest credibly and win a sufficient number of seats…We do not intend to contest from only 1 or 2 seats.
3. What if FTI doesn’t find enough leaders to contest 2014 elections, are you still going to contest elections in 2014?
If we do not find enough leaders, we will continue to work to find enough for the next one.
4.How do you plan to win if you contest elections?
This is related to #2. There is no point in contesting unless one has a very very good chance of actually winning…So to repeat – we will not contest until we are ready – and prepared. The readiness and preparation has to be done over years…it will not happen overnight.
5.How do you plan to bring change if you win?
This will not be easy – since we will be arrayed against vested interests and status-quo(ist) forces. So to bring about change, a few things are essential (i) enough ground presence and (ii) sufficient numbers to have leverage..Again unless we are reasonably confident about both (and other things), there is no point contesting and winning only from 2-3 seats.
6.What will you do if you don’t win?
The simple answer is we will try again.. I am not FTI’s spokesperson but speaking for myself, I will repeat what I mentioned before. This is not about winning an election – it is about bringing change…and that can happen outside Parliament as much as inside.
Hope I managed to give you a better idea of what we intend to do..Feel free to follow up and/or ask more.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Thanks for your answers Shantanu, it does help me understand, please feel free to include my questions in the main post.
Follow up –
1. Can you throw some light on what you mean by when we are ready, does it mean having sufficient leaders and ground presence to actually win the elections and having funds?
2. Does FTI have a road map to achieve above? Does FTI have any ground presence today? If No, what is the plan and time line?
3.I visited FTI website, finding 1500 leaders( people who believe in liberal philosophy and are willing to contest elections ) is probably achievable but how will you convert them to the candidates who can win elections and convince people to actually vote for them and FTI?
Last question –
4. Instead of taking such a Herculean effort in hand isn’t it easier( and realistic and practical ) to somehow cleanup mess in the two big existing political parties? If ones conscience is clear one should have no problem in getting in the mess and working on cleaning up one of the two big political parties.
Thanks for your response. Good Luck and all the best to you and your team.
Hi Shantanu,
Congratulations on the great work Shantanu. Did you manage to gauge the pulse of the NE youth regards to their integration with India.
I might be wrong and out of place, but the last time i was in NE of India, there was still a sense of disillusionment because of lack of integration with major parts of india and also the biggest issue is lack of development!
It would be good to do a series on issues concerning the NE of India, related to development politics.
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I am not sure if you picked up, Congress in Karnataka has hit rock bottom. Recently there was breaking news related to mis management of funds raised from public to carry out flood relief operations. It was shown R V Deshpande on the outset has mismanaged the funds. But i suspect there is a bigger internal political play!
In any case, it is disgusting for Karnataka Congress party president on the face of it has mis managed the funds.
Dear Anonymous
Shantanu has responded very well about FTI’s position. You might want to read the FTI strategy documentation available here:
http://freedomteam.in/blog/content/ftis-strategy
Look forward to your participation in this struggle for freedom and good governance.
Regards
Sanjeev
@Anon, Ashwin: Thanks for the comments…hectic day today..wil respond soon.
Thanks,
Shantanu
A great article by my friend and IG Tripura, Joydeep Nayak: Northeast is India’s future
Shantanu,
I am still waiting for an answer from you or FTI on the question below
“Instead of taking such a Herculean effort in hand isn’t it easier( and realistic and practical ) to somehow cleanup mess in the two big existing political parties? If ones conscience is clear one should have no problem in getting in the mess and working on cleaning up one of the two big political parties. “
@Ano (presume you are the same one at #6): Short answer: FTI does not presently believe it to be a viable strategy.
I hope to respond in more detail once I am back from my travels…(early July). In the meantime, pl also have a look at Sanjeev’s link at #8.
Shantanu,
Thanks for the response, I am the same person.
Looking forward to understand why this is not a viable strategy. I have gone through links Sanjeev has provided. Word doc makes a lot of sense.
A
@Anon: This is best discussed in a phone call/conversation…
Pl send me an email with your contact number(s) and let us set up a time to speak in early July. I will call you…We can also chat on Skype, if you prefer that.
By the way, this is becoming increasingly asymmetric…I do not even know your name at present!
It would be nice (and courteous) if you can share at least that basic detail here (considering your very serious interest in FTI and political reforms in India).
Thanks.
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All: Pl be aware that I am travelling at present and may struggle to respond to (and/or moderate) comments. Thank you for your patience and support, as always.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Dear Anonymous,
You have made the following suggestion: “Instead of taking such a Herculean effort in hand isn’t it easier( and realistic and practical ) to somehow cleanup mess in the two big existing political parties? If ones conscience is clear one should have no problem in getting in the mess and working on cleaning up one of the two big political parties.“
I don’t think this (the FTI strategy) is in anyway unrealistic. It is eminently doable if these 1500 people can be quickly assembled and start working on a detailed plan. The problem is NO ONE has ever attempted a serious task of this nature before. A task cannot be unrealistic simply because out of 1 billion people, 1500 people have never found it fit to assemble together before! That is India’s unique problem. All other Western countries have good people joining politics. Why can’t we find even 1500 outstanding people? It is not possible that we don’t have 100 times that number of outstanding people. Where are they hiding? For 60 years so-called “good” people have made 1000s of excuses to avoid clean politics. This, “realism” excuse is just one more. You are merely offering one of the more typical excuses. Clearly you can’t change India with this mindset.
My view is that if we can’t work towards a clean and competent alternative to offer to India, then we will soon get mired in evil, including political violence, murders and corruption. That is the fate of all major existing political parties. They are power driven, they are vicious dens of evil. The way out of this muck is not to join the muck but to remain committed strongly to basic principles. The people will vote. Give them a chance.
It is the goal of changing India through existing parties that is totally unrealistic and destined to fail miserably. Ask Manmohan Singh. Has he been able to clean the Congress? Could Vajpayee or Shourie clean BJP? Never. Won’t happen. You simply don’t understand existing parties if you sugest that the problem can be solved by cleaning up one of the two “big” parties. That is 100% impossible. So let’s leave that possibility aside.
More importantly, these parties don’t bring good policies and **can’t** bring good policies to the table because of their underlying philosophies (socialism and Hindutva). They are rotten to the core. Their heart, their soul, their blood has been fouled. Their brain chruns out poison that destroys India. They are diseased completely and must be put to rest by fresh blood that is clear in heart and soul, and has a clear policy vision for India.
They are “big” only becase we are small. We can quickly become “big†by coming together. That’s not the issue. The issue is are educated Indians ***who believe in liberty*** willing to come and work together. That is the key question for India. All else is history and irrelevant. The future is built by building new history, not by scraping the bottom of the discarded droppings of the past.
Regards
Sanjeev
Thanks for the response Sanjeev. My next question is, if you don’t mind –
What is FTI doing to find 1500 potential leaders? Why is FTI not joining hands with parties like LokSatta, PPI, Bharat Uday MIssion and Jaago Party? I am sure that will enable FTI to contest on all 500+ seats sooner.
A thought-provoking excerpt from Amit Varma’s Indian Liberals and Colour Pictures
But for now, let’s get back to the subject of the colloquium, and …this column: how can we spread classical liberal ideas in India?
Some of my fellow participants referred to the Swatantra Party, and were exploring whether a classical liberal party of that sort could build a following in politics. More power to those who try, though I believe that such a political party is a pipe dream, and a waste of time. (I didn’t always hold this view.) A political party might start out liberal, but the many necessary compromises of politics will soon dilute any ideological stance it takes, till it ends up indistinguishable from the parties around it, slave to the imperatives of the political marketplace, where niches are formed more on the basis of identity than ideology.
Instead, I think classical liberals need to ask themselves the question, Why are we liberals? For me, the answer is not just that liberalism gives me an intellectual framework with which I can make sense of the world, but also that I believe that it has solutions to most of the political and economic problems that the world, and modern India, faces: from farmer suicides in Vidarbha to rising prices to deepening inequality. If this is the case, and my liberalism follows from the practical utility that it provides, then what I need to promote is not liberalism itself, but these immediate solutions to the urgent, pressing problems of our times, whose merit lies not in their being liberal but in their being both right and practical. Then I can avoid labels and focus purely on solving real-world problems with all the real-world constraints that a utopian vision of the world does not always taking into account.
This being the case, we do not need a separate liberal political party to spread liberal ideas. Instead, if we offer practical ways to make the world a better place, our ideas can spread through osmosis into every political party. Liberalism can then triumph in the political battlefield by winning in the marketplace of ideas — perhaps without the label attached, for ideological labels often hinder the spread of good ideas.
@ Anonymous: “What is FTI doing to find 1500 potential leaders? Why is FTI not joining hands with parties like LokSatta, PPI, Bharat Uday MIssion and Jaago Party? I am sure that will enable FTI to contest on all 500+ seats sooner.”
Dear Anonymous, FTI has been clear from day one (2007!) that it must join hands with all like minded people.
1) I have personally spoken with JP (Lok Satta) who is a good friend of mine of many years, and hope that he will find time to work together.
2) Re: PPI – I’ve been in touch with R.V. Krishnan and have shared some thoughts. Initial conversations are likely to be held between him and an FTI member soon.
3) Bharat Uday Mission – Alalpita is a member of FTI.
4) Jago Party – Awadhesh Singh the Vice President had joined FTI for a while but left when he thought we were not doing things the way he perhaps wanted (still not quite sure why he left).
Shantanu has been trying to organise a Hope Summit to bring these groups together to have some basic discussions.
And of course, each of these groups knows that they must work together, so they have been trying to coordinate as well (I gather).
Let me clarify that FTI is NOT a political party but a platform of leaders that support freedom (and Freedom Partners are the supporters of freedom, not of FTI!). Freedom and good governance is our goal, not the advancement of FTI.
FTI’s members are free to be members of other (like-minded) parties if they wish. However, FTI does NOT believe that people should contest elections merely to lose them. Winning is CRUCIAL.
FTI also does NOT believe in pushing out policy positions that are not agreed to by the entire set of leaders. Therefore FTI has issued basic policy positions but only one detailed policy.
There are at least two major problems that act as obstacles to the success of many (not all!) new ventures, and that prevent some of them from joining hands with others: (a) some are driven by personality not by the idea of freedom, and (b) some are unable to work as a closely knit team with other like-minded people.
FTI is clear about its IDEA, that India should have greater freedom and good governance. It has a classical liberal approach and philosophy which has underpinned the success of most western nations. Regardless of this consequentialist outcome (material success) it is the only philosophy consistent with a modern tolerant society. Therefore, unless these new groups are clear about this IDEA, they won’t join FTI. Many of these parties do not seem to have a consistent philosophy (Jago comes closest). Indeed, some of their policies are self-contradictory.
Second, FTI is a team. It does not have any single leader or ‘high command’. Everyone on FTI is an equal leader. That is a bare minimum condition if we wish to retain our self-respect as citizens. No one on FTI is subject to anyone else’s dictates in any form or shape. We work very closely, respecting the opinions of others. Team work is a very new idea for India. Most of the parties you refer to are not familiar with it and perhaps find this concept confronting.
FTI has only ONE goal: to achieve a great India. Who is part of the team is a matter of choice (i.e. its team leaders are dispensable, including me). The goal is NOT. On some of the other teams, the success of particular individuals seems to be more important than the success of India.
For these and other similar reasons, they haven’t yet rushed in to join FTI – which is an open platform where vigorous debate occurs on everything. Nothing is agreed in advance except freedom. Everything else is evolving organically.
It is also possible that some of these groups are mistaken about what FTI is. I gathered some time ago that one of these groups thinks that FTI is a political party and hence a competitor. It is NOT. FTI is clearly a not-for-profit trust, an open platform. They can happily remain in their party and work towards a common goal through FTI.
Indeed I’m sometimes surprised at the short-sightedness displayed by some of these parties. There are about 100 outstanding leaders on FTI at the moment, and many more are joining regularly. These parties have failed to realise that if they show true leadership, then many of these 100 leaders could well join their party!
FTI has no particular strategy for political party formation. Its members can well join an existing party if they find that party to be sensible. That will only be decided when the 1500 leaders assemble. But one thing is clear, from the short-sightedness so far displayed by many of the new fangled political parties, they are not likely to be the platform which FTI members choose to join.
Regards
Sanjeev Sabhlok
http://sabhlokcity.com/
@Shantanu re: Amit Verma
Dear Shantanu, Amit’s is a thoughtless, not thoughtful comment.
Such has become quite typical of the so-called classical liberals of India. As I have repeatedly pointed out this is an UNETHICAL approach. It is fine for those without ethical standards to consort with existing parties. I’m not into it.
We have our own different standards. I do NOT believe that the liberal is a pragmatist to such an extent that he squanders his morals in his search for the success of his ideas. Much better to leave India and migrate to a genuinely ethical and liberal society, than to join the gangsters who govern India.
In particular I disagree VEHEMENTLY with the allegation that Amit makes that “many necessary compromises of politics will soon dilute any ideological stance it takes, till it ends up indistinguishable from the parties around it”.
That may well occur if people of low ethical standards like Amit join such a group (I actually know of a number of Indian ‘liberals’ who have displayed truly low moral standards, and won’t be surprised if such things are a regular happening).
But people like Amit simply can’t join FTI because it demands compliance with a severe code of conduct. We don’t want such people with a compromised conscience. We are here to offer India something different, not more of the same. I think India deserves a genuine change in governance models, not mere infiltration into existing groups to get more of the same.
I have no problem with CCS and its voucher scheme. But to suggest that a liberal party for India is a pipedream and a waste of time! Let’s leave this alone. A more ridiculous idea doesn’t exist.
It is our country and we are responsible for it. Let’s not forget that. By taking such amoral and unethical decisions does the slippery slope begin for many ‘liberals’ like Shashi Tharoor. I can name many more. Let me stop here. Had these people possessed SPINE they would have come together to overthrow the corrupt socialists of India. They are SPINELSSS. Let’s not talk of them.
Regards
Sanjeev
OK, I did go ballistic, didn’t I, against Amit?
Amit, if you ever get to read this, please remember: you have the POWER to change India. Just like each of us. Everyone matters. We can CHANGE THINGS BY OPPOSING WRONG THINGS. Simple as that.
You haven’t yet joined any existing corrupt formation so you are still acceptable to FTI, provided you don’t advocate such a ridiculous idea again!
If you are not, however, into politics, but simply into a lot of hot air, then there’s no harm in your supporting FTI through articles in your blog/ links on your website. You do claim that you wish such efforts luck: “More power to those who try”. Well, to demonstrate that you are genuinely neutral and not AGAINST such efforts, then please help in these efforts being more widely. Talk about FTI on your blog/ in your writings. Don’t just suck up to the corrupt.
Note, however, that if you EVER join any major mainstream party, you would have become a sworn enemy of India, and of freedom.
At that stage all gloves will come off. I can’t tolerate those who call themselves liberal and yet pally up to the totally rotten major parties of India. So let’s be clear where we stand.
Regards
Sanjeev
@shri.Sanjeev ji,
“Note, however, that if you EVER join any major mainstream party, you would have become a sworn enemy of India, and of freedom.
At that stage all gloves will come off. I can’t tolerate those who call themselves liberal and yet pally up to the totally rotten major parties of India. So let’s be clear where ..”
Please dont take it personally.
In spite of your “anti-nehruvian” stand, I think that you are every inch a staunch ‘nehruvian sickularist’ yourself.
You are a person who doesn’t understand sanskrit,YOU idolize ‘western’ philosophers; ; you have no shame in defending your new ‘nation’ (during australian racist attacks on indians);Finally you have no hesitation in calling Lord Hanuman as a “gentleman”.
Instead of tring to change “india”, first try to change yourself.
““Note, however, that if you EVER join any major mainstream party, you would have become a sworn enemy of India, and of freedom. “
A very dogmatic and very dangerous statement. The is comparable to:
“If you do not agree so-and-so to be your savior, your soul would be burnt in hell forever.”
or
legendary Omerta for Cosa Nostra.
Sid, well-said. This kind of attitude is indeed the core reason why I never warmed up to Sanjeev and the Objectivist philosophy. Sanjeev forgets that the kind of deference he asks for his view, can come only at the cost of any diversity, and when all have “seen the (Objectivist) light”, just like he has.
Dear All: I am reproducing below a recent exchange of emails between Ashish Deodhar, Sanjeev Sabhlok and myself regarding my blog, my views and FTI. I am posting this here for the record (I have Ashish and Sanjeev’s permission to do so)
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Comment by Ashish
Hi Sanjeev, Shantanu
When I decided to join the FTI, I did so after giving it a serious thought over a long period of time. I wasn’t happy with the situation in India – the rampant corruption, the total disregard to infrastructual requirements, the political point scoring, the increasing intolerance in society and the politics of religions…
I yearn for a different India. An Indian that is inclusive, tolerant, progressive, liberal and secular. An India that people could look at and feel envious about. An India that inspires the world.
And you, Sanjeev, gave me a lot of hope! I saw that India when I read your blog and when I communicated with you over emails.
But then for the last month or so, I’ve been involved with Shantanu’s blog ||Satyameva Jayate|| it is here that I got to get a very good understanding of where Shantanu stands with his opinions and am sorry to say, they appear to be more right wing than the BJP! Now I don’t have a problem with an individual’s opinions but the alarming truth is that many of the few FTI members share these opinions. I fear that people like me would be in a sorry minority in the FTI and trying to get a liberal point across would become increasingly difficult in the years to come.
This ideology runs contrary to my values and principles and I don’t think I would feel comfortable in this company. Hence I am writing to request you to please not consider me for a confirmed membership of the FTI whenever it’s due.
I remain hopeful that India will have a liberal, secular revolution and I can wait until such time. I am very young and have a lot of time on my side. Meanwhile, I will try to keep working towards building a liberal mindset in India in whatever capacity I can.
Shantanu – you seem to be a nice person and I am sure you are. Unfortunately I don’t agree with your agenda and won’t be able to get myself to work for it. You said on your blog that I form opinions too quickly. I didn’t arrive at my opinion about you in a day or two. It’s after weeks of delibration that I’ve arrived at this conclusion. And if I am wrong in my conclusion, you could correct me please.
Thanks for giving me a shot. Hope FTI manages to achieve its stated objectives.
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Comment by Sanjeev
Dear Ashish
On FTI we have one basic principle (check the religious tolerance policy – on the FTI website under ‘draft policies’) – that everyone can hold his or her own opinion on religion (including opposition to organised religion – like me), but that social and economic policy will be determined by rational liberal thought. We strictly distinguish between religion (personal belief) and politics (public space). Shantanu is free to propagate and advance Hinduism to the hilt! But he also fully allows alternative, reasoned views. This characteristic is also known as tolerance, the fundamental principle of liberalism. It is not found in BJP but is definitely found in Shantanu.
Tolerance does not mean requiring others to dilute their personal beliefs. He is not demanding a Hindutva or Hindu nation, please be assured of that! You can’t therefore ask him to dilute his faith and belief. We have no business to interfere in each others’ religious matters.
Re: FTI’s views, they are NOT formed by any single person but by the combination of everyone on the team. We VOTE. Everyone including Shantanu holds just one vote. You’ll find many opponents (in a sense) of certain Shantanu’s views among FTI members. He is, however, fully committed to religious freedom, and to FTI’s policy on tolerance.
Also, FTI trust is based on classical liberalism, and FTI’s religious tolerance policy is PURELY classical liberal.
Please do hold off on your ‘decision’ about FTI. Shantanu is ONLY one member (although a highly respected and highly regarded member) of FTI. Please keep an open mind. Spend time influencing others if you need to (I suggest don’t waste time trying to change Shantanu’s religious views! We have better things to do than to persuade each other about our religious beliefs or unbeliefs).
Don’t leave India’s ONLY 100% classical liberal political group.
**
One more thing I just remebered: Don’t forget Rajaji – the fervent Hindu who led Swatantra, India’s first liberal party. Swatantra did not demand absence of religious fervour or belief. It did not demand that you lose your identity in any form or shape. It left people free to advocate whatever they wished on issues not purely in the public space.
We can be social reformers/ religious reformers/ religion promoters in our personal lives, but still strongly believe in economic, political and religious freedom. That is the meaning of liberalism. This is British liberalism, which is best understood by reading On Liberty by J.S.Mill.
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Comment by Ashish:
Hi Sanjeev
Thanks for your reply.
I don’t have a problem with anyone’s religious beliefs and I don’t seek to change it.
And that’s one of the reasons I kept engaged with shantanu’s blog despite its vocal defence of the likes of RSS.
However, when someone starts talking of dismantling a soverign country, that ceases to be a religious belief. And then you have to look at such opinions in the context of the overall religious beliefs of such individuals to understand the underlying agenda.
Yes FTI would decide on its policies through votes and that’s why I said people like me would become a sorry minority because of the apparent support among many FTI members for this line of thinking.
But I take your word for it and hope that I am wrong.
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Comment by Sanjeev:
Pl. check out my blog post on RSS. http://sabhlokcity.com/category/b-interests/the-case-against-rss/. Shantanu disagrees with my early findings – and I have provided references to his disagreement, as well. This is not an urgent issue for me and not pivotal to the future of FTI. We have resolved this on FTI by a commitment that members make to not support any violent group. If RSS is demonstrated beyond iota of doubt to be a violent group, Shantanu will surely go all out against it. But till then it is not a pivotal issue.
Second, re: dismantling a sovereign nation (I presume you mean Pakistan?). A personal view based on strategic thinking can form an input to FTI’s thinking but cannot represent the final view of FTI. We are very clear to not mix up our views with FTI’s views. That will need to continue. People must understand that no matter how vigorously we propound a particular policy, in the end the team decides.
But the team has not reached the stage of deciding on anything. ONLY those people who will actually contest elections, when everything is finalised, will decide.
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‘Liberty in thought and action is the only condition of life, growth and well-being: Where it does not exist, the man, the race, and the nation must go down.’ – Vivekananda.[1]
[1] Cited in Modern India. 1986.NCERT. p. 218.
Ashish,
I think this comment by Vivekananda, as well as satyameva jayate (“the truth always triumphs”) could be taken to summarise Shantanu’s views. Correct me if I’m wrong, Shantanu!
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Comment by Shantanu
Well said Sanjeev. Thanks.
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P.S. These comments and exchange was at least partly precipitated by these posts: Exploding the Myth of “Hindutva Terror”,
A closer look at the “Sangh Parivaar†– Join the debate on RSS and
A strategic response to terror – “Balkanization†of Pakistan?
While reading the post “exploding myth of hindutva terror” I realized that Ashish wants others to be tolerant of his views but he was not prepared to be one in return. But ultimately he is giving up now because either he is not sure about his stand or not willing to understand the tolerance.
About “someone starts talking of dismantling a sovereign country”. If Ashish thinks Pakistan is a sovereign country then he might want to reconsider his readings about history. Technically it may be a sovereign but practically its a jihadist nation run by Islamic rules which are inhuman.
And I hope Ashish do not object my opinion here as he has habit of saying it was not intended for you.
I stand to be corrected.
Jai Bharat!
On a slightly tangential topic what do people think of this 21 second video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnjImF6FwBI&feature=player_embedded
Are there any experts amongst you who can help build a library of powerful videos for FTI to reach out widely? Pro bono of course.
Regards
Sanjeev
*** COMMENT moved here ***
Sanjeev: Pl leave comments on relevant threads. Thanks
“However, when someone starts talking of dismantling a soverign country, that ceases to be a religious belief. And then you have to look at such opinions in the context of the overall religious beliefs of such individuals to understand the underlying agenda.”
Interesting thoughts and conclusion. Instead of questioning the logic here, I will leave it to readers to judge.
Anupam
@Ashish,
Although this email chain doesn’t involve me, or maybe it does as it does mention some other FTI members, I would suggest not to mix up the individual and personal opinions expressed on this blog with the FTI. FTI’s religious policy is out in public domain and clearly mentions that FTI does not believe that state has any role in religious matters.
Balkanization post has nothing to do with the religion and it is a national security issue. We have had discussion on Kashmir policy as well and I am sure you can check relevant threads on the forum.
I think you are an asset to FTI and your liberal( Libertarian/Classical liberal, not to be confused with what the word stands for in US ) beliefs are more important than your religious beliefs. And same is true for other FTI members.
Anupam
The opposition parties and the student bodies in Assam came out strongly against the Congress-led government’s decision to suspend the exercise of the NRC, which is aimed at identifying Bangladeshi immigrants in the state.
http://sify.com/news/students-union-in-assam-protests-influx-of-bangladeshi-immigrants-news-national-kh2nudacaec.html
Jai Bharat!
Dear Sanjeev,
I’m sorry to say, but you are wasting your efforts but it is ironical to hear you say India can do 10 times better. Your quote is perfect, but it applies to each one of us (including you). Regarding jago party, lok satta or any other well meaning political party, I would say the following:
Let Lok Satta (being ahead of the lot) do what Lok Satta believes it should do. If you think your strategy is the best of the lot, by all means go ahead and try to take in those who come with you. If you think it is possible to find 100 such leaders and make them work together in a fashion that you envisaged, please do so.
No point in taking potshots at others and be a distracting force even though your intentions are good. For a country as large as ours, with so many languages, diverse cultures and religions, reconciliation is not an easy job, it will certainly take years. I hope you’ve as much patience as others who looking forward to a better India. There is no one size fits all solution to this problem. No wonder you find it difficult to get to your magic 1500 or the resources requirements.
We need many likeminded individuals to come forward & willing to work together in political space. If it means different idealogies or ways to achieve the same goal so be it, as long as it is democratic & ethical. I hope you’ll take this comment in good taste.
-Sanjiv