India says ‘I (may) Belong’!

Somebody somewhere is listening! Have my anguish (in my previous blog) along with that of the millions of Indians over the government’s losing sovereignty been heard?

India has perhaps finally proved that it can stand up to voice its concern over the Tibet – Beijing Olympic imbroglio. In rejecting to ban anti-China or rather the pro-Tibet protests during the token 3 km Olympic torch relay in New Delhi, India has conveyed to the Chinese administration that it is still a functioning Democracy that respects the right to peaceful protest. It looked like India was standing up to be counted. The announcement brought respite to the millions of Indians who have been sulking over the losing sheen of India’s independent foreign policy.

But should the announcement be seen in isolation? At the cost of sounding cynical, I see shades of Gordon Brown’s decision to not attend the Olympic opening ceremony abetting India’s rediscovered vocal cords. Please mind a similar voice also emanating from Washington.

Agreed that India has already done much for the Tibetan cause by granting asylum to the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and thousands of other Tibetans, but no such decision has been taken in the recent past. It was years and in fact governments ago that any such decision was taken.

As a student of Political Economics, I cannot but appreciate the seamless integration of politics with economics and at such scale that involve the world’s foremost economic powers that also wield the most political influence the world over.

The Couch, The TV and the Presenter

The past few days, courtesy my tryst outside India have suddenly woken me up to the huge market that India is!

Post-working hours in a foreign land are a bit of threat to a neo-conservative bred on values that admonish indulging in alcohol and the opposite sex - the only interests of most people i meet during the day, unfortunately though. All this led me much closer to the idiot box so much so that, I chose to discard the cozy comfort of my bed to brave the cold lazing all night on the carpet near the Television on the loft.

Truth be said, an analysis of my abject surrender to the four Indian broadcasters - NDTV, Sony, Zee, B4U - revealed how dumb I could be. On an average I watched the same news broadcast 2.5 times each, Hindi movies that were absolute disasters, soaps that would never move.

With trouble comes opportunity

'Sport'y Politics and 'Policy' Sport

Sporting events - none bigger and grander than than Olympics - have had selfish overtures since time immemorial.

Nazism to Berlin Olympics, Apartheid to South African sport, BCCI's high-handedness to International cricket all stand testimony. More often than not, 'politics' has transcended to become the national aggregate of 'selfishness'. The case in point: Beijing Olympics 2008.

Lot has been said by the Who's Who of International realpolitik on Tibet's right to autonomy in line with the current string of protests by Tibetans worldwide. Definitely a knee-jerk reaction.

Tibet has borne the brunt of Chinese oppression over the last 60 years - the same time frame that has witnessed China rise like a phoenix to not just being the sourcing hub of the world but also the only challenge to American economic and military supremacy.

Interestingly, never in the past few decades has the world woken up to issue Human Rights violation in Tibet as now. What a paradox! Are 'we' not squarely responsible for letting the Chinese climb up to these distinctions unchecked, all along? Have all the so-called world leaders gone into a slumber to wake up only now?

Surprisingly enough, India - the hope and home to thousands of Tibetan refugees including the Dalai Lama himself - shocks the fundamentals of its very own cherished founding as a non-aligned sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic.

Never more in the past has Indian policy been as weak. True, the issues in Jammu Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh might not find Chinese favor should India speak. Perhaps, Indo-China economic integration might also suffer.

Do these reasons sufficiently explain our hypocrisy towards our slogan of 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone Wins)? Do the Gandhian thought, Nehruvian policy hold any relevance in this context? Have we digressed from being principles, policy and strategy driven to just being as opportunistic as the Americans?

If truth is that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are Indian territory, so they shall be for 'Truth alone wins'. Are we not distancing ourselves from the truth of the 'Tibetan respect' - a fundamental human value?

No doubt, the digression from Nehruvian Socialism has brought us a few rewards- economic empowerment. But is it all? Questions remain.

Is instant gratification reason enough for us to dis-associate ourselves from truth and human values? To recall, how else can one explain jeopardizing the Iran pipeline for benefit from America?

Definitely, being a realist is different from being a strategist. Much higher than the both is being a Statesman.

Are we losing our stature from those days of the NAM? As a new generation Indian I am afraid that Pokhran-II could have just been the last statement of free Indian policy.