RULERS OF THE NEW INDIA
Lindeman, Eduard C.
Rulers of the New India By EDUARD C. LINDEMAN New Delhi THE new Constitution which is to define the framework of government for the Indian Union takes effect the latter part of this month....
...lawyer, tolerant and able speaker...
...In the second place, the outcome depends upon how soon Moscow chooses to inaugurate the inevitable "squeeze," the probability of which is greatly increased by Russia's new China base...
...Mahomed Kidwai, minister of communications...
...It is my opinion that this will not be true of the next generation, but by that time the pattern of India as a self-governing nation will have been formed...
...It is assumed that the Communist Party has a membership of approximately 20,000, but, as elsewhere, its influence is far out of proportion to its numbers...
...While Patel is without doubt the "strong man" of the new India it is not to be inferred that Nehru is by contrast weak...
...In their eyes he has inherited the mantle of EDUARD C LINDEMAN, professor of social philosophy at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University, is currently a visiting professor at Delhi University in India...
...These laws are not uniform in character...
...As a result one of the basic tenets of democracy, the rule of unity through diversity, is disavowed...
...Nehru furnishes the ideological ingredients for the new nationalism and Patel supplies the empirical tools which keep the state in operation...
...The Socialist Party is rapidly becoming a genuine opposition...
...II Two other quasi-political groups play important roles in independent India...
...One of these, Rashtrya Seva Sangh, is a semi-military organization with unmistakably fascist traits...
...Although the new Con•Since political life in the Middle East and the East is likely to be influenced for some time to come by the newly-awakened aggressiveness of Moslems (called Muslims in India) it may be of interest to remind the reader of the approximate distribution of this sect: FakiBtan ___________________________54,000,000 ' India _______________________________42,000.000 Turkey _____________________________17,000,000 Egypt _____________________________16,000,000 Iran _______________________________13,000.000 Afghanistan ________________________10,000.000 Iraq _ ____________________________ 5,000,000 Saudi Arabia _______________________ 3,500.000 It will thus be Been that there are more than twice as many Moslems in India and Pakistan (96 million) than in all the rest of the East and Middle East...
...The conclusion is inescapable that the principal source of personal authority in contemporary India is Mahatma Gandhi...
...These were Englishmen who are no longer here...
...Governmental agencies are moving with considerable alacrity to remedy some of these evils, but their task is impeded by the stern fact that only 15% of India's citizens can read and write, and illiteracy is predominantly a rural defect...
...The Congress Party, which was the instrument of the independence movement, and consequently became the responsible unit of popular government, is now torn by internal dissensions...
...If food can be provided for India's expanding population during the next decade, independent India will travel towards democracy...
...stitution aims to remedy this situation in time, it has been compelled to acknowledge its demands...
...Since this seems to be the prospect, it becomes the more strategic to examine those sources of power which emanate from a centralized state, namely individual rulers or governors, for a useful clue to the future of India as an important unit in the family of nations...
...Both, of course, revere Gandhi and were his followers...
...Nehru is the idealist in politics...
...It is still small in numbers and its adherents are primarily city dwellers...
...In fact, no individual can now become a leader in India except by standing upon Gandhi's shoulders...
...This will continue to be true, I believe, for this generation of leaders...
...Patel is the practical realist...
...While it is true that he is "quoted" rather than "followed," those quotes are the sine qua non of acceptance by the masses...
...Agrarian Communism has its roots in the age-long evils of an outrageous land policy, or rather tradition, which by design reduces the peasant to progressive poverty and degradation...
...Among the present ministers, each of whom may have a respectable following but is not a focus of significant strength, the following should be mentioned: J. Mathai, minister of finance: a Christian, able and independent...
...He is at his best when he has an audience...
...Patel is conservative and capitalistic...
...Nehru is liberal and socialistic...
...Rajknmara Amit Kaur, minister of health...
...The accepted definition of minority persons as used here is "inhabitant...
...Muslim...
...Gandhi...
...The Communist Party and Communist-controlled organizations (trade unions, for example) have been outlawed in three provinces...
...of a country who differ from the majority of the population in race, language and religion...
...It attracts extremists from the anti-Muslim sectors of the population...
...On the contrary, the nation which is to emerge under the aegis of this Constitution is more likely to be a centralized state within which the various sub-divisions (provinces and states) will be subordinated with respect to both powers and privileges...
...However, in recent local elections the Socialist Party has shown unexpected strength...
...Since this Government is confronted with almost insurmountable difficulties, his task is made easy...
...Although the Socialist Party is militantly anti-Communist, there does not exist in India a fear of Communism such as appears at present to have become a paranoid hysteria in America...
...scholar, inclined to be authoritative...
...Thus was the door thrown wide open for nepotism, inefficiency, and corruption...
...Unless its inner strength can be built up quickly, it remains a governmental structure which could easily be overthrown...
...Its leader, J. Prakash Narain, confines himself at present largely to criticism of the existing Government...
...Muslim...
...It cannot function as a genuine majority party because underlying political alignments is the haunting spectre of sectarianism...
...Rajendra Prasad, president of the Constituent Assembly, is a brilliant man, simple and honest and free from intrigue...
...Spiritual and moral authority derives from Gandhi, but administrative power is at the moment vested in two men: Nehru, the prime minister, and Patel, who holds two portfolios, Home Minister and Minister of States...
...At the time of independence India lost almost 80% of its trained civil servants...
...The religious factor is now the important one, although language runs a close second...
...Although all statistical enumerations are to be used guardedly, it is perhaps safe to assume that religious minorities and Hindus exist in the Indian Union in approximately the following proportions: Muslims: 42,000,000 * Christians: 5,500,000 Sikhs: 4,000,000 Parsees: 110,000 Hindus: 240,000,000 There is a firm supposition among these religious groups (excepting, of course, the Hindus) that each minority sect should be represented in parliamentary bodies and in the civil services in precisely the same ratio as indicated by their numbers in the total population...
...The other group calls itself Hindu Maha Sabha and does operate as a political party, although not in a complete sense...
...In Madras, for example, the law becomes effective only when it can be clearly demonstrated that violence has been used by such organizations...
...Manlana Azad, minister of education...
...devoted follower and companion of Gandhi for 16 years...
...Thus an elected representative of a religious community would not enter a deliberative assembly as a citizen but rather as the delegate of a religious body...
...Nehru is an effective orator while Patel is an adroit manipulator...
...The present Minister of Industries and Supplies is a member of this organization...
...The political life of India is a bewildering maze of contradictions, unresolved conflicts, and deep-seated suspicions...
...These two men constitute one of the most unusual combinations of political strategy in all modern history...
...wealthy daughter of a prince...
...Nehru is 60 years old and Patel 74, and consequently this combination will not endure for long, but it may very well last long enough to determine the main course of political developments in India for this epoch...
...Two Indian leaders, both serving the Constituent Assembly (which incidentally functions both as a constitutional convention and a temporary parliament), are sources of power...
...He was, as a matter of fact, a member of the Executive Council of the British Government before independence...
...Among the other factors which will determine the outcome is most certainly the speed with which an efficient governmental machinery can be set in motion within India...
...It was this group to which Gandhi's assassins belonged...
...He is a man of convictions, as his prison record demonstrates, and has endeared himself to the Indian people...
...He is a trained lawyer, economist, and a forceful debater, and he does not owe his rise to national eminence to the Congress Party...
...This word, sectarianism, is not used in India...
...If an American analogy were sought, none would be more apt, it seems to me, than to say that Nehru is the Thomas Jefferson of the new "India and Patel its Alexander Hamilton...
...Religious blocs are called communities, and the operation of these groups in political and cultural life is called "communal" activity...
...Whatever is proposed, approved, or negated in present India is referred to the authority of Gandhi...
...Christian...
...Both fought valiantly for independence and both have been president of the Indian National Congress...
...He will almost certainly be an important figure in India's future.* III Who governs the new India and in what direction will these leaders carry this vast and strategically-situated nation during the next few critical years...
...B. R. Ambedker, chairman of the Constitution's drafting committee, resides in Bombay and was born in a low caste, an "untouchable...
...Nehru, the scholar, who often reminds one of Woodrow Wilson— although he lacks the latter's firmness—is complemented by Patel, the experienced business man and executive...
...The answer to this fateful question, and it is fateful for the entire world, depends, first of all, upon bread...
...This administrative weakness of the present Government constitutes one of its greatest hazards...
...Although it is committed to an aggressive pro-Hindu policy, it seems to have moderated considerably in recent months...
...In fact, there is now talk of admitting its members to the Congress Party...
...It was, obviously, a similar situation which gave rise to Communism in China and the same pattern is repeated in India...
...His attacks are centered upon inefficiency and corruption, the two "reliables" of an opposition party...
...Although many leaders still speak of the new state as a federal union, it seems entirely clear that the Constitution does not furnish the basis of federalism as we know this principle in the United States...
...At the moment it is entirely unthinkable that any effective leadership could emerge in India in opposition to Gandhi and his philosophy...
...His death, and particularly the manner of his death, accentuates rather than diminishes this fact...
...He was thrice president of the Indian National Congress and in spite of, or perhaps because of, his unassuming habits is highly respected and trusted...
...Violence and terrorism are its weapons in both urban and rural settings...
...There exists also, as elsewhere, a larger group of Communist sympathizers, mostly middle-class intellectuals and students...
Vol. 14 • January 1950 • No. 1
