Dawn of intellectual darkness in Indian politics

India is a world's largest democracy but unfortunately her political parties are not. For most of the time after independence, India has been rules under one party - Indian national congress. Charismatic leader Pt. Nehru and autocratic leader Indira Gandhi never allowed much space within the party for any discussion. This was one of the reason that many of the leaders came out of the Congress to form their own parties. It was a good step. It gave room to evolve thoughts. Implementation Mandal commission report by VP Singh was an example of this free system. He wanted to implement genuinely for the benefit of the lower caste people or not can be debated but the very act of implementing the recommendations was not something that might have come out from one party.

But sadly enough, all the parties those were supposed to be place of discussion and thoughts have become the same leader-founder based parties. Whether it is Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party or Mayawati's BSP. There is no discussion. BJP was and still to large extent a party in India that has no charismatic leader anymore. Its founder members led the party for decades but they gave enough opportunity to the other leaders to grow and debate on many topics. Leaders could get more opportunity based on their abilities and potential. This was remarkable departure from rest of the parties and a hope for the political leaders to have their own space. But it seems that BJP is also changing its tolerance for having different views and expressing them.

As it is made out in the case of Jaswant Singh. He has been expelled from the party he was part of since its inception. Only argument given against him is that he has written a book that does not subscribe the the views/believes of the party. First of all, most, if not all, of the leaders of the party who took decision to expel him have not read the book. They might in best case have seen the interview of Jaswant Singh before the book release. Making a decision, as harsh as, to expel someone without giving a showcase notice needs more interrogation. Even if in the book, Jaswant Singh said that Nehru, Gandhi and Patel were equally responsible for the partition of the country then whats wrong? He is not claiming that he is right. It is his perspective and he has analyse the events of pre-independence based on his research and abilities. He might be wrong. So what. Party is out of power. Its leader should have freedom to think and introspect on various topics. Otherwise how the knowledge will grow? Or the party thinks that they have gained enough knowledge they need to run a party and the country if they come power.

This harsh and unfortunate step will discourage other leaders to speak out their different opinion. It might be difficult to bear criticism from within the party but it also gives opportunity to correct one before other parties take advantage of the weakness/mistake. Learning can happen only in an environment that encourages debate, dialogue and allow space for difference. Yes, everyone needs to agree on some core/fundamental issue to move together. But, definitely one should have freedom to pursue one's academic interest and write books. We always criticise when a movie is banned in one state for some reasons under the pressure from some extremists and now how can this be supported? Gujrat government has banned the book, Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. Though it is symbolic because people can buy from other sates and of course online but it is a big move to show the inwards and conservative attitude of today's politics in India.

This controversy will have an impact on Indian politics that will be far reaching and we can say it the dawn of intellectual darkness in politics.