New Delhi, Apr 17: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in a letter to former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer has said that he had no interest in becoming a hero and he was equally concern about making improments in the current system, which he says, is "rotten", reports Times of India.
The very day Anna Hazare broke his fast, Rahul Gandhi wrote that though he was concerned about corruption ‘‘like most right thinking Indian people'', he was working quietly on that problem as he had ‘‘no interest'' in becoming a hero.
Rahul had received a sharply-worded letter the same day, April 9, from former Supreme Court judge V R Krishna Iyer asking, ‘‘Why should the Hazare phenomenon occur at all? Only because so many evils and no action from Delhi!''
In his response, Rahul said: ‘‘Like most right thinking Indian people I feel exactly the way you do. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and working to improve what I see as a rotten system. The difference is that I cannot get away simply with writing letters and complaining as you can. I am faced with the reality of changing things which requires much more than the periodic release of emotion.''
Iyer had accused Rahul of indifference as well as presumptuousness: ‘‘If you are sensitive about the people's needs and aspirations, you must attack the big corrupt persons in power. Why are you silent? You are a young man and can rise to be a great nationalist, not by ambitiously aspiring to be Prime Minister because you are of the Nehru family. That would be anti-democratic and oligarchic.''
Rahul Gandhi also reacted sarcastically to the leftleaning jurist's suggestion that he could become a hero by helping to turn India into ‘‘an egalitarian society, a Gandhian India, a Nehruvian India, NOT nuclear India. Please be great so that the people may have a better tomorrow.''
Rahul's response: ‘‘As far as becoming a hero is concerned, unfortunately that is of absolutely no interest to me. I work because I believe in working to improve a system that is rotten, not to be glorified.''But he accepted 95-year-old Iyer's counsel that he must read Nehru's autobiography to understand socialism and patriotism.
‘‘Thank you for your very impassioned and well meaning advice. I have read JN's autobiography. I will do so again as you suggest.''He was, however, silent on Iyer's criticism of the PM.“When public power is vested in anyone for the purpose of giving clean governance, to be silent and inactive is breach of trust,” wrote Iyer.
Former Sc Judge V.R. KRISHNA IYER Letter to Rahul Gandhi
AN EPISTOLARY COMMUNICATION
April 9, 2011
Dear Rahul,
I respect you for the reason that you are the grandson of the great Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Read his autobiography. Then you will realize what is socialism, patriotism and imprisonment in the struggle against British colonialism. You have not gone to jail or detained for a day for fighting colonialism or police repression or led a march for people's liberties or socialist, secular causes in a country of Communalism. Feroze Gandhi was great in his own right. So was your grandmother, the great Indira. You are now a VIP not because you have done anything great for the people's cause or fight against colonialism or capitalist concentration of wealth in a few hands throwing hungry hundreds of thousands of have-nots out of their little lands for the comforts of the rich car owners. You are coming to Kochi, traffic is blocked. You are more a menace to road traffic than a facility for social justice or economic justice.
Forgive me for my critical words. Nehru and his ideas shaped my socialist and secular democratic ideology. Corruption is rampant. If you are sensitive about the people's needs and aspirations, you must attack the big corrupt persons in power. Why are you silent? You are a young man and can rise to be a great nationalist not by ambitiously aspiring to be Prime Minister because you are of the Nehru family. That would be anti-democratic and oligarchic. Your Prime Minister has become known for inaction. He does not touch the former CJI K.G Balakrishnan or any other corrupt VIP. When Public Power is vested in anyone for the purpose of giving clean governance to the country, to be silent and inactive is breach of trust.
I shall be happy and the people would adore you if you will severely and publicly criticize the present scheme of things with no anti-poverty programmes, no judicial reform and only using Money Power to make the little man waste his vote. Let me quote an anonymous poem:
The law locks up the hapless felon
who steals the goose from off the common,
but lets the greater felon loose
who steals the common from the goose.
Will you attack alcoholism which is encouraged by Government? Will you attack corruption in every public office, absence of sobriety and compassion notwithstanding Articles 47 and 51A. If you choose, you can be the spokesman for anti-communalism and the people's passion against the divisive elements which are tearing apart the fabric of this country. You will become the hero of the people if you take up the great challenge of the transformation of India into an egalitarian society, a Gandhian India, a Nehruvian India, not nuclear India. Please be great so that the people may have a better tomorrow. Prices are shooting up. The poor are the victims. The British controlled prices successfully even in war time when scarcity was accused and our governments have miserably failed when the country has plenty of everything. Who rules India? The corporate rich. They manipulate elections. Dollar Corporate Power too is great. So too corruption. Why should the Hazare phenomenon occur at all? Only because so many evils and no action from Delhi!
Rahul, do or die is my message to you and make Bharat Socialist, Secular, Democratic. This country belongs to the little man. Winston Churchill wrote: ‘The little man, walking into a little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper—no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of the point'.
Please uphold the essential democratic core and socialist content of our Constitution. Please mobilize people's power for creating a truly Socialist, Secular happy India where no man or woman or child goes hungry, where the nation's wealth is shared by everyone and not monopolise and misused by a corrupt few.
With regard
Yours sincerely,
V.R. KRISHNA IYER
To
Mr. Rahul Gandhi
General Secretary
AICC, C/o KPCC
Ernakulam
Rahul's reply to Judge letter
Hon. Justice Iyer,
Thank you for your very impassioned and well meaning advice. I appreciate it. I have read JN's autobiography. I will do so again as you suggest.
Like most right thinking Indian people I feel exactly the same way as you do. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking and working to improve what I see as a rotten system. The difference is that I cannot get away simply with writing letters and complaining as you can. I am faced with the reality of changing things which requires much more then the periodic release of emotion.
As far as becoming a hero is concerned, Unfortunately that is of absolutely no interest to me. I work because I believe in working to improve a system that is rotten and not to be glorified.
Best wishes,
Rahul
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