CONTRADICTION IS SALT OF DIALECTICS AND THE SALT IS INDIA
Hisila Yami
It is often observed that not only children but even adults are taught that this world is simple, straight and sunny. However often it is complex, zigzag and murky. The first tendency seems to connote positive-ness and the second negative. However, the truth lies in the fact that both co-exist with each other. It is by fighting against the negative tendencies that one moves ahead and gains positive result. In short contradiction is behind all the movements thus making it salt of dialectics.
In Nepalese politics, there seem to be wrangling between, new and old system, between visionary leaders and power hungry leaders. Those who are fighting for new system are struggling to gain power, maturity and credibility at both national and international level. And those who want to stick to old system are trying hard to retain power, credibility, and reliability at both national and international level. Similarly those leaders who have power do not seem to have vision. They are using power as an end. And those leaders who have vision they do not seem to have power. They lack power to make it as a means to translate their vision. This is seen almost in all the political Parties in Nepal.
At the world level this tendency seems to persist in different ways. Generally the developed countries are seen to be so consumer-oriented that they seem to lose political visionary edge. As a result the leaders from developed countries tend to find technical solution to political problem in the third world countries by bombing here and there, by posting military posts here and there. As a result they are alienating themselves more and more from the third world countries.
And the Third world countries are too much laden with politics because they lack power; they lack stable system to drive their vision to practice. As a result they are sounding more and more rhetoric against the first world countries for not giving them freedom to solve their own problems. The consequence is they are distancing themselves more and more from the developed countries.
At micro level it is important to understand the psychology of poor people. They have to face adversaries at every step hence they are rebellious, militant and ruthless by nature. Their natural tendency is to be ultra leftist. And the rich people because of abundance of comforts enjoyed by them inversely proportionate to the work they perform, are often deformed making them immobile to change. Their natural tendency is ultr-rightist. At the end of it too much of changes and that too soon is as bad as too much of stability and that too endlessly are both harmful. Between the dialectics of change and stability, it is the change which should lead the period of stability, preparing base for higher level of change.
It is also important to know the dialectics between whole and part, particularly when Nepal is going to federal state from unitary state. Whole should lead parts hence it is important that those who are fighting for autonomous region on nationality ground should keep the unity of the whole country in perspective while carving out their autonomous regions. It is equally important that the central government respect the aspirations of people of all nationalities to form their autonomous state. However what is more important is that the central state at least in the beginning be strong enough so that it is able to keep together all the autonomous states democratically.
There is also contradiction between big and powerful countries and small and powerless countries. Small and powerless countries always get the feeling of being dwarfed by the big and powerful countries. And the big and the powerful countries always have tendency to know that they have answers to all the problems that small and powerless countries face. It is important to note that in present globalized world all countries are getting interdependent both positively and negatively, irrespective of size and power.
At this juncture it is important to know the dynamics of Indian politics as it has overwhelming effect in Nepal.
India is full of contradictions; hence along with many challenges it has many opportunities as well to lead this region. Geographically it has all the features of the world, hills, mountains, Himalayas, flat plain land, sea, rivers, desert with all possibilities and challenges. Politically it has all sorts of movements present in the world. Take the example of Dalit movement spearheaded by Mayabati, take the regional movement seen in North Eastern regions, take the separatist movement in Kashmir, take the religious Hindu movement spearheaded by Bharatiya Janta Party, take revolutionary class movement spearheaded by Communist Party of India (Maoist), and reformist communist movement spearheaded by Communist Party of India (Marxist) and take comprador bourgeois movement spearheaded by Indian Congress Party. Along with these main stream Parties there are innumerable smaller movements lead by environmentalists, women activists, green peace activists, social activists, educationists, scientists, anarchists etc often complimenting and contradicting these mainstream movements.
There is also contradiction between the central state and federal states and between federal states in the sphere of sharing of power. There are also up coming nationalities fighting to attain their statehoods. In economic field India has remnants of tribal economy, feudal economy, capitalist economy to monopoly capitalist economy within various states. There is also big gap between have and have-nots. In cultural field you have various forms of matriarchal and patriarchal systems. It has almost all the religions present in the world. Linguistically the whole country is divided into Hindi speaking North and non-Hindi speaking South. Even the neighbouring countries surrounding it have different political systems. In North it has overwhelming presence of tightly guarded border with unitary communist state, China. Along with it India has open borders with Nepalese state which is nascent republic state and Bhutanese state with monarchy system intact. In the West it has Islamic Pakistani state almost in war state with India. In the East it has Banladesh again Islamic state and Burma a military junta ruled state. And in the South it has president ruled Sri Lanka which has recently come out of ethnic civil war.
At present economically India is competing with China to race for global economic supremacy, but at the same time it is also facing all encompassing movement of cpi (Maoist) which is gradually spreading its wing all over India.
At the end of the day in politics you need bit of every things but ultimately it is the scientific vision and ideology which should lead all these tendencies. And India as a country has bits of every things, the challenge is to lead it with scientific vision. It has the salt of dialectics! Nepal and India being part of this globalized world must learn to co-exit with each other meaningfully.
jan 16 2010