JUNE 26
Peace and Justice for All
A political revolution can have meaning only if it is preceded by, and consistently upheld by a moral revolution. No revolution is worth the name unless it brings in its wake peace and justice for all.
During the time of his imprisonment by the British in Ahmad Nagar Fort, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru wrote his famous book, The Discovery of India, between the months of April and September, 1944. It is significant that the postscript he added on the 29th of December, 1945 concludes with the words:
“We are on the eve of general elections in India and these elections absorb attention. But the elections will be over soon—and then? The coming year is likely to be one of storm and trouble, of conflict and turmoil. There is going to be no peace in India or elsewhere except on the basis of freedom” (pp. 693, 694).
Approximately one and a half years after these lines were written, India did gain its Independence, and Jawahar Lal Nehru had the opportunity to govern the country single-handed till the end of his life. Those who had been closely associated with him remained in power even after his death. But that precious quality of life called ‘peace’ is further away today than ever it seemed in December, 1945. India has gained its freedom, but it has certainly not gained peace.
Changes of leadership have done little to amend this situation. Zealous leaders have too often equated a change in the status quo with betterment, progress, the weal of the common man, only to find that their aspirations have been illusory. Most often, such changes only bring new faces to the political scene, without there being any improvement, either qualitative or quantitative, in the existing state of affairs.
A political revolution can have meaning only if it is preceded by, and consistently upheld by a moral revolution. Its genuine fruits should be not changes in the wielders of power, but changes in attitudes and behaviour from the top of the bottom of the social and political hierarchy. No revolution is worth the name unless it brings in its wake peace and justice for all.
