How Indian Subcontinent will create mighty modern industrial state

The basic problems of the Indian subcontinent are the massive and abject poverty of our vast masses, the record and rising unemployment, the appalling level of child malnutrition (every second Indian child is malnourished, according to the Global Hunger Index), the skyrocketing prices of food and other essential commodities, the almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc.

I have repeatedly said in various international online newspapers catering to the Indian diaspora and national media portals that abolishing these great evils, requires a mighty historical people’s revolution, and thereafter, the creation of a powerful modern industrial state in the Indian subcontinent. It cannot be achieved within the framework of parliamentary democracy, which runs largely based on caste and communal vote banks.

Till now I have not given details of this modern industrial state in any of my writings and contributions to various media portals, which we seek to create, but I believe it is high time to do so now.

Features, and characteristics of the modern industrial state we will create

1. Central feature
The central feature will be that it will be a welfare state, tasked with the object of destroying the great socio-economic evils mentioned above, which have plagued us for centuries. Our generation and our previous generations suffered thereby, but we owe it to our children, grandchildren, and succeeding generations that they too do not suffer similarly, but instead enjoy a high standard of living, and lead decent lives.
Such a welfare state cannot be created without a high level of industrialization, because only large-scale modern industry can create the wealth we require for the welfare of our people.
Without creating such a welfare state for our people, all other objectives are useless.

2. Its leaders
Its leaders will be genuinely patriotic, selfless, modern-minded persons determined to rapidly industrialise and modernise our country.

Many people ask me where are those leaders? It is true that the present political leaders in India, of all political parties, are a bunch of selfish, slippery, shifty, rogues, rascals, scoundrels, charlatans, looters, deceivers, and mafiosi, who have no genuine love for the country, but only seek power and pelf. They are experts in polarising society on caste and communal lines, and inciting hatred, to get votes.

So I am not talking of these tricksters, swindlers, knaves, and scallywags. I am talking of quite another breed.
Nature does not like a vacuum. Historical experience shows that in the darkest periods of the history of many nations, great leaders arose, e.g. in the great English, French, American, Russian and Chinese Revolutions. I am confident the same will happen in the Indian subcontinent too.

3. Internal policies of the new government
Since India is a country of great diversity, with numerous religions, castes, languages, races, etc. the government will not tolerate attempts by anyone to create discord and hatred among our communities, and give harsh and severe punishment to the offenders. The state will be secular. Secularism does not mean one cannot practise his/her religion. It means that religion is one’s private affair, and the state will have nothing to do with it. The state will uphold religious freedom, but will not tolerate religious extremism and bigotry. It will be guided by the policy of ‘suleh-e-kul’ of the great Moghul Emperor Akbar, the real father of the Indian nation.

As regards economic policies, the state will be pragmatic. Realising the value of capitalism, it will not seek its elimination, but its regulation in the public interest and welfare. We certainly will not tolerate a state of affairs in which a handful of Indian big businessmen, who have become billionaires, own wealth equal to that of 70% of India’s 1400 million population.

The new state shall prepare and implement 5-year plans for India’s economic growth, taking the help of technical, economic and administrative experts. The plans will assess the anticipated requirements of food, clothing, fuel, etc of the masses, and ensure that these are met.
As regards education and healthcare, these will be free for all.

4. External policy
The state will try to promote peace and good relations among all nations. However, it will not hesitate in condemning powerful nations which oppress weaker ones. We will have a strong army, equipped with the latest weapons ( made by our industries, not foreigners ), but it will only be used for our defence, not offence.

5. Reunification of India
One of the cardinal objectives of our new state will be the undoing of that British swindle called Partition of 1947 based on the bogus two-nation theory.

On this, there will be no compromise. We must reunite, under a secular state, whatever the cost, otherwise, we will keep wasting our precious resources and energy in hostility with each other. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are one country, sharing the same culture, which was one from the time of Moghul Emperor Akbar, and were only temporarily and artificially separated by a British fraud.

Later, if other neighbouring countries wish to voluntarily join our Union, they will be welcomed (with the right to secede whenever they wish)

6. Language policy
All languages of the Indian subcontinent will be given equal respect, and no attempt will be made to impose Hindi or any other language on anyone. On the other hand, state support will be given to all regional languages, and even to dialects, to prevent them from dying out (as indeed many have done).

These are the broad outlines, though, of course, they have to be supplemented.

The 21st century will be characterised as the century in which the historical peoples’ struggles all over the world will be fought out to a conclusion, resulting in creation of a new world order, free of these evils.

India (in which is included Pakistan and Bangladesh, for we are really one country only temporarily and artificially divided by that British swindle called Partition), will be giving leadership to the world in this century. Let me explain.

Before the Industrial Revolution in England in the first half of the 18th century, the world was dominated by feudal agricultural societies. Their methods of production were backward and primitive.

For instance, the bullock was used for tilling the land in India, the buffalo in Thailand, Vietnam, etc., and the horse in Europe. There were no tractors, combines, and other modern machinery.

Consequently, little wealth could be generated. Only a handful of people such as kings, aristocrats, landlords, etc., could be rich, while over 95% of the people had to be poor. When the cake was itself small, very few people could partake of it.

This drastically changed after the Industrial Revolution. Now, modern industry has become so powerful and so big that enough wealth can be generated to give a decent life to everyone in the world, and no one need be poor.

Yet, despite this, about 75% of the global population especially in underdeveloped countries, remains poor, many without employment, proper food and healthcare, and good education.

This world is really two worlds: One comprising developed countries like the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and now China and the second, underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The aim of the underdeveloped countries must be to break into the ranks of the developed countries by rapid industrialization, for only if they create a massive industry can they abolish the evils of poverty, unemployment, malnourishment, lack of healthcare, etc.

India is the most developed of the underdeveloped countries. It has a huge pool of technical talent (Indian IT engineers are largely manning Silicon Valley in California, and there are many Indian professors in American universities in the Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical departments). India also has immense natural resources.

It is therefore potentially an industrial giant, like the US or China, and our goal must be to break into the ranks of the developed countries as China did.

Following our lead, other underdeveloped countries will do the same, resulting in the whole world being developed.

The writer is Justice Markandey Katju, a former Supreme Court judge and chairman of the Press Council of India.