MEETING A REMARKABLE WOMAN.-50 years of Independence. - Kiran Bedi
Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

MEETING A REMARKABLE WOMAN.-50 years of Independence. - Kiran Bedi

The common Man

MEETING A REMARKABLE WOMAN.-50 years of Independence < KIRAN BEDI

Kiran Bedi was born with a controversy and is no stranger to controversies. Though she is controversial I personally feel that I am yet to meet a person like Kiran Bedi. First lady to become an Indian Police officer in India, Bedi is known for her no-nonsense approach. The crooks are afraid of her. From punishing errant drivers to running a reform school for hardened criminals, Bedi’s has been a chequered career. However not even her most ardent detractors can accuse her of not being true to her cause. I wish Kiran should have been in politics. Bedi’s passion for her profession and her commitment towards the nation was more than evident in this interview.

When you became the first lady police officer to lead the Republic Day parade, what were your feelings at that time?

Immense pride and a love for my country. This country which bestowed upon me this honour, which made me capable of donning the police uniform. You know something there is something in an uniform which evokes the feelings of patriotism and national pride. Like if you wear an ascetic’s robe and if you are of a true mind, you automatically start feeling like an ascetic. Similarly if you love justice, this uniform will get justice out of you.

How would you define the common man?

A common man is a person who cannot achieve anything on his own. He is always dependent on some crutch or the other. He needs the crutches of influence, of recommendations, of power,…. He doesn’t have a voice of his own which can be heard. The common man derives strength from numbers, by forming a vote bank. He cannot survive on his own, he needs constant support. His strength is counted only on the day of elections. Before elections and after elections he is destined to languish in anonymity.

Is common man politically savvy?

Savvy he maybe but the common man is very weak. He is powerless to achieve anything. Because he is in isolation. The common man cannot do anything as long as he is isolated. He becomes powerful only when numbers are on his side, as a collectivity. The common man has no future unless he rallies around a cause as an united force. And what are the common causes the common man rallies around? Religion, caste, language or politics! I have never seen anybody getting together on a moral issue!

Doesn’t the common man rally around for the cause of the nation?

The common man can be united for a national cause but he needs a rallying force. A strong leadership which he can trust. It is not the question of finding just one person, for this nation is so vast that we need able leadership in every village. This is not a job for one person or for that matter even a few persons.

But a person like Gandhiji had single handedly brought the people of this country together.

I told you, times have changed. The situation was vastly different then. There was only one aim those days, namely Freedom! Today who is talking about freedom ? Infact there are enough people who are trying to drive a wedge through it. During Gandhij’s time there was only one common enemy who was an outsider. Today this nation is full of internal enemies, enemies who are surfacing from God alone knows where. Their only aim is to divide and destroy this country. Today you don’t even know whether the person sitting next to you in a group meeting is your friend or foe. Nobody allows you to form a working group because a vocal pressure group formed along ethical lines can be a source of great danger for these subversive forces. A lot of groups have turned divisive in this country. Already we have lost a lot…a lot.

When does the common man become a VIP?

The day he has to vote. When a common man reaches a high office using wrong means, he exhibits all his commonness. The common man is blessed with a common character. His is not a great character, not even an extraordinary character. He has all the common weaknesses like dishonesty and selfishness which he exhibits when he reaches a position of power. The position may require high values and ideals but the common man spoils it all by showing his greed and common character.

When you had joined the IPS, What did you wish to do for your country?

What I have been doing all along. I belong to a service which is committed to the ideals of service and justice. I can proudly say that I have been successful in providing both in the course of my career.

Service to whom? VIP’s?

No, to the common man. My service was formed for the welfare of the common man. I can be satisfied only when my service reaches the common man. A politician has many means of getting his work done but I am certainly not one of them. As I see it a politician is also a common man to begin with and hence is entitled to the same rights and privileges, nothing less, nothing more. If I provided special service to him, not only would I be dishonest with my profession, I would be dishonest with myself. I didn’t join the services to provide special treatment to anybody. I am here to provide justice. My service is here to provide justice. My service is justice. It was formed with the objective of protecting the law and enforcing the law.

How many police officers can you find who enforce the law fearlessly and impartially?

This is a matter of individual convictions and value systems.

How is that the police force , which was formed with the objective of serving the common man has turned against him?

Because the police is no longer the protector, it has turned into a predator. It was forced to turn into a predatory force by politicians for their petty interests. Police in this country was always expected to perform contradictory roles, as a protector as well as a predator. Now this is very unfair to the police. It lowers their morale.

The situation was different before say the 1950’s, how come this degeneration occurred in the past few decades?

The situation then was even worse. For the police force was obeyed the commands of an alien power. It used to visit the people of this country only to knock on their doors and arrest. But now what happens? Even now the police comes to your houses to knock and arrest, but sometimes it also makes friendly gestures. This contradiction occurs because of conflicting orders the police receive from their political masters. Sometimes you tell a police constable to forcibly vacate a house, and sometimes you question him as to why did he vacate the house and suspend him for that. This duality of instructions has been going on for the past 50 years. Why do you give such conflicting orders? These double messages confuse the force, lower their morale. The force loses its commitment to justice. It then follows the policy of different treatment to different people. If you have a lot of clout, the police will treat you with respect because you may have the power to bring about their transfer or posting. If you are an ordinary citizen , more often than not you will be bullied. The force has gone through an image revamping they say, yes we have got new uniforms, new caps, new band, but our deeds are the same…dual! One law for the powerful, another for the weak. As long as this duality exists, the police will turn predators instead of protectors.

What do you think of crimes perpetrated against women? Why is there so much violence against women?

Because women in India are getting educated and informed at a tremendous rate. The modern Indian woman can think for herself. Her needs are changing, her priorities are changing. She is no longer content to linger in the shadows of her male counterparts. She is coming into her own, trying to discover her own identity as a woman, as a human being. But the society to which she belongs hasn’t changed. The people around her haven’t changed. They are not ready to grant her that identity as they probably find it threatening. Particularly the Indian male feels very threatened with the prospect of the woman coming into her own, for his thought process hasn’t undergone a drastic change. The woman has changed but the man hasn’t, at least as much as the woman has. The average Indian male still can’t accept the fact that ‘the second sex’ too has become educated, that its needs have changed. He still thinks that the woman’s rightful place is at home, managing the family and kids. He still expects her to do all the household chores all by herself. The man doesn’t understand that today’s woman has other aspirations too. She has a career to manage . She too has a schedule as demanding as his. The pressures of professional life weigh as heavily on her as they do on him.

Secondly, the society too hasn’t changed. It still has double standards, one standard for the woman of the house, another for the man. Different sets of standards for the daughters-in-law and for the daughters. This hypocrisy starts from the family itself. When your daughter is getting married you cry hoarse against dowry but when it is the time for your son to get married, you see nothing wrong in asking for a hefty amount ; after all haven’t you spent good money on your son’s education?

The rate at which the media has educated and informed the woman of her rights hasn’t been matched with the media’s attempt to educate the society and the male population of its duties in the changed circumstances. Even today, a woman is treated as an inanimate object to be used at will. In many families her status is still of a reproducing machine. Tell me how many women this country have a right to decide on her own the number of kids they plan to have? Very very few. In most cases the husband will decide, the in-laws will decide, even the neighbours will decide …. Anybody will decide but not the woman herself.

Here I am not referring to those women who have broken away from these traditions. Women like me who are well educated and financially independent. Women who have dared to rebel. We have decided the course of our life. From the choice of a career to the number of children, we have taken our own decisions. Yes, we have rebelled. However that doesn’t mean that we are home wreckers or society breakers. Infact we have helped to bring the society together by being better human beings, better citizens and better parents. How I wish our numbers were bigger !

How would you evaluate our journey as a nation in the past 50 years?

I am disappointed. Whatever we had hoped for we didn’t achieve. In fact we have regressed. Our value system has collapsed, our character has degenerated. We have lost out on honesty. Our leadership has gone totally bankrupt. What we have achieved instead, is an increase in consumerism, an increase in our selfishness. We have lost out on ethics, we have lost out on national character. The nationalistic feelings which won us our freedom, the national character which was instrumental in shaping the freedom struggle has all but got lost. The collective integrity of character has been lost, individually it may still be seen as some isolated examples, but collectively we have lost out on this thing called national character.

Have we lost out on only National character or is the common man too is affected by the National Character is synonymous with the majority character, and that we have lost. It is the collective character of the Indian nation and is the sum total of individual characters. For ultimately individuals make the nation. And individuals include not only the common people but all those who are the citizens of this country. This collective National Character we have lost. Now it is the ‘every man for himself’ culture. We no longer think of the nation. ‘ hamari India vision chali gayee hai’. We have lost our India Vision. We don’t even have our own individual visions, let alone an India vision.

Why have we reached such a sorry state as a nation? Whom do you hold responsible for this?

The post independence leadership! During the freedom struggle, people were together because they had faith in the leadership. The leaders enjoyed a dedicated following and high credibility. The country rose as one because it was an enlightened leadership that held it together. Post independence however the scenario changed. We no longer had an inspired leadership. As a result the people were scattered and directionless. Everybody went his or her own way.

But the post independence leadership has another story to tell. They say that India has made tremendous progress over the last 50 years. Standard of living has been raised, health and education facilities have improved, purchasing power has increased. How can you say that our hopes have not been met ?

Materialism and national character are two different things. I feel that materially we may have progressed a lot , but morally we are regressing. Materialism and morality are two different things. We can achieve real progress only when we learn to strike a balance between the two. However we have failed to do so. Have you ever heard anybody in India talk about ‘business with ethics’? We seem to be talking about ‘either business or ethics’. We treat these 2 subjects as watertight compartments. We don’t even seem to be talking about ‘service with ethics’ which used to be our mantra in the olden days.

Why has this happened? Why are we treating morality and ethics as a subject incompatible with our day to day life? Are we combining politics with ethics? No! No one seems to be talking about ethical politics. It has become a sort of contradiction in terms. We don’t think twice before combining politics with religion, with parochialism, with communalism …. But with ethics, a strict no no.

What can be the possible reasons behind this?

A morally bankrupt selfish leadership. The pre-independence leadership was selfless, the post-independence leadership became selfish. The pre-independence leadership was selfless for it cared for the nation. For at that time there was only one interest, only one mission; namely freedom from the colonial rule. They did not race for power then, that I want to be a home minister or a industries minister or a governor… and so on. Those were different times altogether. Now there is only a mad scramble for power. Every politician’s life’s ambition today is to become a minister fast so that he/she can garner enough money to last for generations! However old he/she may be, every politician wants to remain glued to power. They cannot even conceive themselves in a situation without power. Sacrifice is a word long forgotten, because sacrifice cannot co-exist with selfishness. Either you believe in sacrifice or you believe in selfishness. You cannot be both the things at the same time.

How would you evaluate the education policies of independent India?

I feel that our education policies have laid more stress on creating literate adults, not educated adults. The standard of education in this country has gone down appallingly. Education has come to mean merely degrees. Knowledge has become secondary. The real aim of education is to create values like integrity and honesty. We have failed in that aim and failed miserably at that. I also feel that we haven’t reviewed the education policies from time to time. Because no policy can be constant over the years, particularly for a young nation like ours where situations change on a daily basis. We need to constantly review our policies so that we run ahead of our needs at all times. I don’t see this happening anywhere. We are lagging far behind our needs. Demand far outstrips supply.

Another issue I find quite depressing is the language issue. The minute I move even slightly away from the Hindi belt I feel like a stranger in my own country, reason? Lack of Knowledge of the local language. This is a national problem. While I don’t understand Gujrati, or marathi or Tamil, a South Indian finds himself alienated in say U.P. because he doesn’t understand Hindi. Why has this happened? Why have we limited ourselves to learning only three languages? Why didn’t we include the study of state languages in the school curricula? There are 12 classes of school, we should have introduced one state language every year. This way we could have easily learnt at least 8 languages starting from Sanskrit, Hindi and English. We wouldn’t have found ourselves strangers in our own country. I am not asking for the study of state languages to be made compulsory. Instead, provide incentives in the form of marks or grades. Why should we learn each other’s language only through TV or films? Why shouldn’t we learn about them out of love for one’s country? I feel that the language issue has been unnecessarily politicised by myopic politicians for their own petty gains.

Are you trying to say that we have been ruled by Illiterate politicians?

No, not illiterate, uneducated. People whose intentions were suspect, who were dishonest, lazy and selfish. Barring a few exceptions, most of our so called leaders were people without a character. People who had no love or respect for the common man, people whose patriotism was suspect. These were people without strong convictions. They clung to positions of power like limpets. ‘If there are railway accidents, so what? Why should I resign from my cushy position as a railway minister?’ was the general outlook. Agreed there have been exceptions like the late Lal Bahadur Shastri, unfortunately they remained only exceptions and could never become the rule! If only we had more people like Shastriji- maybe our country wouldn’t have been in such a sorry state.

Do you feel that India is disintegrating?

Well, physically I don’t see us breaking up, at least not in the foreseeable future. But mentally we are drifting apart. There is tremendous disillusionment all over. People are fed up of seeing the mess politicians have made of this country. Surely this wasn’t what we had asked for? We hadn’t asked for a morally bankrupt leadership which is all out to sell us.

Do we need a rallying point like say a national song to bind us together?

We need an able leadership. Only an enlightened leadership can bind us together. National songs are being sung by dozens, but that is paying lip service to the cause of the nation. The need of the hour is an informed and enlightened leadership. A leadership which is ethical and honest. We need leaders who are committed to the welfare of the common man not goondas or anti-social elements. They need not wear white khadi clothes. Ordinary coloured clothes would do equally well. You don’t become clean by wearing clean clothes. The cleanliness has to spring from the inside. But the point is do we have such people in our midst? And even if there are, are they prepared to step in front and enter public life?

By Yati Jindal and Shefali Vaidya.

Email: kireet@bom2.vsnl.net.in