HISTORY OF INDIAN DEEP STATE PART 2

Pakistan instrument of surrender in Bangladesh war(Above photo)

If India pokes its nose in Pakistan US will not keep its trap shut. India will be taught a lesson-Richard Nixon

India regards US as a friend ,not a boss. We know and are aware how to deal with each other according to circumstances- Indira Gandhi

Food crisis and green revolution

By 1960 it was apparent that planned economy was not leading to economic growth. After death of Jawaharlal Nehru the powerful syndicate comprising of a few congress leaders decided to nominate Lal Bahadur Shashtri as PM.Shastri reduced the role of planning commision and created a separate PMO to convey his decisions. Shashtri however immediately faced a war of aggression from Pakistan. He inherited an agricultural sector low in investment and absent land reforms. There was a drought and famine. India had to beg to US for food grains. Shastri initiated a technology mediated green revolution. The best irrigated lands were selected and high quality seeds ,fertilizers were made available. India soon achieved self sufficiency in foodgrains .However he did not have much time to reform the economy due to his sudden death

The intensification  of a planned closed economy

After death of Shashtri the syndicate of powerful congress leaders ,backed by big capitalists decided to appoint Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi as PM , expecting to control her as she would be non assertive.However things turned out differently and Indira Gandhi took a series of populist measures connecting directly with the masses and thereafter split the congress and made the syndicate powerless.

   Indira Gandhi was influenced by socialist ideas and the communist party had given her support in parliament throughout her tenure. She created  the university of JNU and other educational institutions and appointed Marxist academicians everywhere. These academicians rejected the civilizational basis of Indian civilization and influenced economic policies.    

   The economic policies reflected an influence of socialist thought with anti monopoly laws and intensification  of license permit raj.The MRTP act severely restricted output of big industries .It required license and quota approval of government to increase production in factories.. The labour intensive sector was kept small by law. New labour laws abolished power of firms to dismiss workers if total labour employed was more than hundred. Land laws made it difficult to buy land for setting new industries.There was high customs duty to protect Indian manucturing and foreign investment was restricted. Personal income taxes at highest level was 90%.All these measures led to reduced economic growth,and along with rapid population rise extreme hardships to the poor. Nationalisation of private banks however allowed government to provide loans to poorer sections of society.The opposition parties , mostly led by former disgruntled congress leaders had by now formed regional parties in states. They championed  regional ,caste groups and followed a policy of appeasement to gather votes .The greatest challenge however was given by Jana sangh , a party which was never a part of congress. It was founded to propagate Indian and Hindu civilizational values. 

   Indira Gandhi had very strong resolve and when she saw genocide in East Pakistan of Bengalis  ,especially Hindus in 1971 ,supported by Richard Nixon,president of America she did not back off. The Indian army defeated Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh.

Indira Gandhi trying to suppress constant agitations and dissent within her party became more and more authoritarian.She dismissed state governments at her will by imposing presidents rule. IT ,CBI enquiries were instituted against opponents. Ultimately she had to impose emergency when courts declared her election to parliament unlawfull due to a minor use of state machinery in her campaigning.

   In her bid to politically outmanoeuvre the Akalis in Punjab sanjay Gandhi ,Indira Gandhi’s younger son,supported secretly  Jarnail singh Bhindranwale a militant Sikh. However Bhindranwale soon  became a law unto himself and openly moved with arms  in Punjab ,terrorising the population. Ultimately he was killed by Indian army inside golden temple where he had hid with his armed supporters. However even after his death insurgency continued in Punjab with killing of innocent Hindus and sikhs . Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards who wanted to avenge her orders to send Indian army to Sacred golden temple. Thereafter mobs led by local congress leaders started a riot and killed thousand of innocent sikhs.

The political mafia

During the tenure of Indira Gandhi a profound change had occurred in the political system. During the time of Nehru the congress party comprised of honest members who had taken part in the freedom struggle. By the time of Indira Gandhi the selectionof candidates  became based on winnability in elections. A direct result of this was that candidates with money or muscle power gradually replaced honest candidates. Further winnability was determined by which caste or religion dominated the parliamentaryconstituency . Apart from this many mafia dons indulging in illegal coal or sand selling,extortion of business were candidates as they provided both money and muscle. Unemployed youth became tools to threaten voters and intimidate them.The political party leaders used any or all language,caste religion to appease voters.

After assassination of Indira Gandhi her son Rajiv Gandhi was nominated  as PM by the congress party. By this time the Gandi family name had acquired a cult status similar to the Kennedy family. Congress leaders thus willingly favoured them to increase their own survival. Rajiv Gandhi started liberalising gradually by allowing foreign capital. He introduced communication and computer technology which is the basis of India’s IT sector success today. Other technology missions involved oilseed production,operation blackboard with investment in primary education,dairy farming technology, immunisation. 

   India is the second largest importerof  arms and most arms deals involve middlemen and bribes to politicians. One such was the Bofors scandal but though accused the Gandhi families involvement was never proved probably because the money trail was obliterated.India to balance cultural oppression of srilankan Tamils secretly trained Tamil militant groups like LTTE. However when the IPKF peace keeping force tried to stop the war the LTTE turned against them. Ultimately Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a Tamil suicide bomber during an election meeting. This  turned Indian public opinion against LTTE and ultimately it was defeated by Srilankan military.

  Before his death Rajiv Gandhi reluctantly had to bow down to Muslim pressure in the shah Bano case. A Supreme Court verdict had given maintenance to shah Bano a divorcee. Since this was against Muslim personal law it was opposed by Muslim clergy. Rajiv had to appease them by bringing a law to cancel the court judgement.

V P singh defence minister under Rajiv Gandhi was dismissed from cabinet as he wanted to probe the Bofors scandal. After leaving congress he collaborated with other regional parties and won elections. As PM however he was constantly being threatened by coalition partners for favours. To counter them he implemented Mandal commision recommendations involving backward classes. India traditionally had a hierarchical caste system and the upper castes dominated education ,bueraracracy overwhelmingly leading to humiliation of the middle order backward castes.Mandal commision recommended reservation for these castes in education and government institutions. With this populist move V P singh got mass support.

 To counter Mandal commision report implementation  which the BJP ,the new name of Jana sangh , could not oppose due to political considerations,started the Ramjanambhoomi temple agitation.The mosque Babri masjid in Ayodhya was built in 16th  century over a temple supposed to be the birth place of Lord Ram considered one of the most revered Gods of Hindus,by the fanatic Mughal emperor Aurungzeb. After a long agitation to build a temple of Ram at the mosque site,a mob led by BJP leaders demolished the Babri masjid . There was intense reaction by Muslim local leaders leading to riots all over the country. Multiple Bombattacks by Muslim organizations killed thousands of people. Ultimately the court gave the verdict to build a Ram temple at the exact same spot after ASI gave evidence of a non islamic structure existing below the mosque. As a result of this populist movement BJP won record number of seats in next parliamentary elections.

   During the 1990 ‘s Pakistan had succeeded in sending armed Islamic terrorists in the Kashmir valley through a porous border. They not only started killing the Hindu minority indiscriminately but also forcred them to migrate outside the valley after demolishing their shops and raping  the womenfolk. The Muslim political parties which were in power in the valley were terrified and either kept mum or even supported these actions to become popular. This was the second communal migration in India after partition. The Hindus of the valley still have not been able to return to their homes even after twenty five years due to threat to their lives and womenfolks.

Ack:A history of economic policy in India,crisis coalitions and contingency