By Justice Markandey Katju-
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
The great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib wrote :
“Hoon garmi-e-nishat-e-tasavvur se naghma-sanj
Main andaleeb-e-gulshan-e-naa-aafariidah hoon”
i.e.
”I sing with the heat (excitement) of the delights of things I imagine and foresee.
I am the nightingale of the garden that is yet to be born.”
This sher (couplet) succinctly describes a revolutionary. He is a visionary, always thinking, and fighting, for a future country, in which his people will be happy and prosperous.
In his imagination, he lives in that as yet unborn, prosperous country, and delights in it, and momentarily forgets the present state of affairs, in which the masses live in misery.
He is like the stormy petrel described in Maxim Gorki’s famous poem ‘The Song of the Stormy Petrel’.
Yet, his life’s journey is full of hardship, and his chosen path is full of thorns:
”Hum inquilabiyon ko naya jahaan banaana hai magar,
Yeh safar hai mashaqqat-o-museebaten liye hue.” And he sings this song.
The revolutionary’s life is lonely, and he often has to face great hostility by the common people who are conservative by nature, and do not like changes. Yet, he does not flinch or surrender, but carries on a lonely struggle.
He is a creator of new, modern values, and does not follow the morality of the common people, who have feudal mindsets (as in India, which is full of casteism, communalism, and superstitions). The revolutionary rises above them, he overcomes great obstacles, engages in epic struggles to change the existing social and political order (not always successfully), pursues new goals unfamiliar to the common man, and transcends and transforms existing values.
He knows he may not live to see the day when his dream comes true, and he may die in this struggle, and not see in reality what he sees in his imagination.
But how does that matter?
As Zarathustra said in Nietzsche’s book ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’:
“What matter about thyself Zarathustra ? Say thy word and break into pieces.”
i.e.
”Speak the truth, even if it results in your death.”
In Charles Dickens’ famous novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, at an early part of the novel, there is a conversation between Defarge, a wine seller, and his wife Madame Defarge, both of whom are secretly revolutionaries.
Defarge is despondent and dispirited because he thinks that the revolution for which he has been working for many years may not occur in his lifetime. To which Madame Defarge replies: “What of that? It will come.”
Defarge asks, “But when will it come?How much time does lightning take to strike the ground?”
“How much time does it take to build that lightning,” asks Madame Defarge in response. “An earthquake strikes suddenly, causing massive death and destruction. But how much time does it take to build that earthquake? You may not see the end. But you have contributed to it. Let that be your consolation, and be satisfied by it.”
A true revolutionary is like Madame Defarge, who patiently continued with her knitting of names of tyrants.
