By Justice Markandey Katju-
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
There is an ancient Chinese fable of a foolish old man who removed the mountains.
The story is that an old man lived near a pair of huge mountains which obstructed his path. So he started digging the mountains with a hoe, with great determination.
Seeing him, people began calling him derisively ‘The Foolish Old Man’ and asked him how can he be so foolish to think he can remove the huge mountains in this way?
The old man replied “When I die, my sons will carry on the digging, and when they die, my grandsons will carry on this work. When my grandsons die, their sons and grandsons will do the same, and so on. With each generation’s digging, the mountains will get smaller and smaller, until they disappear.”
I am like that foolish old man. I have repeatedly said that our national aim must be to transform India from a backward country to a modern industrial giant, like China or USA, because unless we do that we can never hope to abolish our massive poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition (every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index), skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc.
When I say this, many people laugh at me, and ask how is this possible?
My reply is: The two huge mountains are casteism and communalism, and these feudal forces must be destroyed if we are to achieve our national goal.
I have been vigorously and vehemently attacking these forces for long, and propagating that these forces can only be destroyed by a mighty, historical united protracted people’s struggle, led by patriotic, modern minded leaders, culminating in a mighty people’s revolution.
When I die, those who agree with me and have become my followers, will continue this work and spread my message widely. An organization will then be created, with more and more people becoming its members, and totally dedicated and selfless persons its leaders.
This organization will have iron discipline, and no deviation from its basic aim of transforming India into a modern industrial giant will be tolerated.
When these members die, their ranks in turn will be filled up by others who will continue the people’s struggle, until the people’s
revolution is achieved.
The process may take 15-20 years or more, and entail tremendous sacrifices, but that is the only way out for the Indian people.
(Photo courtesy: Unsplash)
