Is this Going to Be Another Dark Age? You don’t have to look very hard to see why I ask.

…
There were some news – all widely publicised, that when put together, sums up the social discourse
that we all are witnessing –

A. 70 kids die in a Gorakhpur Hospital as the Oxygen supply ran out.

B. Over a Hundred Children die in Bihar under a periodic epidemic that’s been a repeat for
some years …and almost an equal number of adults, without adequate shelter, died from
the heatwave.
C. 22 Children die jumping from several stories during Surat fire incident – as the fire
department had no ladders…. Nor a safety net…
D. Corporates donate a whopping 985 Crore to political parties AND A single party gets 93%
share….with as many as 4-5 giant pharma groups being among the top ten donors…..

Good Morning every one…

“Capitalism creates wealth by setting up a contest for profits, that necessarily creates a steady
stream of losers….and capitalist nationalism thrives more not so much on sympathy with one’s
fellows, as much as on hostility towards the outsider enemy”

During the colonial regime, what united such diversity, as in India, was the common enemy they
all confronted in the British. The departure of the British, however, withdrew the enemy from our
horizon—we now sought renewed vision to sustain national feeling against smaller, but more
convenient, local options. The elite capitalists in India, had no concern to analyse or determine the
nature of nationalism …as a matter of fact nor were they essentially anti–imperialism , on the
contrary their focus was all on using the support of the nationalist movement to push their own
interests as “national” interests …In time their demand for fiscal & monetary policies rather than
being a Capitalist Interest, got camouflaged as a general National Interest. However strange this
may seem, but the devaluation of our currency for promoting exports on capitalists demand, too
was seen as a national demand & measure…..and thus began the emergence of Capitalist
Nationalism.

With waning imperialism capitalists saw another threat from the Left Movement. They answered
this not by confronting the Left, but by standing with & strengthening the Right Wing….while
nipping the socialist movement in the bud ….. This naturally brought in the use of religion as a
political tool, which soon got politicised into an “ideology” creating —a nationalised religion and
a sacred nationalism.

In this new vision, the view on “nationalism” is inflexible — confirming to us or them, not us and
them— A tradition that is a fascinating “mosaic of distinct cults, deities, sects and ideas" (including
contradictory ideas) is being regimented to address vested needs, and nationalism must follow this
pattern of one definition, one form, and one loyalty.

This entanglement of religion and politics inevitably becomes explosive, as religion becomes
fundamentalist and exclusive; and politics becomes extremist and violent. No religious tradition
has been an exception to such political manipulation, even those purported to be tolerant and non-
violent….and the increased lynching in the name of religion, or religious chants in the parliament
of a SECULAR nation are just the growing signs of the same.

Ladies & gentleman I am no anti-capitalist slogan maker ... I believe in markets. What I don’t
believe in is theft, what I don’t believe in is cronyism. That’s where the difference is. I love what
markets can do, I love what functioning economies can do. They are what make us rich, they are
what create opportunity. But only fair markets, markets with rules. Markets without rules is about
the rich take it all, it’s about the powerful get all of it. And that’s what’s gone wrong in India…
Now, the problem isn’t exactly “markets without rules.” The problem is that markets are defined
by an incomprehensible jumble of regulatory clutches — an accumulation of juggling fixes — that
strangle economic freedom for ordinary people, allowing the powerful to capture the economy by
selectively enforcing the rules to their advantage.
You can argue it’s not so, but how else do you explain two facts that have been making the news
headlines in the recent months :
1. Farmer suicide rates has been appalling. Poor peasants are committing suicides under
pressure of petty loans, while their crops are not even being provided the minimum assured
price…. nor timely payments.
Yet on the other hand :
2. Bank’s outstanding for some of the illustrious ones read Bhushan Steel
₹44,477 Crores, Essar Steel ₹37,284Crores, Bhushan Power ₹37,248 Crores, Electro Steel
- ₹10,274Crores, Monet Ispat - ₹8,944 Crores …total NPA’s exceeding 4 Lakh Crores.
AND In between all these towering figures the Govt obliged the daily mazdoor with a
minimum wages of 178/ - per day while a reasonably well placed executive makes almost
4 times this sum each hour.

From land acquisition to monetary bail out, education to healthcare…system & welfare stands in
solidarity with just the cronies. Inequality in India today is at its highest level in 92 years – 1% of
the super rich who became the ultra rich, now “own” more than 51% of nation’s wealth.

You might think all this is just economics…. Social justice still imparts equality. But in fact —
and this is the point — the Age of Unworthy people hasn’t ended until date. In Umma Village of
Sonbhadra land mafia massacred 9 tribal to grab their land And this was on 17th July 2019. So
even the qualitative equality & dignity is missing for the masses.

And so the Age of Freedom appears to be coming to an end, crashing down around us. Even in
Europe and Canada, regressive movements are gaining power by the day, week, month. And in
our part of the world we have not even made it thus far —