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intellectual life has not overcome this trouble some legacy more tan
45 years after the achievement of independence and the exercise
of state power in fulfillment of responsibilities that must devolve
on rulers of a country. The magnitude of corruption, a euphemism for
abuse of public authority and resources for personal ends from top
to bottom of the state machinery, is one consequence of that legacy.
Other more readily intelligible illustrations belong to the field of
foreign policy and defence.
Only a leader lacking in sense of
history and recognition of the logic of power could ridicule the
twin theories of power vacuum and balance of power and only an elite
similarly handicapped could endorse him. Similarly, only a political
leadership contemptuous of Kshatriya values could keep out service
chiefs from the formulation of the country's defence policy and its
implementation. It is just inconceivable that our chiefs would be
able to exercise the kind of influence General Collin Powell has
been seen to do in respect of the Gulf war and the development of US
forces in Somalia. He determined the level of force and equipment he
would require before he would act and President George Bush
complied.
Right or wrong, this is my view of
the idiom of the Indian public discourse and should help make
intelligible my rejection of it. This would also explain my
difficulty in discussing the Muslim problem in a manner which is
accessible to my readers. Meanwhile, if I have acted as an
iconoclast, it is only because it cannot be helped if the deck is to
be cleared for a meaningful debate.
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