The curious case of Arun Shourie

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This is a quote of Harvey Dent in the popular DC comics superhero movie Batman. It describes the questionable nature of heroism through time, the fall from grace of a celebrity or a well-known public figure. I never thought there will come a time when a person like Arun Shourie would fit the description. 

Arun Shourie is a very well known name in Indian intellectual circles for a long time. He has donned various hats - as an economist, a journalist, a public intellectual. In my assessment, he's an intellectual giant in his own right. There are many people like me who have hero-worshipped him for his intellectual clarity and prowess, elephantine memory, assiduousness, depth of thinking and above all the fortitude to take on any opposition single-handedly. 

The so-called "right-wing" in India is hijacked or seems to be hijacked by the RSS types of intellectuals (with all due respect to selfless social work it does). These RSS types don't have ideological clarity or moral courage to carry on their mission. Worse, they don't even know what their mission is. At the drop of the hat, they dabble and babble on fancy ideas like Akhand Bharat, or Hindu Rastra, but they don't have a roadmap or conviction to carry on.

The indefatigable Abhas Chatterjee described RSS thus - It is like a lifeless monster of enormous proportions rather than a throbbing little bee with a sting. By its sheer size, it is huge. But when it comes to achieving its stated goals, RSS scores low. When it 's about developing the intellectual ecosystem, the so-called representative of the Right-wing does next to nothing. Contrast this with the left and how it has captured the Indian intellectual climate. The left has had a grip over intelligentsia much before Indian independence from the British. This has continued after independence to this very day.

The left ideology and its derision for native culture have continued to this day through various branches of its ecosystem - academics, institutions, media and the likes. The leftist ideology has infiltrated everywhere, its torchbearers are ubiquitous under different cloaks which suit different scenarios and situations. There is a huge gulf created thus, where leftists are everywhere and no one to respond or call out their lies. This is where individuals like Arun Shourie stand out. It's individuals like this who have contributed to the almost non-existent right-wing discourse in this country and challenged the leftist hegemony wherever they could. Sita Ram Goel, Ram Swarup, Koenraad Elst are some of the prominent names on top of my head. Arun Shourie belongs to the same league (He's done some outstanding work as a journalist, a minister and an economist which is beyond the scope of this write-up).

My first book of Arun Shourie was Eminent Historians (I've read more than 4 of his books since) - He had dismantled lies brick by brick in an unabashed way. It is a treat to read any of his work where polemics is laced with scholarly brilliance and filled with a large number of citations and anecdotes. Enough of the Shourie I loved. Let's come to his recent statements and press conferences.

Ever since the run-up to the general elections started in 2013, Shourie passively supported Modi and shown his inclination to join the government in whatever capacity he could. But it seems Modi had other plans. After his stupendous win of 2014, Shourie was not offered any positions befitting his stature. Although in many people's opinion, Modi govt. could have utilized a person like Shourie, I personally think Shourie could have been an asset for a ministry like HRD or finance, but that's the way it was. It looks Shourie had nurtured ambitions and Modi's actions might have embittered Shourie.

This bitterness has warranted some of his recent statements - the government is managing headlines, its economic policies are directionless, falsehood is the hallmark of this government etc. Also, he was repeating the bunkum of the opposition which couldn't hold any water like minorities are unsafe in India in the current political dispensation etc. 

Naturally, these positions have endeared him to the "secular" media and politicians (He has already met dangerous and treacherous politicians like Kejriwal and Mamta) He has given interviews to NDTV more than a couple of times. The "seculars" will use him as canon to take a shot at Modi, nothing more than that.

In his most recent statement, he calls opposition to come together & quotes Lenin "to give history a helping hand" to defeat Modi government. O tempora o mores! A lifelong critic of communists and their modus operandi quoting, of all the people Lenin! Per se, there is no harm in objective criticism. But criticism which is engendered by grouse and pettiness is harmful and it is also unbecoming of a towering intellectual like Shourie.

Book Review - Falling Over Backwards

Gujjars’ protest in Rajasthan to reclassify them as a scheduled tribe from other backward class turns violent ; Mayawati demands reservations for Dalits in private sector ; The newly formed government promises increase in reservation for backward castes – I am sure you would have read/heard these kinds of news. Did you ever wonder as to how did we land in such a soup? Why many castes have fought and tried to project themselves as backwards? What is the root cause of this phenomenon called reservation? This essay of Arun Shourie – “Falling over backwards” attempts to study the phenomenon in detail.

The theme of the book is centered on caste-based reservations – what the constitution actually says about it, the purpose of reserving jobs based on castes, how political class has turned reservation into an ax to grind, the judiciary’s part in it, the effect it has on the effective functioning on the administration and so on.

The book starts with the letter of Jawaharlal Nehru to the chief ministers in 1950 in which he warned about the dangers the caste-based reservations would loom the public at large. He was quoted saying – “This way lies not only folly, but disaster”. But as the history of independent India has shown, the warning went unheeded.

Some primary areas the essay focuses on:

• Constitutional provisions : What the constitution actually says about caste-based reservations, what is made out of them
• Social structure and dynamics of castes in India – past and present
• From reservation for jobs, to the admissions in colleges to promotions – how all rules are thrown to the air, how warnings against it went unheeded, all in the name of “Social Justice”
• The controversial system used for promotion – the roster system – how it works, the effects it has with many real life examples.
• The opportunism of the political class, the activism of some “progressive” judges – the collective effect it has on the efficiency of the machinery of administration

The original intention of reservation and the time period of it have long been forgotten and it’s used for making hay for the politicians. There is perhaps no single politician worth his salt who hasn’t made use of reservation to his or his party’s ultimate ends. That which should have really empowered people has come to favor only a selected few and has been descended as a weapon in the armor of political class. The trend of increasing the percentage of reservations does what many judges had warned about – reverse discrimination. Reservation - which was supposed to create an equal society, which was supposed to abolish the caste differences, has only perpetuated the very ills that it was fighting against. But all the ills of reservations are passed off in the name of "social justice".

Arun Shourie does a neat job in – accumulating the facts (a laborious one, which involves thousands of court cases and judgments), analyzing them (which involves separating facts from fiction, puncturing the non-factual claims of the pro-reservationists with data and undeniable proofs), proposing a way out from all. Shourie is known for his meticulous research and rigorous analysis. This essay bears testimony to the fact.

No matter if one is for reservation or against reservation, this book is a compulsory study for all who are interested in knowing the caste-based reservations in India. But let me warn you – the book is huge, can get repetitive at times because of the underlying subject. It establishes that the grave traps are usually laid in the premises of lofty ideas. Most importantly, it gives a clarion call to the ills of reservations with facts hitting you in the face and proposes a way out.

My Books Review: May '12

1) Eminent Historians – This work of Arun Shourie is an eye-opener for all to the wrongdoings of the leftist historians of India from decimating the institutions of national importance to tampering the history. Arun Shourie’s style of writing is described to be based on rigorous analysis and meticulous research. You have all the reason to vouch for it once you’ve completed the book.

The gist of the book is given in these lines: “Tarnish every person, Institution, Period, Confidence...Ascribe tolerance, magnanimity to the intolerant...Portray the inclusive, Open tradition as the one out to swallow others, and the exclusivist, totalitarian ideology as the ideology of broad-mindedness, of peace, tolerance...Denounce as 'communal' anyone who demands proof...Blame victims for the consequence of the ideology of the oppressors...Suppress the role of comrades in aiding imperial rulers...Tarnish leaders, reformers who led the nationalist movement...All the while control institutions, hog patronage, exercise power, and have a good time...”! They have denied the idea of India, Hinduism and have shown ruthless invaders (who were actually religious fanatics) as emancipators, they have employed their intellectual faculties to whitewash the Islamic rule in India which was characterized by loot, violence and conversion all in large scale, they have hushed up all the facts of communists who played treacherous role in the freedom struggle with covertly allying with the British. They have belittled the ancient religion of India, used scorn profusely wherever they can to describe ancient India.   

            What the Marxist historians have made an institute like ICHR is given in detail by their partisanship and nepotism by taking Ayodhya issue as an example. A huge amount of public fund is misused by the eminent historians in the name of big projects which are never completed. Shourie gives various instances of tens of historians with many high sounding projects but are never completed. Their various techniques of falsifying history and countering the opinions of others are listed with solid examples.

            In 1989, West Bengal board of secondary education had issued instructions that “Muslim rule should never attract any criticism. Destruction of temples by Muslim rulers and invaders should not be mentioned”. The instruction was faithfully implemented and thus history was distorted. This is just an example. The Marxist or communists historians have been doing such mischievous acts for decades. It’s just that their nexus and network are so strong that they attract no trouble. 

“In regard to our religion, the trick is threefold. The textbooks denigrate religion, attributing to it the evils which it serves the progressives’ purpose of highlight. Second, in each of these instances the examples they give are linked by them to Hinduism. Third, among religions, Islam is always presented as the one, progressive, emancipatory religion. Of course, the final emancipation comes in the form of the soviet revolution of 1917! ”

            They have bequeathed the legacy of Macaulay’s education. What if Marx, Macaulay and Missionaries come together? How would their design be? Simple: “Make them ashamed of the things that they revere- their god, their scriptures, their language, Sanskrit; and make them hate the one group which has been charged with the task of continuing their religion and culture.” If we see the present day India, we have to admit their design has been greatly successful.

            The party line remains the same of the school: “There is no Hinduism, it is brahminism; brahminism equals intolerance and persecution – of Buddhists, Jains and of course the Shudras; Islam equals peace, equality, brotherhood, the ascent towards monotheism; the left, means equality, freedom and everything nice; revolution means the rule of workers and peasants!” dissecting many of their assertions and proving them false, Shourie writes “Each of these assertions is a blatant falsehood. But these historians, having, their control of institutions, set the standards of intellectual correctness, the one who questions the falsehoods, even though he does so by citing the writings of the best known Islamic historians of those very times, he is the one who is in the wrong.”

            To counter the fact that Muslims destroyed thousands of temples of Hindus, a lie of Hindus destroying Buddhist viharas is invented. ‘A lie repeated many times becomes a truth’ is standard technique used in the Marxist school of thought. The lie is completely exposed in the book by citing many works. Before the advent of Islam, Buddhism was the religion of Bactria, Parthis, Afghanistan, Gandhar. It was Islam which destroyed Buddhism in all these places.  

            The eminent historians take liberty in denigrating the Indian gods by saying like ‘Indra is amoral’, ‘Lord Krishna has rather questionable personal record’, ‘and Lord Shiva is just a development of phallic cults’. They assume Hindus could not have done anything worthwhile and original and develop their theses in those lines. According to them even true geniuses like Aryabhata, Varahamihira are unoriginal. Their contempt is reserved only for Hindu culture and Hindu culture alone.

            Engels propounded a theory according to which all the societies should pass through these stages: classless primitive society; slave economy, feudalism, capitalism, socialism and finally communism and he said it was a universal law that no country or society was an exception to this sequence. A few writings of Lenin say that all the spheres of the society like economic, spiritual, political, religious can be understood and analysed by having the aforesaid sequence of development in mind. So, our eminent historians of India who are well-versed with the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin have religiously tried to see our history through the lenses of class and class struggle.  This sometimes gets preposterous when they try to give explanation of concepts like Bhakti, karma and reincarnation through class, class struggle and oppression. But that’s how they are conditioned to see the entire society, history and in short the whole world. That’s why communism is sometimes called quasi-religious.

            In the next part Shourie contrasts the writings of Soviet historians and our own historians on Ancient India. He conclusively proves that soviet historians are more objective and loyal to true history than our own eminences.

            “These intellectuals have over years captured an array of institutions and professions. Through this dominion they have controlled public discourse in general. They have set the intellectual fashion; they have determined what is politically correct and what is not. The effects are all around us.” Though their number is not great, they have managed to occupy key positions in journalism, history, arts, theatre . They decide what book should be reviewed in their newspaper and who should review it needless to say the person who advocates their lines would be given such an opportunity. In this way they have hijacked the entire political discourse.

In the concluding remarks, Shourie proposes the way out, what needs to be done to control the damage that’s already been done and not to further that damage.

This is the first ever full scale book that I read of Arun Shourie. His style of writing is indeed a marriage of extensive research and rigorous analysis. It’s a highly recommended book which should be read by all who wishes to know the misdoings of our eminent historians, the techniques that they employ, the ramifications of their deeds and the way out.

2) Chitadanta - It’s a kannada novel written by K.N. Ganeshiah. It’s a suspense thriller which revolves around a murder but explores many historical incidents like Alexander’s invasion, Buddha’s tooth mystery etc. For further details go to 
http://blogesha.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/%E0%B2%9A%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%A4/