India
has been celebrating since penultimate week its 73rd independence anniversary
as a democratic nation having been juristically established on August 15, 1947
after several decades of British colonialism. But the great Indian nation did
not begin only about seven decades ago. Rather, it is the proud beneficiary of
several millennia of great and memorable history, culture and civilization.
Indian independence movement began in 1857 spanning 90 years before achieving
self rule in 1947.
India
is arguably the world's biggest democracy which has matched its political
freedom with economic aspirations, unleashing a torrent of growth and wealth
creation that is transforming the lives of millions of people. But, far more
important is the historical fact that India, upon independence was blessed with
founding fathers who were wholly selfless, patriotic and with a clear vision.
Beyond any reasonable doubt, the nation of India reaped bountifully from the
gift of the saintly Mahatma Ghandi, the father of its modern nationalism and
the zealous Jawaharlal Nehru who led it to the promised land.
With
the doggedness of the possessed, these uncommon leaders set out to create a
society that was merely a conglomeration of peoples with differing religions
and several languages into a unified whole adopting a common lingua franca
which was created from a combination of their major languages. In one of the
greatest speeches of oratory ever delivered in the history of man, Nehru it was
who remarked on August 15, 1947: "A
new star arises, a new hope comes into being."
Pursuing
a policy of non-alignment and self-sustenance, India freed itself from the
ravaging effects of neo-colonialism while at the same time bearing stoically,
the brunt of international conspiratorial forces which were the necessary
fall-outs of the inglorious Cold War.
This,
as it turned out, provided a beacon of hope for many other poor and smaller
countries of Africa and elsewhere. It is refreshing to note that today India is
in the middle of an amazing ride. The country has risen up, even by prevailing
norms and creed, to the challenges of modern development, wealth creation and
the happiness of its citizenry. Seventy-three years into self rule, the economy
has broken loose from the erstwhile stagnant rates to a bounteous ten per cent
growth rate per annum ambitiously targeting the world's second largest economy
by the year 2025.
Indian
corporations are proving to be formidable competitors in the global,
information-driven economy, even as the country is just as famous as its
software engineers, literary giants and steel magnates. The country has become
so indispensable that over eighty per cent of high level manpower engineers and
other scientists are imported from it into the Silicon Valley by the United
States government yearly who manufacture 'made in US' goods. With its pace of
development, it is absurd to try to draw a parallel between India and any of
her neighbours such as Bangladesh or Pakistan, for it dwarfs all superlatives.
Politically,
it is noteworthy that in a region notorious for military coups and
dictatorships, the military in India has manifested enormous discipline and
thus resisted all temptations to interfere in the politics of the country. Not
even the crises and upheavals that heralded the assassination of its then Prime
Minister Mrs. Indira Ghandi and that of her son and successor, Rajiv, were able
to attract the country's military to political leadership. This has been a
great stabilizing factor on India's constitutional democracy, a phenomenon that
has naturally yielded exceptional dividends for the polity.
The
Indian army and other armed forces deserve commendation for allowing their
politicians make their mistakes until they were able to hone their politics to
a considerable art. Again, for countries like Nigeria, still paying lip service
to the ideals of a federated union, the Indian federalism is an amazing model.
There is a high level of competition with every state controlling its economy,
separate army and police and paying tax to the central government. Hence the
drive for massive, unprecedented investment in education and skill development.
Whereas
India rejected Western cultures and religion but embraced its technology,
Nigeria on the other hand, embraced Western cultures and its Christian religion
but unfortunately rejected its technology. Nigeria also embraced Islam, an
imported religion from the Middle East while jettisoning her traditional
religion at home. But, indeed, the ultimate lesson for us in Nigeria is
therefore that, with exceptional leadership which is ready to downplay
religious bigotry, ethnicity, tribalism and nepotism but promote hardwork,
reward for excellence and talent, we can turn our misery to good like India.
The difference in political independence age between India and Nigeria is just
13 years. Yet the big question is: can Nigeria attain the height India has
reached in the next 13 years? The changes in India since the past 73 years are
not just abstract numbers on paper but the stories of flourishing lives and
families.
The
Indian testament provides an opportunity for Nigerians to reflect on why our
independence anniversary has been reduced to just a period of gloom, despair
and mourning. Despite the fact that the traditional Indians still observe the
caste system and other taboos, the achievements of the country are enormous and
praise worthy. From a position of relative despair and frustration, the nation
of India has bequeathed to her children hope and happiness in the new
millennium. In the next twenty-seven years when it will celebrate its centenary
as an independent state, India could have fulfilled the dream of her founding
fathers, namely, a nation of culture, contentment, happiness and pride.
A
very disciplined country, even as India marked its 73rd independence
anniversary two weeks ago under this Covid 19 lockdown, the over 4,000 people
including diplomats, officials and media personnel invited to the Red Fort
venue for the anniversary celebration, were made to observe the Covid 19 codes
both in their appearance and sitting arrangement. In Nigeria, the ease of the
lockdown has already been interpreted to mean the end of the Coronavirus
pandemic. More than 80 per cent of Nigerians now go about without face masks
and without observing social distancing. Why do you expect Nigerians to wear
face masks when our president hardly wears it? No country can grow ahead of its
leadership. Will Nigeria ever measure up to India's standard even in the next
50 years? We must begin the search for leadership now.
*Dan
Amor, a public affairs analyst writes from Abuja (danamor641@gmail.com)
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