Mahatma, Panditji, Netaji through IT Prism

Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT

One of the legendary Sanskrit poet Kalidasa tells the tale of a young demigod, banished to earth, sending a heart rendering message to his beloved wife in the heavens through a passing rain cloud.  As the Megha travels across India to deliver his message, Kalidasa's poetry describes the glorious beauty of his country. I really do not know how many modern writers are creating characters who are computer savvy. I read in Chetan Bhagat’s Revolution 2020, aspirants of IIT, while undergoing the rigorous tutorial programs in Kota spend time in cyber cafes to rewind themselves.

Let me change the focus to another set of celebrated people-the national leaders. I choose to describe three eminent personalities, who set the tone for our freedom struggle- Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. I am endeavoring to visualize them living in the IT era. What would be their influence, style of communication, audience they wish to reach out, what would be the level of expertise in handling tools of information technology and the like?

Let me first take the father of the nation-Mahatma Gandhi. I believe that Gandhiji would have been a staunch advocate of information technology on account of its universal reach, geographical neutrality, educative power and appeal as a powerful tool for  effective governance. He was never against technology but argued that technology should be for the good of the people and not for exploitation of one set of people or countries against the other. Had Gandhiji lived in this time, his teachings and writings would have influenced more and more people, communities, races and countries, through the medium of information technology.

If Gandhiji was a realist, Pandit Nehru was quintessentially a romanticist and a statesman. Their visions and missions never clashed but supported each other in a broad intellectual canvass. Like Gandhiji, Nehru was a protagonist of peace and co-existence of communities and nations.  British education and life in the confines of comforts in the childhood and adolescence did not detach him from the common man. He was emotionally attached to them. Education in Britain sharpened his intellectual faculties.

I feel Pandit Nehru would have been a great votary and user of information technology not only for perfecting his skills as a writer, statesman and an orator but for bringing about solidarity and greater understanding among the comity of nations, particularly  among countries in the non-aligned movement, which he co-founded along with other illustrious statesmen in the world.

Pandit Nehru was known for his scientific outlook and believed in science and technology. Setting schools of higher learning and excellence like IIT’s, creation of mammoth public sector undertakings, promotion of basic industries like steel, coal etc. and spread of universal education were some of the tools that he adopted to surge towards a modern India. I was feeling that India would have spread computer literacy at least 15 years before it was introduced.   Mankind would have enriched more from the erudite writings of Nehru had he lived in the IT era. He was a compulsive writer. Discovery of India, which he had written in the confines of the jail, repletes with his thought process conditioned by experiences and deep knowledge in the legacy and potentialities of India. He was passionate about India and dreamt of a strong, vibrant India within the intellectual and philosophical framework of democratic institutions. Panditji would have left many more creative writings for progeny had he been aided by IT.

Globalization of India may be a recent phenomenon in the strict economic sense. But Nehru envisioned and implemented a global India in its political sense. He became a world leader without the accompaniment of an economic power house or military one-up-man ship in those days. He networked among world leaders and propounded the need for promoting democracy. He advocated a socialist model of growth for India, despite the strong resistance he had faced both from within and abroad.

Not many in the modern times, I suspect, are aware of the intellectual fervor and commitment to purpose of Subhas Chandra Bose, popularly known Nethaji, who founded the political party, All India Forward Bloc and revived the Indian National Army (INA) from foreign soil. Unlike Mahatmaji and Panditji, Netaji was a revolutionary. Philosophy of Netaji and method he propagated in getting liberated from the colonial forces was through armed rebellion. Bose’s most famous quote was, “give me blood, and I shall give you freedom.”

I do not want to dwell more into his history, which is in the public domain. But I cannot resist from mentioning a few. In his exile in Germany, he instituted a special bureau for India, which has a radio station called Azad Hind Radio and created the Indian Legion, consisting of 4500 soldiers, out of Indian prisoners of war, who had previously fought for the British Africa, prior to their capture by the Axis forces. After being disillusioned that Germany could be of any help in liberating India, in 1943 he left for Japan.

That is for the history. Now let us visualize what would have been his approach towards information technology. I have no doubt, Netaji would have been the most ardent user of IT, given his intellectual prowess and massive campaigns he carried out to get the support of people in terms of their enlisting in the army and seeking financial support for sustaining an expanding army, who constituted prisoners of war and freshly drawn up young men and women driven by their nationalistic fervor. Many who had written about him in the later years; after his mysterious disappearance and controversies surrounding his death, say that Netaji was a man of few words in his private life. But as an orator, he was highly inspiring and could motivate people since he led from the front and cared for the life of an even ordinary soldier.