India in Slow Motion

Title: India in Slow Motion

Author: Mark Tully

Publisher: Penguin, 2003 (First published 2002)

ISBN: 9780143030478

Pages: 302

India’s economic growth in the post-independence period was lethargic as compared to other nations who had recently come out of the colonial yoke. The main reason for this laggardness was the highly centralized socialistic planning of the economy adopted by Nehru and his daughter Indira, who between themselves commanded the destiny of the country for almost thirty-seven years until the latter’s assassination in 1984. If the damage was limited to the economy, it would have been easier to cure. But this peculiar, all-encompassing state control spawned a license-quota-permit raj which enabled the government to control even the minutest production parameters of all industrial establishments, including private ones. The entrepreneurs quickly found a way around – bribing the politicians and bureaucrats to turn a blind eye. Probably this might have been the real intention of Nehru and Indira, who both exhibited an elevated level of tolerance to corruption among their cronies. Unfortunately, this disease spread to the body politic of the society as a whole. Corruption and inefficiency in governance became the hurdles to national growth. As the country liberalized its economy in the 1990s and restrictions were relaxed, observers began to question the culture of quid pro quo associated with an illicit relationship between the politician-bureaucrat nexus and the industrialists/contractors. This book is one such exposition of the grave shortcomings observed by Mark Tully on his travels across the country, mainly during the 2000-01 period. The author was a correspondent of the BBC for twenty-five years. He was born in Kolkata, got educated in England and returned to India for a fulfilling career in journalism. As white journalists do in India, Tully soon expanded his contacts among the elite and had grown to be able to exert pressure on veteran politicians to allot party tickets to his friends to contest elections to the national parliament. His colleague and partner, Gillian Wright, has also contributed to the book.

Corruption and inefficiency are the buzzwords of this book. In fact, the second is a corollary of the first. Everywhere he looks, Tully finds bureaucrats and politicians more than willing to oblige torts and facilitators who open their purse strings for their benefit. His criticism embraces all facets of the Indian polity including the judiciary. The book claims that Indian courts all too often provide temporary shelter and sometimes long-term protection to those who have stolen government funds (p.85). This book also demonstrates the increasing clout of the non-governmental organizations (NGO) in the early 2000s. These organizations were usually financed by overseas sources who are not obligated to disclose their true motives or sources of income. We read about NGOs conducting raids against carpet-weaving companies in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Some NGOs, and the author sometimes, seem to desire that an apolitical rebellion well up among the masses which will shake up or shatter the system. The resulting anarchy is no cause of concern for such foreign and some Indian leftist journalists.

The book includes a chapter on religious reforms in Goa which is noted for its refreshingly new perspective while all other chapters are nothing but sterile criticism based on vacuous claims and unilateral assertions without listening to what the other party has to say. Casteism is a bane of the Goan Church. People who converted to Christianity from the upper castes still enjoy supremacy in the church. In villages, they enforce their ‘right’ to carry the cross on Good Friday processions. However, with the relentless influence maintained by the lower castes, the liturgy is changing fast as more charismatic practices find acceptance even among the conservative elite. This has led to a more solid anchoring of the church among the masses. The Portuguese built the great cathedrals to impress Goans with the majesty of a God who lived on high. The church changed and brought God down to earth to survive in independent India. The Portuguese were more interested in enforcing the religion than material progress. When they left Goa – or rather, forced out – there was not even a bridge over the two Goan rivers, the Zuari or Mandovi.

One just wonders at the ignorance or naiveté of the author about the real, down-to-earth situation in India even though he had stayed in the country for many decades. He claims that Indian politicians fear to attempt bureaucratic reforms, because these officials conduct and supervise the elections. This is laughably absurd. Anyone who has at least a superficial familiarity with the way elections are conducted in India knows that it is simply impossible for the officials to sway the results. But this false information perfectly tallies with the preconceptions and prejudices of Tully’s intended western audience. The author identifies three elements in Indian society opposing reforms: politicians, bureaucrats and intellectuals; and rightly surmises that the intellectuals undermine India’s pride in its past. Their contribution to the sense of inferiority which has led so many Indians to expect nothing better of their country than the present corrupt and moribund system of governance is considerable (p.153).

In these days of Covid lockdown, India is worried at the hundreds of instances of the disease caused by a conference of the Tabligh Jamaat held in Delhi in mid-March 2020. It is the first time this organization came under the public glare and the civil society is horrified at their casual disregard for prevention measures and the secrecy associated with its activities. This book includes a very good coverage of them. Even though the author visited their headquarters (Markaz) in Nizamuddin in 2001, he was not allowed to interview any of their top leaders. In the end, he had to be content with meeting a prominent sympathizer to get an idea of how they work. The association was founded by Maulana Ilyas in Nizamuddin itself. The Markaz has no television, radio or newspapers. The sect is run without the benefit of telephone, fax or email. They still use the post card (we must of course be aware that this book was written in 2001). Word of mouth is the way of spreading the message because they believe that if things are published, the motives would not be perfectly pure. Even though Tully is usually slightly incredulous of the people he interviews, he passes no such judgment on the Tabligh and accepts all he is told at face value. However, he remarks that Tablighis were involved in the mass conversion of hundreds of Dalits at Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu on 19 February 1981.

The chapter on Kashmir is a glittering example of the press freedom allowed in India as every word of it opposes the country and its policy on Kashmir. Tully is upset that India does not hold a plebiscite there and also at its uncompromising stand on stamping out Islamic terrorism financed, armed and abetted by Pakistan right across the border. Just a few weeks before the author’s visit to the state, terrorists had had a rampage on Jammu railway station killing several innocent passengers on the platform. A clutch of terrorists armed with deadly assault rifles had mowed down the people waiting for the train. But still, Tully’s journalistic heart beats for the human rights of the terrorists! He also casually remarks that the exodus of Hindu Pandits from the Valley was caused by their unnecessary panic. He bases this false conclusion on the testimonies of a few Kashmiris, the very people who drove them out! And he has not bothered to meet any of the Pundits themselves to corroborate the story. To rub salt to the wound, he reiterates the Pakistani viewpoint on Kashmir by declaring that Kashmir is a tragedy caused by Indian secularists, suspicious of religion and religious people and the fear or hatred of Muslims generated by Hindu nationalists (p.280).

The book and its ideas appear to be outdated, written almost two decades ago. The entire text is based on a prejudice, typical of British journalists that nothing good or worthwhile originates in India. Most of the information is biased, obtained from worthless rural teashop chatter or the accusing tales made by the aggrieved party. Objectivity is not one of the author’s strong points. Foreign authors who write on India usually come out with a few clichés characteristic of India such as pot-holed roads, lack of electricity for extended periods, peeling plaster off the walls, clouds of dust (if in villages) or fumes (if in towns) on the roads. All of them find mention in this book too.

This book has lost its relevance by obsolescence and hence recommended only for archivists.

Rating: 2 Star