The Hindu Business Line : Salaam India!

Chennai, Jan. 25 Deep within, well covered by the deceptive veneer of the up-in-the-air chin and puffed chest, there still lurks in the depths of the Indian mind, an inferiority complex that denies him the full enjoyment of his national pride. “Look at that country! Or this! Wah! What great achievements! And where are we? Cchha!!”

That’s forgivable. After all, to be bedazzled by outer charm has been one of mankind’s cardinal sins. But once in a while when we scratch the surface and peer inside, the eye meets something very revealing.

In mathematics, there is something called ‘reductio ad absurdum’— to prove a fact, assume the contrary and show how absurd it is. So let us try a ‘reductio ad absurdum’ on ‘India is the greatest country in the world’. Let us assume that India is not the greatest country in the world. Then which country can legitimately lay claims to greatness higher than India’s. Come on, my friend, argue. You poor loser. Isn’t it very obvious to you that India is not greater than the United States of America? USA? A great democracy, a treasure trove of technology, blah, blah, blah… no denying all this. But remember, its greatness is a result of a quirk of history. Until the late 15th century, its existence was unknown and would have been so if people had not set out to reach my country. They came upon a huge landmass, extremely endowed and practically uninhabited. They became ‘Americans’. The US is three times as big as India with one third the population. That straightaway raises its advantage by a factor of nine. Big deal! If you found a hidden treasure in your backyard, you could also do ‘great’ things with the money.

And if you picture the atom bomb, napalm bomb, agent orange, etc, you could run a ‘spot the six differences’ contest between the US and Saddam Hussain. And what is the US today? It is an agglomerate of settlers, who, by their way of life, are narcissists and sybarites. A narcissist society is unsustainable and will implode. A couple of bucks ain’t no comparison with a nationhood of 5,000 years of standing, baby.

Okay. What about Japan? A country bombed to smithereens in the war is today a powerhouse of technology and a… Okay, okay, pipedown. When your Jap friend bows a polite konichiwa, just look over his shoulders for his country’s history. The “miraculous” recovery of the post-war bankrupt economy happened because of the enormous war-loot that Japan cached in various locations. The ‘bring home the loot’ campaign, codenamed ‘Golden Lily’, was personally overseen by Emperor Hirohito’s brother, Prince Chichibu. The American author, Kris Millegan, who has looked into this subject, estimates that wealth worth $100 billion was stolen by Japan during the War and Japan has never been forced to account for the plunder.

And if you ever begin to read about Japan’s war crimes, make sure you have some alcohol at hand to fortify yourself. Prof. Rudolf Rummel estimates that in China alone, between 1937 and 1945, some 4 million Chinese were killed, mostly civilians. The most infamous incident of course was the Nanking massacre, where according to the findings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the Japanese army massacred 2,60,000 civilians. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour was a cowardly act because it was done even as talks between Japan and the US were yet to formally end. And after being bombed into subjugation Japan became a hands-folded yours-faithfully of the US and hey, presto! Economic miracle! Greatness?

I challenge you to argue against the greatness of England, on whose empire the sun once never set and a country that produced great scientists and inventors such as Newton and James Watt. Haven’t you ever read a history book? England and indeed all the maritime countries of Europe — France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Denmark — owe their present ‘developed’ tag to the loot they brought home from their colonies. They divided the world among themselves. So France got Africa, England got India and the US, Spain and Portugal got South America. They robbed their colonies, unleashed atrocities on the natives, destroyed the local industries and plundered.

Germany was not a frontline maritime nation and what did Hitler do? East! He wanted his racially superior Germans to have enough lebensraum (living room). He gobbled Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and when he extended his misadventure into Russia, he got smitten on the head. Italy, with no strength of its own, tried to tag on to Germany for a share of the spoils, but all it got was a share of the shame.

These European countries are today economically sound (but, wait and watch!) just as a thief enjoys his ill-gotten wealth for a while before his nemesis catches up with him.

India, may I remind you, was also a big maritime nation. Ships came here for repairs. Did we look around to thieve? That is greatness! True, the Tamil Chola king, Rajendra Cholan, sent his armada to Cambodia, but that was in quest of fame. He did not set up colonies, nor did he steal their wealth.

Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Korea, Singapore? Brazil is three times the size of India in landmass, with one sixth the population. It is a homogenous population on an extremely fertile and mineral-rich land. A country that is 92 per cent self sufficient in petroleum, and ought to be even more developed that the US. Instead of which it is a ‘developing country’ on par with India. For Godssake, that is not greatness. Russia, if anything, is only better than Brazil, with its vast mineral resources, especially oil. With all that, and with its relative prowess in technology, it is not even OECD. Thailand owes its recent economic development to its tourism. Tourists go to Thailand for a very special reason. Thank you very much, we do not want that kind of development. Korea is a laugh. It is a country where a fourth of its 45 million people live in one city Seoul. Korea, like The Philippines, gave itself to the US and in the warmth of US patronage it built some roads and bridges. I wouldn’t call this greatness. Singapore? Is it, in the first place, a nation? It is an industrial estate, neat and tidy, just like the Mahindra World City industrial and residential park near Chennai.

What about China? China is the only country that approaches anywhere near India in greatness, given its history of intellectualism. But given its record in Tibet, its oppressive regime, its secretiveness, its unabashed disregard for environment etc, it is hard to call it ‘great’. Remember, China also has the advantage over India in terms of much bigger landmass for the same size of population. A few high rise buildings and broad roads in a few cities do not make a nation great.

Okay, how is your India great, with all the strife and poor infrastructure and dirty cities and… I realise that you have just come back from seeing Slumdog Millionaire. That is where people make a mistake. Greatness should not be seen in concrete and gravel. Greatness does not lie in per capita income of people. These things only make a country developed — not great. Greatness lies in the ethos of people — their quest for the intellect, their ability to commune, their collective negation of narcissism, their enduring values even in a phase of struggle… buddy, here is where you find all this. So, when we say ‘mera Bharat mahaan’ it is not an empty shibboleth, but a statement with its roots deep in facts.