On the eve of a new millennium, I believe we in India are at a major crossroad and the choices we make now will determine the choices we can make for a long time to come.

Years ago, I read in some magazine that astronomers had discovered a strange phenomenon in space. They found a twin star moving towards our galaxy, the Milky Way, at a fantastic speed. But the amazing thing was that the distance between our galaxy and the stars kept increasing. This was something that boggled the minds of the scientists as they were unable to understand the phenomenon.

I feel that Indian society today presents us with a similar paradox. On the one hand, we are moving forward with tremendous speed, but on the other hand, our value system is regressing in some inexplicable fashion. This is something we should all be aware of and worrying about.

Let me explain. On one side, we are making tremendous progress in the fields of science, technology, industrialisation. But on the other, a major disturbing social trend is underway of which we are not even fully conscious. The hold of reactionary elements on our values, our ethos, our culture is growing day by day.

Communalist, casteist, separatist sentiments are increasingly poisoning our atmosphere and the worrying thing is how easily we are getting acclimatised to them. For example, we have become so used to communal thinking, communal prejudice in our midst that we don’t even recognise it until we see very gross manifestations of it.

For example, even before we open our mouth on the Ayodhya issue and its implication for our society, we start making allowances for the communal sentiment, the communalist point of view on the subject. Similarly, we have come to empathise with certain anti–women stands of the Muslim Personal Law Board. We tell ourselves that we should not hurt someone else’s religious sentiments.

So, today we hesitate to adopt the same liberal stance that we used to as a society 20–30 years ago. If social values were to keep pace with technological, economic progress, one would have expected us to be perhaps far more liberal now than in the sixties. But, in fact, the opposite is true.

Of course, communalism is not a discovery of the ’80s and ’90s; it existed in the ’60s, too. The difference is that then it was a four–letter word. It is no longer so now. Today you can flaunt your communal prejudices like a medal and be respected for it. Not so long ago, the communalist was considered a scum of society and treated as such, but today the scum is ruling the roost.

This is a development that should make us all seriously concerned. We should particularly be aware of the fact that the communal outlook is part of a packaged mindset – it is simultaneously anti–poor, anti–minorities and anti–women. This is as true of India as it is true of any other part of the world. Thus, for example, a bigot from the minority community will behave in identical fashion and a woman in any case would get a raw deal.

Reactionary forces are becoming increasingly strong and organised in India today. What is even more frightening is the fact that while there are still enough people with decent values, there is no organised and persistent effort to combat the reactionary elements.

All of us, people like me, seem content relying on the ‘basic goodness’ of human beings. This is disturbing because we seem to be seeking comfort from a rather vague proposition and ultimately, propaganda and indoctrination are very powerful weapons in shaping mass consciousness.

Again, I am not an economist but what I see on the economic front is frightening. There was a time when in the name of protecting domestic industry, our industrialists acted as monopolists and the common man suffered. Now, in the name of liberalisation, some other industrialists, multi–nationals, are coming in and swallowing not only yesterday’s monopolists; their threat to small entrepreneurs is even greater.

The speed with which the big sharks called multi–nationals are swallowing all the fish in the Indian Ocean, if I may say so, has very serious implications. My experience of the world tells me that once any social group, any social class acquires economic and financial clout, it starts aspiring for political power. The speed at which the multi–nationals are growing in India, what is to stop them from developing similar ambitions in the next 5–10 years?

The masses may still hold the key to the ballot box but democracy offers little comfort in a society where illiteracy is so rampant. Among other things, we Indians enjoy a dubious distinction. It is not happening in Zimbabwe, it is not happening in Ivory Coast; it is only in our ‘Bharat Mahan’ that the total number of illiterates in the population is growing. Even if we accept the ‘Trickle Down’ theory of development, how will it work in a society so steeped in ignorance? At least, I can’t see the theory working in our context.

So, ultimately, we are moving towards a society where the rich will become richer and the poor even poorer. I am unable to see how democracy can act as a sufficient bulwark against external influence in a society so full of economic disparities and strict compartmentalisation.

I started by talking about the crossroads we encounter every moment of our life. If we are conscious of the situation we find ourselves in, we can choose to take the alternate route. Are we going to accept as our fate all the dangers that clearly lie ahead of us? Or are we going to counter it, stand up and oppose what is happening? This is the crossroad we are at today. The apparent flow of life is taking us in a certain direction; it is for us to choose to go another way.

It seems to me that as far as our contemporary values and aspirations are concerned, our society is either totally confused or extremely embarrassed to articulate them. We are reluctant to spell out what our contemporary morality is. No one is willing to speak up on this. This state of affairs is evident in every field — in politics, in literature and very clearly in cinema.

Cinema is a very strong medium in our society, a medium that so far had reflected our reality, even if in a somewhat magnified, distorted or glorified manner. But whether you look at Indian cinema or Indian literature today, you encounter a certain shyness. They are avoiding many topics; they do not want to get into many, many avenues.

I feel even the average Indian today is unclear about what is right and what is wrong. We seem to have arrived at some vague idea about the virtue of selfishness but we are too embarrassed to talk about it.

How do we openly say, "Look, selfishness is for me the only virtue, I want to think only of myself". We feel somewhat shy saying it openly. To what extent can we go in our selfishness? We are not very clear on this. How selfish can we get without feeling guilty? Again, no clarity.

We are living in a moral void today but there does not seem to be any serious introspection on the subject. Until not so long ago, socialism was a virtue to which we were committed as a society. Then it was clear to all that the industrialist was a villain and the worker a saint. Everyone was very clear about what was right and what was wrong, who was good and who was bad. But things are entirely different in today’s free market scenario where upward mobility is the sole reason for existence.

As a nation, do we have any collective dream today or is it each one to his own now? Even the ‘Me First’ articulation does not adequately answer the question because, if its me first, who is second? Or, are we first and also second? I, therefore, feel that our society is presently living in a void without any collective morality or collective aspirations. Sometimes I really wonder whether this is what a free market economy is all about. Or is it that after being knocked around, we will stand up again under some new ‘WE’?

The only ‘we’ that I see presently is the ‘reactionary we’. Beyond that: What is our commonality? What is the platform on which we stand together? What is our collective dream for our society? Nothing seems clear. If we don’t have a collective dream, won’t society end up in moral chaos?

And what happens when millions of people get left behind with nothing to hold on to? Religion is one thing they can latch on to. Of course, those who choose to exploit this frustration in the name of religion are by no means people who have themselves been left out.

Having said all this, I would hasten to add that all is not grim and we should not lose courage. But we certainly have to be extremely vigilant. Whether it is India or Pakistan, fascist forces are becoming increasingly more organised and powerful. They are occupying more and more space in society. This is something that should not go unnoticed and unchecked.

Unfortunately, today, reactionaries are the only ones who are well organised. We may not agree with them but the fact is that organisations like the RSS in India and similar fundamentalist forces in Pakistan are able to gather people behind them because they have a dream to offer.

The question is: What is the dream of the liberal Indian? What kind of a society does he aspire for? He, too, needs to dress up his dream in some philosophy, some value system, some ‘ism’. What are these dreams? Just talking of human goodness is too vague a term to fire people’s imagination.

This is something that has to be thought about. Until not so long ago, socialism was one dream we had to offer. That dream no longer inspires people. And I am unable to understand why secularism is not a dream that can capture people’s imagination.

We seem to be living through a strange paradox. One would imagine that in a society that is becoming more and more market conscious and where greed is the ruling deity, secularism should be the natural choice for people because, after all, greed is a very ‘secular’ idea. Greed and communalism, one would think, is a bad combination but that’s how things are today.

Let’s look at some other dimensions of this greed. Orissa has been hit by a terrible cyclone. Some unofficial estimates say that around one lakh people have died and at least 1.5 crore people have been badly affected. How have we reacted to this tragedy as a nation? Till date, we have not even declared this as a national calamity. The Congress party seems quite content with having changed the chief minister in the state while inside the camp of its opposition, the main concern is over the merit of imposing President’s rule in Orissa for political gain.

Here is the baggage we are carrying with us into the new millennium – one lakh corpses from Orissa, over 15 crore unemployed youth, some 11-12 crore women whose sole possession in life is two saris, around 12 crore children who do not go to school, 5 crore T.B. patients, 15 crore people who are ailing and in need of medical attention, more than one crore blind persons, 2.5 crore physically handicapped, five crore child labourers.

At the sub–continental level, too, the story is no less distressing. I do not understand how politicians in India and in Pakistan fail to realise that the nuclear arms race, the egoistic and jingoistic postures will not get us anywhere. Peace between the numbers is not just a policy option — it’s the question of our very survival.

I say all this not out of any sense of despair. We certainly have problems, very serious ones at that, but we do have our plus points as well. In the first 50 years of Independence, in spite of all the incompetence, corruption and naked political opportunism, one thing has seeped to the very roots of Indian society — democracy. Dismantling democracy is not going to be an easy task for anyone now. We can see steps being taken in a fascist direction, but it is my belief that anything less than democracy will simply not work in this country.

Of course, we did have a brief experience of suspension of democracy during the Emergency period. But I would say two things; firstly, it ended before people could shout, ‘Satyamev Jayate’, and, secondly, we’ve tasted democracy for another 25 years since. I doubt if any political party today would so easily think of bringing about another Emergency or of changing the Constitution. We know there are some groups who aspire to do so but I don’t think the people of India will let this happen. Today we all take our democratic sensibility for granted, but if anyone were to try to undermine it, we will see a very strong reaction.

Avenues and channels for positive values are not as yet entirely closed in Indian society as they are, for example, in a neighbouring country. I have no doubt that there are a lot of people in India who subscribe to positive values. Perhaps such people far outnumber those with petty, sectarian thoughts. But the problem is that they have no platform, no organisation through which they can channelise their beliefs and values. This is a very disturbing state of affairs.

There are still enough doors open for liberal forces in Indian society. Even in recent years we have had the experience that every time someone has risen above petty politics and come forward with a positive agenda, the ordinary Indian has extended his strong support. It is our weakness if we are not able to do anything effectively with this opportunity.

I think India today is looking for a new messiah, people are waiting for a leader whom they can trust. And I am optimistic because history shows that whenever people eagerly seek a messiah, society invariably gives birth to a new leader.

I would like to conclude by returning to my starting point about crossroads in our life. Look at what is happening in our country right now. Instead of conflict and violence on the streets, fascist forces today seem to be working on a different strategy – courting military men with the idea of politicising and communalising the armed forces; and, capturing educational and cultural institutions, altering curriculum with the objective of polluting minds in the name of education. What the human resources development ministry, the present government at the Centre and the party that leads the coalition, are doing is something extremely dangerous. It needs to be fought tooth and nail, fought very, very strongly.