आओ! हम वाद-विवाद करें !

आओ! हम वाद-विवाद करें !
मुझे पता है कि तुम हो अटल अपने मत पर,
मैं भी प्रतिबद्ध अपने दर्शन को लेकर।
तुम पूछोगे कि क्या लाभ फिर इस वाक्-युद्ध का ?
मैं कहता हूँ कि भले ही हम नहीं स्वीकारें,
लेकिन वाद-विवाद की आग में असल चमक उठता है,
और मिलावटी पर जाता है काला।
कालिमा किसी पक्ष के हिस्से में हो,
लेकिन असल का चमकना जरूरी है ।
हाँ, समस्या एक रह ही जाती है।
वाद-विवाद रह जाता है निष्प्रभावी,
यदि किसी की मानवता गिरवी पर हो। 


नीरज कुमार झा

Lord Vibhishana

I found a commentator on facebook invoking the role Lord Vibhishna played in restoring Lanka to dharma in a very pejorative way in the context of events which unfolded in Bihar. As per a popular maxim Lord Vibhisana is depicted as a traitor who led to the destruction of his homeland Lanka. This is the most inappropriate and mischievous way of looking at the role of the great sage - Lord Vibhishana. The Lord was a great devotee and knew exactly what dharma was and had unfailingly put his wisdom and might on the side of dharma and only it was his sagacity that earned him the most affectionate friendship of Lord Ram, the Supreme Being Himself. The nutshell of the saga is simple - the greater dharma supersedes smaller dharma. This is the message one should imbibe and refrain from going after naughty or non-nonsensical popular sayings. The so-called Vibhishana of Bihar today deserves only our praises as he restored Bihar to the prospect of better governance.

Niraj Kumar Jha

भारत का लक्ष्य मात्र एक महाशक्ति बनना नहीं हो सकता है। इसका कारण है कि भारत को प्रत्यक्ष चुनौती उस सभ्यता और राष्ट्र से मिल रही है जो अत्यन्त व्यवस्थित तरीके से विश्व की प्रथम शक्ति बनने के लिए एक लम्बे समय से क्रियाशील है और कई क्षेत्रों में यह देश अपने सर्वोच्च स्थान को निर्विवाद रूप से स्थापित कर चुका है। इसके साथ ही भारत का कट्टर शत्रु और विश्व का सबसे बड़ा उपद्रवकारी देश भी उससे जा मिला है। भारत परमशक्ति बनकर ही सभ्यता के इन शत्रुओं का प्रभावी प्रतिकार कर सकता है। अन्यथा, भारत की अस्मिता, प्रतिष्ठा, सुरक्षा, और सम्प्रभुता सभी हमेशा खतरे में रहेंगी। हमारे पास विकल्प मात्र यही है कि हम परमशक्ति बने या एक आक्रांत देश के रूप में अपनी नियति को कोसते रहें।

भारत को परमशक्ति बने, इसके लिए आवश्यक है कि प्रत्येक भारतीय की मेधा और क्षमता चरम पर हो। इस हेतु प्रत्येक नागरिक के प्रतिभा, शौर्य, और उद्यम को पराकाष्ठा तक ले जाना होगा। हर भारतीय वैश्विक स्तर पर श्रेष्ठता का प्रदर्शन कर सके, ऐसी हमारी नीति हो।

नीरज कुमार झा

The Grand Project of Self Defeatism

The people I considered fool earlier, I find their beliefs to be correct now. I had to overcome my education to realize this. One of such realizations is that the past is not there in the history texts but it remains the most formidable determinant of our genetic coding, which in turn determines how we behave. Our intellectualism lacks utterly in addressing the existential, and I realize that to be the chief factor for the trivialization of intellectualism in the country. It is our genetic coding which makes us hyper aggressive sometimes and keeps us abominably subservient most of the times. This may also be the reason for our intellectualism being a grand project of self defeatism.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Media Freedom

The people in large numbers, including media persons, have been made to believe that the media is partisan and not free, and media-persons are largely dishonest. An odious term was also coined, which sought to denigrate the profession by comparing it to presumably another degraded profession.

The prevalence of this very debate proves that the media is largely free in this country and the media is not playing to any particular tune. If the media were not free, nobody would have raised this question or would have been able to do so. The conditions are just opposite and therefore there is so much intensity in the debate. But even the media does not concur with this fact. The media at this moment is at the receiving end of the psychological power-play.

The crucial thing we must know that the media is not just another pillar of democracy but it is the mainstay of democracy. If we are by and large safe on the streets or in our houses, we largely owe this to the media.

And we must get to the basics again. The media is largely a capitalist enterprise. The more evolved the capitalism, the freer would be the media. And we must be introspective too. Do we deserve a freer media? Isn't it that the media seeks to cater to our tastes?

Lastly, the crucial question - Are we responsible and honest citizens? Shouldn't we take our citizenship with some seriousness?

Niraj Kumar Jha

A Random Thought

Shouldn't the acts of self harm be treated as criminal and the concerned persons be prosecuted by the state for the same? Committing homicide unsuccessfully was punishable but what if somebody chops off his own limb intentionally or unintentionally? If the same thing is done to one by some other person whether intentionally or unintentionally, then it is treated as a crime in both cases? And if consent is such a crucial matter, then can one murder another with latter's consent? If some person is duped to lose something, then there is certainly for that time the consent existed. Often we hear that people do wrong things to others with latter's consent, but they are not exempted for such crimes. What is the difference between the acts when somebody donates an amount to a needy and when the needy robs the same amount from that person? Apart from the absence of consent, there is no difference in these events at all. Can we treat the willingness a valid factor for that purpose? And what if somebody else donates one's money to other needy persons? Is it not a more heinous crime? If jurisprudence has clear answers to such questions, many ideological shibboleths can be junked.

Niraj Kuma Jha

Equality of Opportunities

The idea of the equality of opportunity is another variant of the leftist gibberish. I need to expose this dangerous idea which the leftists have propagated over all these decades. First thing is that the idea is not feasible and the undeniable and mammoth proof of that is the prolonged Indian experimentation with this objective prior to 1991. That year the model simply collapsed as the model was not workable. The problem is that the idea is hardly different from the one which the Bolsheviks perpetrated behind their iron curtains. The idea for realization needs similar massive buildup which is ultimately doomed for a massive failure but meanwhile plays havoc with the people subjected to the project. Now the next question - what about opportunities? The general belief is that the opportunities are always limited and that should be equalized in availability. This is a huge misconception. A society which ensures freedom - and entrepreneurial freedom is the substance of that - generates abundance of opportunities and every people get what they deserve and strive for.

(This micro write-up suffices for the educated to get rid of this misconception prevailing for a very long time. Whenever I write about the chicanery behind the propagation of the idea of equality, people rush in to tell me about all this as if a naive needs some education.)

Niraj Kumar Jha