To understand India’s post-pandemic future, we will need to delve into our post-Independence past. We chose a path – the British parliamentary political system and the Soviet socialist economic system. Did we have a choice then or was that the only option? Think back to the 1940s when the 2nd World War was ending. Germany, Italy and Japan had been vanquished. Even as Britain and the Soviet Union fought back in Europe, it was the might and innovation of the Americans that tilted the balance in favour of the Allied powers.
The America of the 1940s was already the strongest economic powerhouse in the world. Yes, there had been the Great Depression starting in 1929. But before that, for over 50 years, America had been transformed by entrepreneurs. Central to this period of economic growth was the American Constitution of 1789 which gave maximum freedom to the people and put severe constraints on the government. The American Presidential political system with its exquisitely crafted balance of powers and free-market economic system with its focus on free enterprise had created the world’s richest nation.
India in 1947 had just attained independence as the British left in a hurry. India was a very poor country. A new leadership took over in India. And what do they do? They created a Constitution which borrowed 242 out of its 395 Articles from the 1935 British-written Government of India Act, an act meant to enable a colonial power to keep the people enslaved.
The British Raj 2.0 leadership took India down the path of collectivism that was prevalent in the Soviet Union. India’s leadership chose a future – one which condemned future generations of Indians to perpetual poverty. Even after more than 70 years of Independence, 40% of Indian households are almost entirely at the mercy of government handouts.
What would India’s future have been had we chosen a different path – the American governance system that split powers between the three branches of government, and the American economic system that prioritised personal and economic freedom by limiting government action?
We will never know the answer since we didn’t choose that path. The virus has once again brought us to the crossroads where we need to make a similar choice. Will we make another mistake or will we choose wisely this time around? Which future will we select – suicide or rebirth?
Tomorrow: India’s Two Futures (Part 4)
