By Justice Markandey Katju (India)

I have often called 90% Indians (in which term I include Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, for we are really one country only temporarily and artificially divided in 1947 by a British swindle called Partition) as idiots, their heads full of casteism, communalism and superstitions, which I call ‘gobar’ (cow dung) and ‘bhoosa’ (straw).

Yet I have also said that our huge problems of massive poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition, skyrocketing prices of food and other essential commodities, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc can only be solved by a mighty protracted united people’s struggle culminating in a historical people’s revolution which will set up a new political and social order under which there is rapid industrialization of the country, and steady rise in the standard of living of the masses. A high level of industrialization is the only hope of poor people for coming out of their miserable existence, but that can only be achieved after a historical people’s revolution.

Of course I have also said that this people’s struggle and people’s revolution must be led by modern minded selfless patriotic persons. Nevertheless its driving force and power source must be the people. Is it not contradictory to call 90% of our people idiots, and at the same time say that they will be the driving force and power source of the struggle and revolution which alone can transform India from a backward to a highly developed country ? Not at all. So let me explain.

It is true that the minds of most Indians are still semi-feudal, steeped in casteism, communalism, and superstitions, thereby disqualifying them from a leadership role. The leaders of the coming struggle and revolution must be a tiny number of modern minded, secular, patriotic, selfless persons with a high level of political consciousness, who are determined to transform India into a land of prosperity, in which all our people are enjoying decent lives.

But what can a handful of persons do unless they are backed up and supported by the masses ? The leaders are like generals in an army, but without the soldiers there will be no army. In the early 20th century we had great revolutionary patriots like Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Sukhdev, etc who were prepared to give their lives for India’s freedom (and did give it), but they had no mass support ( like the Narodniks in Russia in the late 19th century ), and hence were unsuccessful in attaining their goal. As the Chinese revolutionaries said ” The people are the sea, and we are the fish who swim in them, and without water the fish will die ”.

So both patriotic modern minded leaders as well as the people are required for successfully waging the people’s struggle and people’s revolution, which alone can transform India into a modern industrial giant.. The leaders are like the brain and eyes of an individual, without which he is blind and groping in the dark. But the people are like the rest of his body, his heart, his lungs, his stomach, his liver etc, without which the brains and eyes cannot survive.

Leaders, who have always played an important role in history, have to guide the people, and strive to change their mindsets, by patiently educating them and showing them the correct path which they must take.

But leaders must also be modest, learn many things from the people, understand their problems, regularly consult them, and practice criticism and self criticism, otherwise they will be cut off from the people, and fade away or be thrown away by the people. They must know that in the ultimate analysis the people are their power house, and their masters.

Author is an Indian jurist. He was the former judge of The Supreme Court of India. He also was chairman of the Press Council of India from 2011 to 2014.