For Homo sapiens in their prime, revolutions are sexy. When hormones are hyperactive and energy levels are high, everybody wants to have a go at changing the world. Insurgencies often seduce the best and brightest to test their strength. In the late-1960s, the world was considered ripe for rebellion, and students everywhere thought that political power was theirs for the taking. Those were the days when brilliant youngsters from the Presidency in Calcutta and St Stephens in Delhi marched to Naxalbari, chanting the mantra, "China's Chairman is our Chairman!" Once the war erupted on the eastern front and the Indian Army stormed Dhaka, daydreamers in jeans and kurtas went AWOL from the frontlines in West Bengal. They were later to be found scattered in academia from Bombay to Boston and Oxford to Oslo, in serious pursuit of subaltern studies, postcolonial history and postmodern literary theories.
Meanwhile, another set of radicals had begun to coalesce around born-again revolutionary Jayaprakash Narayan to wage war against the authoritarian ways of Indira Gandhi. It is easier to name the soldiers of JP's 'total revolution', since they have totally discarded the creed of social justice that propelled them to the pinnacles of political power. Who will now believe that Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar were once torchbearers of probity in public life? But that is the effect that unfinished revolutions often have on their children: tired soldiers tend to descend into the depths of decadence with the vengeance of apostates.
When everyone around him was busy chasing rainbows, Vishwanath Pratap Singh stayed loyal to Indira Gandhi, and faced the jibes and jeers of fellow rajas for worshipping a fake maharani. But it is difficult to understand the rebellion of V P Singh, the Raja of Manda, against Rajiv Gandhi in the late 1980s if one does not appreciate the torment that he must have gone through in attending to the whims of Sanjay Gandhi during the previous decade. He learned from the failed revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s that slow reforms were more suitable for introducing sweeping changes in the tradition-bound Indian society. He also observed that Indians ultimately loved those who renounced political power for principles. And he realised that the only way he could soar to the top was by pitting himself against the pragmatic politics of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The Raja adroitly used lessons that he had learned in the Indian National Congress to undermine its base in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Nitish Kumar may loath to admit it publicly, but they owe their place in politics to the man they loved to ridicule in his last days.
Bit by bit dreams of future
Have descended into the well of fog
Only rationalizations of physical scientists
Jabber of information technology
Stay perched on sad branches of trees.
– Nanda Chaturbedi in "Shayad"