Historian Ramachandra Guha was detained by police for protesting the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. This is what he said about democracy at a Literary Meet for Tolerance in 2018. It was organised by the Gram Seva Sangh
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00:00However much anyone has contributed to the country,
00:03you must not lay down your liberties at the feet of a single man.
00:08Because bhakti in religion is a route to the salvation of the soul,
00:12bhakti in politics is a route to dictatorship.
00:18This image of Gandhi,
00:20that Swaraj to be robust and secure and sustaining,
00:25must have four sturdy posts.
00:27Non-violence, religious and linguistic diversity,
00:33abolition of caste and gender distinctions,
00:35and economic self-reliance and environmental sustainability
00:39is the first image I wanted to share with you.
00:41The second comes from Ambedkar, which is much later.
00:44It's from his last speech to the Constituent Assembly,
00:50made in November 1949.
00:53It's a wonderful speech, it's online.
00:56I urge each one of you to read it, if you've not yet read it.
00:59If you've read it, read it afresh.
01:01And there are two aspects of that speech that are compellingly relevant today.
01:07One is where he says,
01:08it's the last speech to the Constituent Assembly,
01:10he has drafted, redrafted, finalized the Constitution,
01:14it's going to come into effect in a month's time.
01:16And he says,
01:18on 26 January 1950, when the Constitution comes into effect,
01:23we will become a democracy,
01:25we will enter an era of one person, one vote.
01:31But when will we enter an era of one person, one value?
01:36When will each voter be treated alike?
01:40Political democracy does not mean social and cultural democracy.
01:45You have to work hard to assure it.
01:46And 70 years later, or almost 75 years later,
01:49that gap still continues.
01:52And the last aspect of that speech,
01:55which is in many ways absolutely prophetic,
01:58and speaks to the India we live in today,
02:01aspects of which Satyu alluded to,
02:04goes like this.
02:06This is Ambedkar in 1949.
02:11Bhakti in religion is a route to the salvation of the soul.
02:18Bhakti in religion,
02:19Prasanna mentioned the Bhakti movement in our state,
02:22Bhakti in religion is a route to the salvation of the soul.
02:28Bhakti in politics is a route to dictatorship.
02:34No person, however great, is greater than the country.
02:39And Ambedkar says,
02:40and he has people like Nehru and Patel and Gandhi in mind,
02:43he says, however much anyone has contributed to the country,
02:48you must not lay down your liberties at the feet of a single man.
02:52Because Bhakti in religion is a route to the salvation of the soul.
02:56Bhakti in politics is a route to dictatorship.
03:00Thank you very much.