As India undergoes a transition and the world a great transformation, the country needs to reinvent Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s vision, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said on Friday.
Doval was speaking at a lecture organised in Delhi on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day), observed on October 31 every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first Home Minister.
“It is indeed very befitting that in 2025, we should be reinventing Sardar Patel…His vision is required in India today more than ever before. Not only is India in a transition, India is also having an orbital shift from a certain type of governance and government structures, societal structures, and its place in the global order. The world is also undergoing a great transformation,” Doval said.
Asserting that governance is the cornerstone of nation-buidling as well as national security, Doval said, “Converting the civilisation into a nation-state is a stupendous task. He (Patel) knew that it could only be done through a very powerful governance mechanism. The government has got to think and do beyond what is normally expected.”
He pointed out that when governments are weak and riddled with self-interest, the consequences are also similar.
“The rise and fall of the great empires, monarchies, oligarchies, aristocracies or democracies is actually a history of their governance…,” he stated.
Doval also cited the recent instances of regime changes in neighbouring Sri Lanka, Bangaldesh and Nepal, saying they were the building cases of bad governance.
He warned against authoritarianism, institutional decay and institutional decay, describing them as key reasons behind the collapse of a state.
“Transcending beyond time and space, there are some commonalities why some states rise and why some fall, what happens that leads to bad governance and ultimately the erosion…One reason is Authoritarianism, which is oppressive and has discriminatory laws, poor delivery of justice, a marginalised population, and human rights violations, contributing to the fall of this nation.
“The second important thing has been the institutional decay. The institutes start decaying, both civil and military, security structures, their armies become corrupt or oppressive, or their internal security structures collapse, and bureaucracies become inept, slow, corrupt and insensitive. There is no accountability. People do not know why they are doing what they are doing… This is how the decay starts…,” he said.
Another factor, Doval further continued, is the economic failures, scarcity of food. “The food, water, inflation, oppressive taxes, and social interests become the cause of the state’s failures. They are the old ones, but they still exist and continue to belittle the emerging societies.”
“But the new ones (factors) have cropped up and have made the situation more complex. What are these new factors which have started impacting the process of governance and have made the task more challenging? One is the centrality of the common man. The common man has become more aware and aspirational, has higher expectations from the state, and the state has a vested interest in keeping him satisfied…” he added.
