The ‘President’ Of Egalitarian India
By Aishik Chanda
12 March, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Mumbai: Dressed in blue full-sleeve shirt and grey trousers, Sachin Prabhakar Sawant, excitedly explains his roadmap for an egalitarian India. An engineer by education, the Mira Road resident who is sitting on a dharna for over a year at Azad Maidan in south Bombay, declared himself the President of India on March 23, 2014. Since then, he has made a corner at Azad Maidan his home, demanding implementation of the constitution ‘religiously’. Sawant, the President of Independent Candidates’ Party (ICP), says he wants to establish Buddhist system in the country and destroy all forms of casteism, sectarianism and communalism from their roots.
He has laid out a set of promises that he would provide in the India of which he is the President. And by India, he speaks of Akhand Bharat or United India of which Pakistan and Bangladesh are part. With a budget of Rs 1 lakh crores, Sawant envisages one business, one private job and one government job for every person, Rs 50 lakh allotted for every single citizen and free food and education for all.
The 40-something former businessman who claims the support of several MLAs and top bureaucrats by his side says that the provisions laid down by Dr B.R. Ambedkar are not being implemented properly. “Constitution has given equality to all but the powerful have extracted most of the benefits. The marginalized and economically poor Dalits are still treated like slaves, and are not getting the benefits of reservation. Most is being cornered by the creamy layer that has emerged over the years.” The ICP President stood in the elections for the post of Kandivali corporator in 2007 as an independent candidate and lost.
When asked why he chose to declare himself the President and not the Prime Minister, Sawant explains, “The PM may be the most powerful person in the country but he is still a government servant. On the other hand, the President is not only the nominal head but can be the head of the state once s/he declares the President Rule and imposes the radical changes that one intends to bring in the country.” Hence, Sawant has declared “President’s rule” in India from July 9, 2014 up to December 31, 2017.
The “President” has written letters to several government officials, MLAs, MPs, Chief Ministers, Governors of different states and even the President of India Pranab Mukherjee, asking them to implement the programmes that he envisages for making India truly egalitarian. Sawant said the letters to the senders have been received and that after his letter, the Legislature of Maharashtra has reportedly said that President’s rule may indeed be declared for speedy and rigorous implementation of social and economic transformation of the country.
“Buddha is not a god but a human being whose life must be followed and replicated by all mankind,” says Sawant, thus pricking at the age-old controversy between Mahayana and Hinayana schools of thought of Buddhism. Sawant said he is giving psychological medication to casteism-ridden people in the country.
While his fight is for establishing an egalitarian society in India based on Buddhist principles, Sawant says he also wants that every Indian should get the basic amenities they are entitled to. After travelling throughout the country, he realized that money is not important at all. “Money is just a medium to momentary happiness but not a long-term solution to the woes,” he said.
“I got whatever materialistic pleasures I wanted after Class 10. Then I started my business of selling fruit juice, after which I ventured into Chinese fast food centre and then worked as a dabbawala (tiffin courier) between Vasai and Andheri, all while pursuing engineering education. I worked at day and studied at night and invested the profit from my business on education,” said Sawant, who has decided to remain a bachelor as he thinks marriage will be an obstacle to his movement. It has been seven years since he left his house at Mira Road and has no contacts with his family. “I have sold my possessions including car, bike and other valuables to people and since then live a frugal life. The money from the sale is being spent on imparting IAS training to aspirants,” said the ICP President.
Despite claiming support of thousands, Sawant says anyone associated with the movement must work alone. This, he says will change the herd-mentality that democracy has bestowed upon Indian people.
For furthering his cause, Sawant used to hold a placard and move around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, urging people to join his movement. Those who came forward to listen him and paid some obeisance, which Sawant has set as Rs 10, were given a receipt of the same. The donation, however, is not just a donation but also a membership fee for his ICP. The donor is made the President of the ICP along with him and also the President of the party of a particular area, say Chembur or Ghatkopar. S/he is issued a letterhead of the ICP bearing the name and post of the donor and has to work single-handedly to spread the movement in his/her area. The ICP President has to then work for the people of the area and use the letterhead as a show of authority in any police case against people they are fighting for. “When the police see the letterhead of a President of a party, some importance is given to the person and his/her case. However, the ICP member should always abide by the law,” said Sawant. The ICP President claims his party has a membership of some 400-500 people all over India.
When told that his tenet of fighting alone is against Ambedkar’s call to educate, organize and agitate on a mass-level, Sawant coldly shrugs, “Ambedkar’s times and present days are very different. Dalits are fighting unitedly but in different directions and all are wrong directions.”
“If you have not taught a man/woman, your education is a waste. Crores of Dalits are uneducated and exploited even 68 years after independence. You organized on a mass level, formed parties, but did Dalits remain united? The Republican Party of India has broken into so many splinters. The Dalits agitated on mass levels but the agitations were never forceful and unidirectional. What has the agitations served to the Dalits? Did they bring about any radical change that transformed their lives,” questions Sawant.
Elections are also held in the ‘parallel government’ that Sawant leads. The members of the ICP vote in the MLA and MP elections that is held among the candidates from the ICP party members only and representatives are elected. However, Sawant knows all ICP members are not committed change-bringers. “Many people who know they will never get a chance to be an MLA or MP join ICP to fulfill their long-cherished fantasy. ICP gives them this platform. However, not all are ‘such corrupt people’ and some really strive hard to make the ICP dream a reality.”
Though his ideas and roadmap may seem hazy to many, Sawant says he is clear about what he wants. “People have even dismissed me as a lunatic and beaten me up. But I know what I want and how to bring it about,” he said. When asked to share his clear roadmap with the masses, Sawant points at his temple and says, “Everything is in my brain and I would not give out my plan about how to go about in the movement.” Dismissing lack of transparency in ICP and his dictatorship in the party, Sawant says he has established ICP from scratch and built it brick-by-brick. “People need not hear my words or see my plan, they will see my action,” he said.
The writer is pursuing M.A. in Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He was a working journalist at Deccan Chronicle and The New Indian Express at Hyderabad. He is now an independent journalist. Email id: [email protected]
.
Comments are moderated