Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Clarity and confusion: On Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra

Clarity and confusion: On Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra

Rahul Gandhi will have to use moral clarity for road map for electoral (निर्वाचित, चुनाव का) success

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, or ‘unite India march’, is an audacious (साहसी) attempt to reimagine the country’s politics. Now on a nine-day break, it will resume from Delhi on January 3, towards Srinagar in Kashmir. It began in Kanyakumari on September 7, and has covered over 2,800 kilometres. Against the backdrop (पृष्ठभूमि) of polarising (फूट डालना, ध्रुवीकरण करना) sectarian (सांप्रदायिक) rhetoric (वाक्पटुता, शब्दाडम्बर) that has become the easiest route to political power, his message of harmony (सद्भाव, सामंजस्य) is as inspiring as it is innocently idealistic. Through his speeches and interactions, he has tried to frame a new charter (A special privilege or exemption) for political action that is dissociated from immediate electoral calculations. It is in some ways a compromise in its attempt to find the middle ground between a status quo (यथा स्थिति) politics that merely mirror and reproduce existing social realities, and a radicalism that tries to transform the society through political action. By paying tributes to A.B. Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr. Gandhi has sought to make a distinction between the current iteration (पुनरावृत्तियों, यात्रा) of Hindutva from its own original content and intent (इरादा), tenuous (कमज़ोर, तुच्छ) as that may be. Over the march, he has, without doubt, emerged as the staunchest (कट्टर, निष्ठावान) opponent of Hindutva, but that may not add to his capacity to confront it or to establish himself as the fulcrum of politics opposed to it.

For Mr. Gandhi, social harmony is the means and ends of politics. That conception (अवधारणा, विचार) has a fundamental challenge though, because politics cannot escape contestation and combat, as Mr. Gandhi’s own valiant opposition to the BJP and its Hindutva ideology (विचारधारा) bears out. It is not entirely original to think of politics as a medium of social transformation (परिवर्तन) rather than the route to capturing state power. From the Mahatma to Vinoba Bhave to Jayaprakash Narayan, India has a long history of people and movements that saw politics as a moral pursuit (The action of pursuing someone or something). Political ideologies such as Hindutva and Marxism see state power not as an end in itself, but as the instrument of social transformation that they aim for. The current power-ideology complex of Hindutva has attained a level of hegemony (Leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others) and efficiency that it is self-perpetuating (To cause to last indefinitely). Its unprecedented totalising grip over India is based on a political adaptation of Hinduism, a philosophy that has connected people to one another and their land over millennia. Mr. Gandhi is cognisant of the reality that confronts (To face and deal with boldly) him and his intentions are beyond reproach. Figuring out the complex correlation (The state of being related) between state power and social goals is more challenging. Translating moral clarity to sustainable politics is the task at hand for Mr. Gandhi.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.Electoral (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning - निर्वाचित, चुनाव का
English Meaning - Relating to electors.

2.Audacious (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning - साहसी
English Meaning - Showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks.

3.Backdrop (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - पृष्ठभूमि
English Meaning - Background for something.

4.Polarize (Verb)

Hindi Meaning - फूट डालना, ध्रुवीकरण करना
English Meaning - To divide into sharply opposing factions.

5.Sectarian (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning - सांप्रदायिक
English Meaning - Relating to a sect.

6.Rhetoric (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - वाक्पटुता, शब्दाडम्बर
English Meaning - The art or ability to use language effectively.

7.Harmony (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - सद्भाव, सामंजस्य
English Meaning - Harmonious relations.

8.Status quo (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - यथा स्थिति
English Meaning - Current situation

9.Iteration (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - पुनरावृत्तियों, यात्रा
English Meaning - Execution of the repeated sequence of events.

10.Intent (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - इरादा
English Meaning - Intention or purpose

11.Tenuous (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning - कमज़ोर, तुच्छ
English Meaning - Very weak or slight

12.Staunch (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning - कट्टर, निष्ठावान
English Meaning - Characterized by firmness.

13.Ideology (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - विचारधारा
English Meaning - The body of doctrine or beliefs that guide an individual or a group.

14.Conception (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - अवधारणा, विचार
English Meaning - Something that is conceived.

15.Transformation (Noun)

Hindi Meaning - परिवर्तन
English Meaning - A thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.

16.Charter (Noun)

English Meaning - A special privilege or exemption.

17.Pursuit (Noun)

English Meaning - The action of pursuing someone or something.

18.Confront (Verb)

English Meaning - To face and deal with boldly.

19.Hegemony (Noun)

English Meaning - Leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others.

20.Perpetuate (Verb)

English Meaning - To cause to last indefinitely.

21.Correlation (Noun)

English Meaning - The state of being related.