Of late, there has been a lot of discussion going on about value-based and issue-based politics. On one hand a few senior statesmen have been laying emphasis on value-based politics, whereas on the other hand new age statesmen and a few other leaders have been saying that politics should be issue-based. Those leaders, who focus on values, are highlighting the questions of corruption, nepotism and lust for power that have become the bane of the present-day politics whereas others are raising the issues of unemployment, decentralisation of political power, giving women a greater share in the democratic set-up at the panchayat level, etc., etc. in their speeches, writings or election manifesto. Those who campaign for value-based politics, mention various values and norms as the sine qua non of principled politics. Some of the values they advocate are: clean and speedy administration, fulfilling the promises made and goals set in their election manifesto, maintaining a high standard of public and private morality, sense of responsibility in regard to one's official duties towards the electorate and secularism and democracy. Others who talk of issues, mention poverty, unemployment, casteism, participation of youth and the people at the grass-root level into democratic processes. There is also a group who talk of both – the issues and the values.
A common feature noticed in the speeches and writings of all these three main kinds of leaders is that their thinking is guided by the political, economic and social theories enunciated by the western or eastern thinkers of the last two or three centuries, including those of Rousseau, Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. Some have a wider range of vision that includes Kautilya, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, etc. But one important element missing from the perspective of almost all is the knowledge of the state of society as it existed in the earliest times. The fact, however, is that society at that time had all those values which we highly cherish to-day and because of those values, there were no issues like poverty, unemployment, etc. So, unless our leaders and thinkers have clear understanding of that society and its political, economic, social and cultural aspects, it would be almost impossible for them to understand values and the method of their inculcation in their proper sense and to know clearly the roots and the genesis of the issues that agitate the mind of the leaders and others to-day. Hence, a proper perspective that includes right knowledge of the prehistoric era is essential to raise the standard of society and the people living in it to a high pedestal and to make it achieve the professed goals.
The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal and the UK. He can be contacted at nikunjji@gmail.com / www.brahmakumaris.com
