THE GAME CHANGER

 

THE GAME CHANGER

 

In my long reading life, I have come to the stage where biographies (the term includes autobiographies) have become my first choice. In addition to famous people of all eras and lands, I also love autobiographies or diaries of little known or common people with good observations. These accounts give authentic portraits of life in specific locations in a particular period. They offer interesting tidbits of information which are otherwise not of interest to public at large but titillate me. At times they can make you understand complex happenings in history from a humane angle. Sometimes you experience a revelation of great importance which isn’t in public consciousness due to its seeming ubiquitousness and simplicity.

I have been going through an autobiography of a woman politician of yore who was seemingly a well-known figure during early years of our republic. While describing the leadership of our first prime minister, she mentions how Nehru was singlehandedly responsible to modify the broom used by sanitary workers by getting a long bamboo handle fixed so that it could be used standing. He felt that the modified broom would be more effective and far less tiring to the person using it. Moreover, bending down to sweep in public places encouraged a certain subservience and inferiority complex in mind of the worker which needed to be avoided.

It is known that Jawahar Lal Nehru as Prime Minister, used to write letters to Chief Ministers every fortnight about issues before country. It was the letter of 12 June 1960, that began with ‘I am writing to you about a subject which, perhaps, will seem to you very trivial and unimportant. Here we are dealing with great issues, planning mighty projects and all that. But still what I am writing to you seems to me to have a basic importance’.  He then  goes on to explain the benefits of the bigger broom, imploring them to ado pt same for sanitary workers in their respective states.

In a country where all sanitation work was done by hereditary workers, I can only imagine how those people would have kept languishing without this change. A squatting person with a broom in his hand sweeping the road in a subservient posture has to perforce  look up to others. Someone standing will look even a minister in the eye! This epoch-making ‘Game Changer’ and resulting empowerment that Nehru brought about in our downtrodden brothers and sisters is lost in midst of his momentous contributions to the Nation.

Equally important was Gandhi embracing scheduled castes and calling them ‘Harijans’ or ‘People of God’ (Though nowadays the term isn’t liked). Prime Minister Modi also treaded the same path when in an unprecedented gesture, he washed the feet of five sanitary workers, including two women, expressing gratitude for maintaining cleanliness in Kumbh Mela campus in February 2019. Sustained efforts by our tallest leaders to raise the stature of the last man in queue has paid handsome dividends and succeeded in making an egalitarian India and ensured dignity of labour.