India's Realistic Response to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Utopian Call

[Akshay Bakaya]

New Delhi. It is 16th February 2009. Through the settling pink dust of a high-tension St. Valentine's day we watch the illustrious band of American 'pilgrims' in the Indian capital, treading the path Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King trod exactly 50 years ago seeking Gandhi. Gingerly treading on eggs rather, in fast-forward mode. Spending a whole month (Feb 10 - March 10, as in 1959) looking for the spirit of the Mahatma, in a Department-of-State sponsored tour may be imprudent today, in a sensitive 'nuclear family'.

We have amongst us John Lewis who at age 23, as leader of the Student Non-Violence Coordination Committee, spoke at the Lincoln Memorial right after Rev. Martin Luther King's famed "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 'march upon Washington' delivered amidst a flurry of Gandhi caps, see video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLvSnr6s50. Then there is jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chaka Khan and one of "my four little children" for whom MLK dreamt of a different America. We are looking forward to their planned experiments with music and non-violence with A.R. Rehman (now additionally of Slumdog Millionaire fame), Zakir Husain, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, and actor Kamal Haasan.

Four years before that march, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered in India a historic speech, well-hidden in the dust of AIR radio archives by an uninspired bureaucracy. Though the speech has now been leaked out by some reckless or rebellious officer, no journalist has had the time, in this busy day and age to listen to it, or at least to quote the urgent plea which MLK Jr. could hope to make only in India: http://chicago.indianconsulate.com/MLK_on_All_India_Radio.mp3 or Read at : http://chicago.indianconsulate.co/Martin%20Luther%20King%20All%20India%20Radio%20Speech.htm

"It may be that, just as India had to take the lead and show the world that national independence could be achieved non-violently, so India may have to take the lead and call for universal disarmament. And if no other nation will join her immediately, India may declare itself for disarmament unilaterally. Such an act of courage would be a great demonstration of the spirit of the Mahatma, and would be the greatest stimulus to the rest of the world to do likewise. Moreover, any nation that would take such a brave step would automatically draw to itself the support of the multitudes of the earth, so that any would-be aggressor would be discouraged from risking the wrath of mankind." ( - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.)

Perfectly timing it to humiliate the spirit of Gandhi and King, the Indian government announced, February 16th, a 34% increase in India's military budget, notching up over Rs. 1.4 trillion ($ 30 billion). Varied merchants of death, from European EADS to American Lockheed Martin can rub their hands in glee, and look forward to selling Eurofighter Typhoons, F-18s and Rafales to Mother India who will not afford drinking water, public toilets, or schools for her children.

In his open Delhi lecture this afternoon 2 PM Tuesday February 17, "Martin Luther and Gandhi- Carrying the Legacy Forward" Stanford historian Clayborne Carson may wish to scrutinize such "fitting response" by our visionary governments to utopians and idle dreamers like Gandhi and King. Please do try and attend.

Tuesday 17th Feb, 2 PM at the American Center, 24 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001.
http://gandhiking.ning.com/events/talk-at-american-center-in-new

Clay Carson is also founder-director of Stanford's Martin Luther King Jr. Institute, working to archive and publish MLK Jr.'s collected Papers, and a colleague of well-known Kabir scholar Linda Hess, with whom he teaches a course on Gandhi and King. http://www.stanford.edu/~ccarson/ http://stanford.edu/group/King/institute/

Let us wish the pilgrims godspeed and inspiration, in these hard times.