The lecture titled “Adieu to Liberalism?” saw Dileep in vintage form as he argued that liberalism would never die in India. He however felt it was important to keep an eye open for attempts to suppress it.
To a question about the progress made by China vis-à-vis India, he said one has to accept that the Chinese were more disciplined. Culturally, he said, the Chinese had a strong leader who would ensure obedience and one had to also consider the fact that more than 90% of the population were ethnically Han Chinese. In contrast he cited an example of three Indians who would set up five groups against each other. “They are argumentative and prone to questioning everything, which is very good. The country was now more federal in nature compared to the past when all power was centred in Delhi. Reservations had ensured that the hold on power of the upper castes had been weakened,” he said.
“India is a young country whose young are not technophobic unlike the generations of the past. More importantly there is also greater gender parity. The power equations between Centre and State had changed and in many large states there were several powerful equations within the state,” Padgaonkar opined.
“Externally India had given up its dubious non–aligned policy and was now much aligned,” he said.
With reference to the present dispensation at the Centre and the ideology of Hindu nationalism, Padgaonkar felt it was not right to jump to conclusions.
and people anyway are watching. With regards to the liberals in the country he felt it was time they did some analysis. The perception that they were English speaking, contemptuous of those who could not do so with the same felicity and looking down on all things Indian had to be examined by them. The liberal doctrine which is very much alive in the country would disappear if people are not alert and the demon of illiberal thought would come out. Padgaonkar advised all students to read a book by Ananya Vajpeyi which examined the political lives of the various leaders like Nehru and Gandhi to name a few and their interaction with Indian and western thought and the conclusions they arrived at.
