‘The Triple Stream’

TRIVENI’ HAS SHED LIGHT ON MY PATH.
BLESSED BE HER NAME!

‘THE TRIPLE STREAM’ ¹

The Nehru Tradition

In the context of the present complications in international affairs and the acute rivalry between the American and Soviet blocs, the tradition of dynamic neutrality established by Prime Minister Nehru is of the utmost value. India has emerged as an independent entity pledged to a policy of peace through goodwill and harmony between nations; and Nehru, the successor of Gandhiji in the leadership of the nation, is also the leader of the group of Asian and African countries seeking to establish a balance between the claims of the erstwhile imperial powers and the new forces of freedom in a resurgent world. The visit of Nehru to China indicates the turn of events and the passing of the primacy in world-politics from the West to the East.

At home Nehru is thinking in terms of a ‘transfer of power’ in the Congress and the Central Government. It is clear from his circular letter to the Presidents of the Pradesh Congress Committees that he wishes to see a new President installed on the Gadi of the Congress. For a time it was necessary for the Presidentship and the Premiership to be combined in the same individual. The arrangement ensured a unified command and the restoration of harmony between the Congress Party and the Congress Cabinet at the Centre. But even Nehru feels the burden of the two offices a little too heavy. There is the further consideration of providing a succession of trained leadership in both the spheres. While Gandhiji was alive it was inevitable that the President and the Prime Minister should both look up to him for guidance. But during the Presidentship of Sri Purushottamdas Tandon a conflict between the President and the Prime Minister was precipitated, and Nehru resolved it by taking over the Presidentship. The time has now arrived for a permanent division between the two functions, in accordance with the practice prevailing in the leading democratic countries. All eyes are turned to Sri B. G Kher as the future President of the Congress organisation. A statesman of undoubted integrity and ability, and a leader capable of drawing the warring elements within the Party together for the pursuit of common aims, Sri Kher is marked out for all-India leadership. Coming from the Deccan, he must be acceptable to the North as well as the South.

Another measure which will afford Nehru the relief he is longing for is the revival of the office of Deputy Prime Minister. This office has been in abeyance since the death of Sardar Patel. Neither Maulana Abul Kalam Azad nor Sri C. Rajagopalachari was chosen for this exalted position, though on occasions the Maulana has presided over meetings of the Union Cabinet in the absence of the Prime Minister. Since the recent statement of Sri Nehru the general expectation has been that Mr. Raft Ahmed Kidwai, a valued colleague and intimate friend of the Prime Minister, would be called upon to be his Deputy. But, alas! even as Nehru was fulfilling his high mission as the promoter of friendship between India and her ancient ally China, Death’s icy hand was suddenly laid on this distinguished son of India. This creates a problem for Nehru during the coming weeks. There are few in the Central Cabinet tall enough to be Deputy Premier and eventually Prime Minister of India. Sri C. D. Deshmukh has never been a Party leader accustomed to combine departmental efficiency with skill in parliamentary debate. Sri V. K. Krishna Menon may be expected to relieve the Prime Minister of his duties in connection with the Ministry of External Affairs, and enable him to function as Prime Minister without portfolio. But, the choice of a Deputy Prime Minister will continue to be a major issue. And judging from previous experience, a decision on the issue is likely to be put off till after the Budget Session of Parliament in April 1955.

If the Nehru tradition of unselfish and efficient service to the nation is to be maintained, the leaders of the Congress Party must make up their minds to invite middle-aged Congressmen, with a clean record of public life, to occupy places in the Central and State Cabinets with a view to their eventual elevation to higher office as Chairmen of the Planning Commission, Chief Ministers or Governors of States, Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers of the Indian Union, and Ambassadors abroad. It is the emergence of such a body of front-rank leaders that will ensure a continuity of policy and the maintenance of a high level ofefficiency all round. The tendency to cling to power and to refuse to train future colleagues is a crying evil in modern India. Pandit Nehru may be trusted to give a new lead and establish a new tradition in our public life.

A Revival of the Drama

The all-India Academy of Music and Drama of which Sri P.V. Rajamannar, Chief Justice of Madras, is the Chairman, has sponsored a programme for the revival of the Drama in the various linguistic regions of India. Preliminary contests are now being held at the regional centres with a view to selecting a score of plays to be staged at Delhi from the 10th of November. The Indian Drama has suffered a partial eclipse within recent years owing to the fierce and highly commercialised competition of the films. From time to time, leaders of the Film Industry come forward with assurances that there is no rivalry between the stage and the screen, and that they are really complementary in their aims and activities. But anyone who has followed the fortunes of the Indian stage since 1930 will bear witness to its continued decay, due in an ever increasing measure to the migration of the best talent–actors, playwrights, dancers and musicians–from the old to the new, from comparative indigence to undoubted opulence. This is an outstanding event in our cultural life, and while the magnates of the film world can be left to their own devices for perpetuating their new-won importance, the votaries of the stage, and the amateurs among them in particular, need special encouragement to pursue their vocation in life. Very few plays are being staged in India today, and the organisers of even these few find it difficult to engage good theatres for their performances. Only the schools and colleges sustain the illusion of a theatre-revival by exhibiting poorly rehearsed and indifferently produced one-act plays once a year. The annual conferences of the lovers of Dance and Drama have failed to restore the stage to its former position of dignity as the finest mode of entertainment and instruction. The Academy, therefore, deserves all praise for its encouragement of the Indian Drama. Playwrights and actors have now a chance of proving their worth. What is of greater significance is the opportunity given to regional theatres to evolve an all-India theatre through co-operative effort.

Our “Old Boys”

The Silver Jubilee of Triveni will be celebrated on the 20th and 21st of November at Bangalore, the beautiful city which sheltered and fostered the Journal for seven years, from 1942. As the auspicious moment draws near, I think of the many friends who have contributed to the success of this adventure in Indian Journalism. The Elders like the late Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer and Sir M. Ramachandra Rao are no longer with us. There are others not so old, but yet old enough to be much my seniors. I refer to members of the Advisory Board, Dr. B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who are happily with us today, and the late Sri C. Jinarajadasa. Then there are my contemporaries–the late Justice V. Govindarajachari and K. S. Venkataramani. Some of them like Sri Sri Prakasa and Sri R. R. Diwakar are today Governors of States. But my affection and gratitude are due in a special measure to the young men who were at College or had just left it when the Journal was started in December 1927. They began their literary careers by contributing to the pages of the new Journal. K. Iswara Dutt, Editor-in-chief of ‘The Leader’ of Allahabad, Prof. V. K. Gokak, Principal of the Karnatak College, Dharwar, K. Chandrasekharan, author and art-connoisseur, Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Professor of English in the Andhra University, A. D. Mani, Editor of ‘Hitavada’, Nagpur and President of the All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference, M. Chalapathi Rau, Editor of the ‘National Herald’, Lucknow and President of the All-India Federation of Working Journalists, Manjeri S. Isvaran, Associate-Editor of ‘Triveni’ and Literary Editor of ‘Swatantra’, T. N. Ramachandran, Joint Director-General of Archaeology, and the late Principal V. N. Bhushan are among our ‘Old Boys’. They are exceedingly dear to me. But for their enthusiasm, and their willingness to submit to my blue-pencilling in the early years, I could not have maintained a high literary standard.

I am growing old–only last week I completed sixty–and preparing for the day when I must decline to look into manuscripts or read proofs. But even Chalapathi Rau and Chandrasekharan are verging on fifty. I t is the members of the rising generation, who are studying or doing research in our Universities, to whom ‘Triveni’ must become a forum for self-expression and the means of enrichment of their cultural outlook. To them I convey my affectionate blessings.

¹ October 27