India must leave the Commonwealth

Exactly why are we still a member of this organization? Aside from generating foreign trips for diplomats and dignitaries, the commonwealth is of little value to many of its members, except for UK. 

One must understand India's initial enthusiasm for the organization. It had gained independence, the big powers quickly wrote it off. Even the hopefuls would revise their bets after visiting India, if not for the pitiful condition of people, abysmal administration but after meeting with members of the Indian Government and polity. 

At the time, the Indian Government was of one man, by one man, and for one man. As a sample, consider this:

"I still remember Nehru stepping into our living room and inviting Sir Alladi, my father-in-law, to join the drafting committee," says Lalitha Krishnaswami. "We were caught by surprise when someone informed us that Nehru who had come to attend a function at the nearby Andhra Mahila Sabha had decided to drop by. But to Sir Alladi's horror, no picture of the prime minister framed our walls. My husband was immediately asked to get one. He rushed to Luz Corner, got the first picture of Nehru he saw, framed it and rushed back home just minutes before Nehru himself walked in. Over the discussions that followed, Sir Alladi accepted his invitation to join the Constitution drafting committee," she says. [link]

Nehru for his part, took up the role of class monitor for newly independent nations with great zeal. Since he could sense that the big wealthy nations were not nearly giving him the importance he thought he deserved, he made the commonwealth his playing field. Later he would be seen vigorously lecturing the commonwealth crowd every chance he got. He was there at the height of tensions with China during 1962. The man sure knew his priorities right.

It is quite well known that Nehru did have a fair heart and mind, though he lacked moral courage and was wantonly deficient in many of the qualities needed for a national leader. Perhaps he suffered from guilt of having been parachuted into the Indian political scene by daddy and elevated to dizzying heights by the magnanimous Gandhiji. Perhaps he wanted to make up for it by achieving on his own in the international arena what he got handed to him on a platter in the national one.

In any case, right about now the commonwealth thing looks like an albatross around our neck, a bad habit from the past. We have chummed up with the Americans and want to play it diplomatically. The British are behaving in a completely bizarre and berserk manner. Even if our diagnosis is wrong, you can surely trust acorn on the matter. He panned the Brits in no uncertain terms. 

We must leave the commonwealth, been a while since anyone took us seriously. The Man Booker prize is not good enough reason to remain a member of this organization, given that it is jeopardizing our national security to the leverage enjoyed by the Pakistani military-industrial complex power brokers in London.