I think it can be very persuasively argued that ignorance lies at the root of all evil that we suffer in this material world. Avidya is the source of all dukkha. Collective ignorance indeed leads to all kinds of poverty, not just material poverty of which India has in truckloads. If we were not so collectively ignorant of the misdeeds of the political parties and their bosses, we would not have ever had the sorry bunch of thugs running the country. Allow me to share with you what I learned today.

Did you know that an Indian airplane was hijacked on Dec 20th, 1978? Indira Gandhi was in prison for her crimes. Here’s what the Wiki notes in the list of aircraft hijackings in the 1970s:

December 20, 1978: Devendra Nath Pandey and Bhola Nath Pandey hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-410. They demanded the immediate release of Indian National Congress party leader Indira Gandhi who was imprisoned at that time on the charges of fraud and misconduct. Later, they were awarded with party tickets for this act by the Indira Gandhi government in 1980 such that Devendra Nath Pandey rose to become a minister in the government of most populous state of India, Uttar Pradesh. This case was also mentioned by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale to justify his claim regarding the hypocrisy of the Indian government. {Emphasis added.}

[Hat tip: Aditya Kuvalekar.]

Let me repeat the important bits:

1. Indira Gandhi was in prison for her crimes. She was a criminal serving time in prison.

2. A criminal act was done — hijacking of an aircraft — to free a criminal — Indira Gandhi. (This is not unusual. An Indian Airlines plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar some years later, which led to the freeing of Islamic terrorists.)

3. The criminals who hijacked the plane were rewarded by Indira Gandhi.

And for that we have the Indian capital’s airport named the “Indira Gandhi International Airport.” Is it any surprise that the Indian parliament and the government is bursting at the seams with criminals and crooks. India is a kakistocracy — rule by the most corrupt and the least principled.

Why is India a kakistocracy? Because Indians are collectively ignorant. Many of us have little bits of information about the criminality of politicians — both past and present — but this information is mostly private and generally not widely known. We have to make this information shard public information so that it becomes common knowledge.

History matters. Ignorance of what happened and why can be seriously damaging. If we don’t know why and how we got to this sorry state of affairs, we will never be able to fix the system. If we are ignorant of how awfully disastrous the Nehru-Gandhi family led Congress party has been for India, we will never be able to set India on a path of recovery because the same mindset motivates the current Congress party.

Let’s work together to collect all the Nehru-Gandhi horror stories into a comprehensive volume. And then let’s make it not just general knowledge but common knowledge.