Ramarajya: Envisioning the Future and Entrenching the Past 89adhered to. The element of myth (defined as ambiguity) in his speeches
and writings involved the "present morality stated futuristically." Thus he
was able to lead "one of the greatest mythopoeic movements of modern
times." He never considered himself a visionary, but a "practical idealist"
who "combined high moral adventure with a series of 'experiments with
truth.'" He presented his "Utopia of a democratic polity" in the form of
an Indian myth that had gone deep into the Indian masses' psyche, and
he "evoked the power of this myth in motivating them for mass political
action."^70THE "RIGHT" RAMARAJYA
Claiming to represent and articulate the views of the Indian mercantile
community, G. D. Birla, a leading businessman and principal contributor
to the Congress party, alleged at the second session of the Indian Round
Table Conference,I say it is truth that it would be the greatest mistake of your lives if you do not take
the opportunity of coming to terms with India. I know the youth of my country. It
is quite possible that a few years hence you will not have to deal with men like Mr.
Gandhi who has proved in many respects a greater Conservative than many of you, you
may not have to deal with Princes, you may not have to deal with capitalists like
myself, you may have to deal with new men, new conditions, new ideas, and new
ambitions. Beware of that, (italics mine)^71
Birla was even more explicit in his letter to Sir Samuel Hoare and argued
that Gandhi "alone is responsible for keeping the left wing in India in
check."^72 While Birla preferred Gandhi for fear of leftist politics, a latter-
day M.N. Roy supporter blamed Gandhi's Ramarajya concept for "the
sinister influence of reaction and counterrevolution leading to the all-
round crisis" in free India. In a book long on rhetoric but short on logic,
the author identifies the Congress regimes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira
Gandhi with the Ramarajya of "revisionist Gandhians" and the BJP gov-
ernment with that of "puritan Gandhians."^73 As though fulfilling these
conservative prophecies, the right-wing elements in Indian politics have
increasingly but insincerely adopted Gandhian ideas in their political pro-
grams.
Howard Erdman, for one, identifies several levels of Indian conserva-
tism. At the higher level there was an indigenous aristocracy (maharajas,
rajas, nawabs, and landed "nobles" such as jagirdars, taluqdars, zamindars,
etc.), who took a pro-British stand when their pompous princely states or
ancien regimes yielded to the inherent instability. There was no national
focal point for aristocratic conservatism, as there were no stable and indig-
enous macropolitical institutions or broad class identifications. At another