Toyland: A Model for Ram Rajya

By Aninditha Vengyalil 22 Minutes Read

India, the country representing the microcosm of the cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity of the world, unfortunately also happens to share a legacy for it high rate of communal and caste related violence. In recent years, we have witnessed resurgence of caste and racial sectarian tendencies, instances of mob-lynching, civil unrest including an aggravated polarisation on communal lines. The idea of securing a Ram Rajya in future might be the only consolation available to a distressed population living in these times of such socio-political upheavals. The current government has re-ignited the debate surrounding the concept of Ram Rajya, however the focus has been modelled in the light of the Hindutva agenda.

Originally the true meaning of Ram rajya can be grasped from various verses in the Yuddh Kaanda of Valmiki’s Ramayan and Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas. It was repeatedly heard from Mahatma Gandhi for his vision of future India. According to him, Ram rajya meant The Kingdom of God: a place where every citizen was guaranteed his just rights and demands irrespective of any differences in caste, creed, race, religion, gender etc. It represents the ideal dream of governance. The Mahatma always stressed, that by Ram rajya, he did not accede to the concept of  Savarkar’s Hindu Rajya, but a Rajya of truth and righteousness.

Of course, the words of Preamble to the Indian Constitution paint a beautiful pictograph of all the basic tenets of Ram Rajya, but the question that needs to be addressed is are its citizens cultivated and nurtured enough to adhere to the sanctity of conception of Ram Rajya embodied in the Preamble?

However in my opinion, how so uncanny it may sound, the idea of a perfect society was perhaps best iterated in the 90’s cartoon: ‘Make Way for Noddy’ written by Enid Blyton. The cartoon’s concept resembled exactly on the model characteristics of Ram Rajya through Toyland, where all the toys including Noddy lived in harmony. In this article, I shall illustrate that perhaps Toyland could serve as cultivating model and example for painting a picture of Ram Rajya.

Background

In a country, both the government and citizens play a major role in its overall development. State’s role is to work for the betterment of people while ensuring no one is left out. It has the duty to address the needs of all its citizens, whether rich or poor. It is expected to make the resources available equitably. Whereas, citizens of a country have equal responsibility for maintaining peace in the nation.

Law is generally inspired by a set of principles with a view to establish standards and maintain order in the country. For the laws of a country to be efficient, such principles must be ingrained in every citizen as a part of their culture and beliefs. Culture plays a major role in shaping up a society’s belief system. It affects a person’s values, moral ideas and attitude. The emotional quotient of a person has a huge impact on his/her behaviour. Daniel Goleman defines Emotional Intelligence/Quotient as the ability to recognize our own feelings and those of others, to motivate ourselves, and to handle our emotions well to have the best for ourselves and for our relationships.^[1]  During the Constituent Assembly debates, Dr. V. Subramaniam representing Madras province pointed out that, “one thing that the future State should concentrate on, if they want to build an ideal India, is upon the building up of the individual in the State. If the individual is perfect then the State also become perfect. It will take a long time. A government conducted by an individual or group of individuals who are perfect both in thought and deed is Ram Rajya, a Rajya dreamt of by Mahatmaji.”^[2] So, it is important to understand that a citizen has an equal role in shaping up Ram Rajya. Toyland and its characters in the animated cartoon, ‘Make Way for Noddy’, forecast the microcosm of the ideal society which Indian audience could assimilate for getting acquainted with its cultural resemblance to their own cherished ideals.

An ideal Government symbolizing Big Ears

In idealistic governance, a ruler focuses on public good along with self-austerity. It’s a state where every voice is heard and justice is accessible to even the poorest, weakest and marginalised.  Big Ears was the wisest and elderly resident of Toyland. Noddy looked up to him as a father-figure as he was always approachable and gave the best advice. The relation between the Government and its citizens must be like the one between Big Ears and Noddy. The government must maintain a parent-child relationship with its citizens where it works for its people with a sense of dedication and love. Like how a parent never discriminates between his/her child, the government must formulate policies favourable to all sects of people. They must make sure the poor and marginalised receive basic facilities for their living. The government must also strive to improve their skill sets so that they could earn a living. The Ministry Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions has launched Good Governance Index in December 2019 to assess the governance mechanisms of each State and UT.[3] The Ministry aims to enable the States and UTs to formulate strategies to improve their governance and focus upon result-oriented methods. This initiative by the ministry may bring a competitive spirit among different states to improve their governance mechanisms.

It is also pertinent to note that Toyland didn’t require much policing as its citizens practised self-restraint. They knew the rules and always abided by them. As Gandhi said, good governance cannot substitute self-governance, a good society works on the foundation of both governances. People should maintain self-control and self-discipline rather than behaving upon coercive action from the government.

Reformation of criminals

Whenever the goblins, Gobbo and Sly, would commit some mischief, they were duly punished by Mr. Plod, the police officer in Toyland. However, what is pertinent to note from Toyland is that after the goblins were punished, the Toyland residents forgave them and often included them in their celebrations. They believed in inclusion. In India, ex-prisoners find it really difficult to find a place in the society. The society completely leaves them stranded with no means left for them to lead a normal life. Academics and criminal experts underscore the responsibility society has in taking part in the rehabilitation process.[4] According to Dr. Michael Pitaro who is a criminal justice veteran, the criminal justice system needs more resources to improve reintegration efforts and help ex-offenders find adequate jobs and housing so they’re less likely to re-offend. Helping ex-prisoners successfully reintegrate into society will not only reduce costly recidivism rates, but, in many cases, will help break the intergenerational cycle of criminality.[5] One of the reasons for increase in recidivism rates is because of lack of economic safety after the prisoners are being released from jail. They find it difficult to gain the trust of people amidst all the changes they might be going through with change in environment.

In Ram rajya, though people were punished for the sins, they were also reformed to maintain harmony, peace and happiness. The idea must be to reform the offender as a person, so that he becomes a law-abiding member of the community again. For example, Chanchalguda Central Jail in Hyderabad has taken the initiative to conduct behavioural training workshops for the inmates. The psychologist working with the jail believes that crime is an erroneous response and it can be eliminated if the person responding to external stimuli has the tools to check his responses.[6] She is said to have trained about 4000 inmates within 3 years reducing the recidivism in Telangana from 80% to 1% drastically. Her idea of changing inmates through cognitive behavioural psychology must be implemented throughout India to reform the prisoners from within. It is important that we focus on reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of the ex-prisoners in the community to prevent repetition of crime. India should work on more effective schemes for the reformation and welfare of ex-prisoners. Society must be equally responsible to bring back an ex-prisoner to normalcy. It is only when people are motivated to be a law-abiding citizen, there can be any Ram rajya.

Supporting the victims

Victim blaming is another vice that a country should tackle. Not only in cases of sexual assaults, victim blaming is seen in other crimes as well. According to Christine Folk Young, people tend to blame victims as it primarily serves as a way for them to preserve a feeling of invulnerability. She says,

“if we think that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, or that somehow the victim did something to create the situation, we can justify the crime and maintain the illusion that we are in control over our environment.”

That is a false assumption to make because it is not the victim’s actions, but the perpetrator’s choices, that result in the crime occurring.[7] The impact of maltreatment on the personality of the victim must always be taken into consideration. For example, the role of the perpetrator vis-à-vis the victim; the number of attacks; the response of the family and others to warning of the attack; and the time and choice for future activities allowed to the victim.[8]

In one of the episodes, when the goblins stole and destroyed all the dresses that paper dolls made for their fashion show, Noddy along with the help of other toys found a way to help paper dolls keep up their word without questioning their integrity. The Toyland always stood for the victims of any crime in every way they could. In a similar fashion, people must always be supportive of the victim of any crime and help in their rehabilitation. It is not only the duty of the State to take care of victims, but also of every citizen of India to treat them equally with respect. Otherwise, the consequences would be undesirable. Perpetrators might never take accountability of the crime and proceed to repeating it. Also, there is a high chance of crimes getting unreported, as victims generally restrict themselves from reporting if they are blamed for the crime.

Fighting racial discrimination

Toyland never discussed the idea of black and white skin. Though all of them had different colour complexions, it never affected their behaviour towards others. When it comes to India, a lot of discrimination exists on the basis of colour, facial features, language etc. The Indian constitution addresses this issue by prohibiting racial discrimination through Article 15[9], but is it really followed by the citizens is the overarching question. Dinah Doll in Toyland was a dark skinned, down-to-earth sister figure who always guided the impulsive toys into doing the right thing. She was never looked down upon by any of the toys in Toyland because of her skin colour. Toyland also indicates that there might always be a Martha, Master Tubby Bear, Sly and Gobbo in the country, but people should not create hatred towards a particular section of the society. Toyland never punished the whole sect of people. It only believed in punishing the wrong-doer. India being a part of International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) has not been able to eliminate racial discrimination from the country.

When B. R. Ambedkar drafted the constitution, he envisaged that there must not be any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, creed race, sex, place of birth which would cripple the nation. But inclusion of this intention in the Constitution is in itself insufficient. In order to have such sensibility towards different race or ethnic groups, India must prioritize its fight against racial discrimination. It is important to bring awareness about the culture and practices of different races. Unless people are made aware that it is completely normal to have different looking people from the same country, no law restraining such behaviour would help. This idea must be imbibed by all the citizens from childhood itself. Culture and practices of different races must be taught to children at school level to desensitize people at an early age. Only when the root cause of the issue is tackled by creating awareness, the minor issues arising thereafter could be tackled by laws of the country.

Commitment to Public duty

Noddy in Toyland showed us how important it is for one to keep their promise. He made sure that the Toyland’s belief in his words never faded away. Likewise, a political party who is elected to power must also work in the same manner. People vote for a particular party believing they would bring some positive change to their lives. They believe in the promises made by the political parties in their election manifesto. When a party attains power, it must uphold the belief of all the citizens of a country. It is one of the characteristics of Ram Rajya that one always kept his word. When people witness the developments in their society due to Government’s actions, there would be a more peaceful country.

Plod raj versus Police Raj

Mr. Plod (police officer) ensured that the notorious criminals never escaped from the hands of law. Though he was a friend to all the toys in Toyland, he never side-lined his duty for the sake of friendship. All public officials have to work on the same premise, if one wants to achieve Ram rajya. Corruption or favouritism must not come in between their duty to the nation. When the public has no faith in the police, government authorities and judiciary, they tend to believe that it’s their duty to impart justice. That is when mob-lynching, revenge killings, and riots takes place. Therefore, in order to eliminate such public execution or riots, justice system of the country must be strengthened. Even the marginalised and weak should get speedy justice.

Conclusion

Even though Ramrajya or even Toyland would seem as a utopia, one can always consider it as a model for improvement. As Prof. K. T. Shah insisted at the constituent assembly debates, that ideals of Ram Rajya that were professed during India’s struggle against the Imperialists must not merely be copy-book maxims; they must be living realities, and be implemented and must become an actual fact of daily life, agreed to by everybody in the country from the highest to the lowest.^[10]  It can only be achieved when both State and citizens act responsibly.

 It is pertinent to note that law can only punish or restrain a person, but it can never change a person’s ideologies from within. Therefore, India must focus on sensitizing people on a large scale. It should begin from each home and every school. Developing the Emotional quotient is as important as developing the Intelligent quotient in an individual. It constitutes self-management, self-awareness, social awareness and relationship management. As emotions shape a person’s thought and behaviour, developing emotional quotient will go a long way in reducing the intolerance and violent behaviour. Unless the State and people of India believe in the concept of self-restraint, non-discrimination and tolerance towards all sects of people, there cannot be any such model remotely close to Toyland or our cherished Ramrajya.

[1] Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, Bloomsbury Publishing; London, UK (1996)  Source Link.
[2]Constituent Assembly Of India Debates (Proceedings) – Volume XI, 24th November, 1949, Source Link.
[3] Press Information Bureau, Good Governance Index’ launched by MoS (PP) Dr Jitendra Singh on ‘Good Governance Day’ today, Dec. 25, 2019, Source Link.
[4] Caroline Schmitt, Life after Prison: Re-Entering Society is No Easy Task, (13-05-2020, 1:30 PM) Source Link.
[5] Dr. Michael Pittaro, Why Ex-Prisoners Struggle to Successfully Reintegrate into Society, (13-05-2020, 1:45 PM) Source Link.
[6] Maroosha Muzaffar, She Slashed Indian Recidivism Rates from 80 to 1 Percent, (15-05-2020, 7:15 AM) Source Link.
[7]Christine Folk Young, The Consequences of Victim Blaming: Sexual Assault and Higher Education, Centre for Injury Research and Prevention, (15-05-2020, 8:30 AM), Source Link.
[8] National Research Council, Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 57, (2001) Source Link.
[9] Article 15(1) of Indian Constitution – The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
[10]Constituent Assembly Debates, Volume VI, 27 December, 1948, 7.73.246, Source Link.

Aninditha Vengyalil

Aninditha is pursuing BBA LLB from Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad. Her interests lie in IP and Real Estate laws. She is always enthusiastic about finding new perspectives.