Anyaya Yuddha

India is in a dangerous situation today. People are seeing themselves not as one but as them being different than the others. Such a risky stand is not conducive for unity. The times remind us of the movements for greater autonomy or secession. These two possibilities are already on the political canvass. What nobody fears is the threat of invasion. This animosity among people on the ethnic lines is a ready invitation for invasion. Save for the military, the rest of the civilian population isn’t ready for a united stand. This delicate situation must not become an excuse for a century of slavery. Those who don’t see any correlation between the present situation vis-a-vis invasion, history is awaiting for them to tell it’s bloodiest tales. We are being made a pawn in this great game of exploitation of resources on the one hand, and concentration of power on the other hand. Those who don’t stand against injustice now will might never get a chance to speak up when the injustice crosses all the limits. No excuse will be good enough to excuse their earlier timidity. People are not speaking up against atrocities against women, Dalits, Adivasi, minorities, vulnerable people, liberals, peaceful protesters and political prisoners and LGBTQ+ etc. It’s not that these people don’t matter at all. The rule of law and rule by the constitution are in existence solely because of these very people. Our constitution is there because of all and each of us.

There have been many instances of people incarcerated for speaking against government. The section 124 A of Indian Penal code has been used so many a times that it seems that even a genuine criticism of government may lend one up in jail. The gang-rape of a Dalit girl in Hathras is a shocking revelation about the rotten mentality of Indian people. We are living in an age of technology but our mindset smell of a dark age which is long dead in books. Why is a rape of a Dalit woman is taken so lightly like what happened was meant to happen? Are Dalit women the national mistresses of Indian upper caste people? The old rotten feudal and patriarchal mentality of these upper caste people is full of such kinds of filth. They think that they are born to rule and the rest of the people, specially of the lower castes are their subjects who can be prodded, whipped, groped, molested and abused at will. There is this feeling that the Dalits should know their place which is no more than a slave. The idea that the Dalit should be cleaning the gutters and sweeping the floors as was commanded by our holy scriptures isn’t uncommon. Moreover, people from that mentality find it necessary to teach lessons to the Dalits to let them know their place. India is a country in which people still give utmost importance to their social prestige. People with this old patriarchal mindset consider possession of land and women as the symbols of social prestige. It isn’t wrong in itself.The same way, The Dalits, the Muslims, the minorities, the poor etc also possess a sense of social prestige. Protection of vulnerable women is the responsibility of everyone, be it a man or a woman. But to think that women are inferior and depend upon men for protection is open to misuse. Women have been made servile, docile, stereotyped and put to unspeakable ordeals so that they can be made compliant and responsible. Women grow up with their primary responsibility of bearing and upbringing of her child. They sacrifice a lot of things to raise a child. Most of them don’t consider raising a child as a choice. They willingly enrol for this responsibility. We must be thankful to them that they are the actual creators of this world. Any more attack on their liberties to make them subservient speaks of impotency of men to do something meaningful in life. The same rotten mindset attacks on the bodily integrity of Dalit and Adivasi women to teach a lesson to these two groups. This act of masculinity is no less a shame on masculinity. We see many instances of honour killings on daily basis. The Khap Panchayats of Hindi heartland are notorious for that.

Isn’t it a matter of shame for the country which call itself an ancient civilization? Why is casteism still present in the age of technology? Why are we so obsessed about carrying this deadwood? Isn’t it the right time to shed this worn out skin and adorn a new one? Why are people like that? Why can’t they see what has made them a country? A struggle against wrong doing, a dissent against atrocities, protest against tyranny and fight against injustice. But they seem to have forgot it. May be we have forgot the sense of unity. May be people have made themselves comfortable in their own shell. They don’t want to care about anything beyond what affect them directly. If such is the shortage of courage and empathy then who is taking care of this country? Who is looking after all of us? There are indeed some people who are doing their best to keep us united despite all odds but a few will remain a few. Those few are easy to eliminate so they are also easy targets of those against who they speak up. It’s better if we resolve our personal rivalry before it’s too late. We must be doing everything in our capacity maintain social harmony. Social harmony helps people to rise up against any such occasion when the country will be in need of unity. We don’t want to be caught in a situation wherein, a sword of war hangs on our neck but we will be seen fighting amongst ourselves.
This was what happened during Anglo- Maratha Wars. The Marathas were a formidable power but due to their internal rivalry and disputes with neighbours, they could neither come together nor seek the support of other provincial powers and they were cowed down an insignificant level. This same thing happened during the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, The Rajputs, The Mughals etc. The threat of China is real. In case of a two front war with China and Pakistan, it would be a difficult game to defend let alone winning. The support of Russia and USA is important. The USA is a bottomless pit, can’t rely on it. Russia is our old time ally but our proximity to USA may have rolled different dices before it. We may not rely on Russia completely when it comes to war with China.
We are on our own.

One of main issue which has come across as something which should not have been an issue in the first place. It is the role of the Civil Services of India or bureaucracy. The bureaucracy seems to have become the servants of the political masters instead of the constitution. Originally, the Civil Services of India are the permanent executive which have only one master, which is the Constitution of India. They are the men who uphold, protect and administer the constitution. These men are the magicians who transform the words written into concrete actions. Having said that they are the knights of the constitution, and as envisaged as the steel frame of governance of India, they are required to live upto these responsibilities. Our freedom fighters did put great confidence in the Indian men who were set to helm these constitutional offices. There were many oppositions against the existence of the very colonial institution, which was used by the British to enslave us. Many of the then freedom fighters were against the existence of an institution which stood for notoriety. The British bureaucracy, the institution which unjustly oppressed people in the name of the law. Our freedom fighters had seen how the British Civil Services were made to resemble something like a fortified castle in which only the British could invest. The British bureaucracy stood up for the British and against the Indians. We are seeing the history repeating itself. Earlier, the Indian bureaucracy was meant to be a constitutional office in letter and welfarist in spirit. The men helming these offices were supposed to be constitutional bureaucrats only. But, the times have changed and so does the characters and responsibilities of our bureaucrats. There are multiple shades of bureaucrats now. There are democrat bureaucrats, republican bureaucrats, socialist bureaucrats, nihilist bureaucrats, communist bureaucrats and the list goes on. The bureaucrats have started taking political sides. Many of them have become political pets, who wage their tails as per whims of their political masters.

Doctrine of colourable legislation says you can’t do indirectly what you can’t do directly. What we see today is that even though we have progressed materially and technologically yet we cling on to our social deadwoods. Our scientific progress has been exponential which is worth appreciation but we all feel helpless in front of our social handicap. We have been taught to acquire material prosperity without meddling with our mediaeval mindset. It’s like beggars have been given the golden bowl but they still beg with that bowl, not knowing any better way to make use of it. The social handicap is building up a bubble which might burst anytime. Well, India has been in existence for such a long time because our social scaffolding had been flexible. It has been the norm. Other than that, there were mock fights, rude gestures, indecent remarks here and there to shake up the scaffold so as to adjust away the loose joints. The concept of power was not static. Worthy shall have the way, was what actually worked in the case of India.
That was then, for the present tough times have made people to look for tough people to steer them safe through this adversity. Well, none is tougher than a mother, a farmer and a worker. We don’t need tough people as political leaders. We need thoughtful, agreeable, out of box thinker and visionary persons helming the political offices. We have seen the narrow mindset of tough people at the top offices. Those tough people failed to live upto the expectations. They saw in scaffolding an opportunity of eternal power. When they were invited to repair the fragile scaffolding, they broke loose all the flexible joints, exploited them for their political gains, removed the scaffolding and erected a concrete wall. Behind the walls, there was another construction going on, without people’s knowledge. It was a structure of fortified castle. In other words, we called the service of masons to renovate our building and those masons surreptitiously made their own castle and fortified it. By constructing a castle, they have set the rules of a new kind of Jungle, the concrete jungle. Instead of repairing loose joints, they have raised bar for every social experiment, making it all the more difficult to regulate the social pressure. And, we are looking at a social bubble, ready to burst anytime. Some of our wise ancestors who actually contributed to the healthy progress of our civilization, used to think that there is no need to go for a very high bar where you know your hands can never reach. If it is getting so impossible to touch then lower the bar.

A common man feels disconnected from surrounding life. He wants to live a life of activity, duty and pleasure. A life within his means and reach. Many want to contribute towards making life easier. One of the foremost step would be to overcome the present challenges such as environmental degradation, social ills, lack of empowerment, drugs abuse, economic deprivation, social discrimination, educational handicapp, digital illiteracy, health issues, sanitation, poverty, illiteracy, delayed and improper justice, entitlement of rights etc.
When I look at the sky, I think that I am looking at the same sky which was once looked at by Gandhi, Buddha, Akbar, Ashoka, Jesus and our ancestors. But I don’t know what will my successors get to look at after 200 hundred years.
Is the nature changeable to such an extent that we humans can alter it completely? Will there be a time when we will be the creator of the nature by whatever we desire? Is the present nature is also being created by someone far beyond our knowledge and capacity? Are we part of a system which is being run by some super intelligent individuals? I am not sure about any of such things. Are we trying to match up with someone who established such a inwardly chaotic and outwardly insular system?
Will we ever master the universe? I am not sure. But I don’t doubt it anyways. The only doubt I have is about the resilience of human as a species and degree of retaliation by nature. The intensity of extreme weather events are on the rise. Frequency of cyclones, landslides, typhoons, heat waves, global warming, glacial melting and climate change is increasing. We have seen the deluge and devastation. So far our calculations of damage has been in terms of life and property. But we haven’t looked beyond material damage. We haven’t shown the farsightedness while looking at the gradual increase in intensity. If the severity increase further and set off a vicious cycle of extreme events which led to pauperisation and our inability to do anything further enhances climate risk then will we be able to stop climate apocalypse?
Perhaps, some of us may. We are not such helpless. Technological advances and scientific research have helped us to raise the level of convenience sought by us. Our curiosity has led us to explore outer space, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and what not.
So it’s not all doomsday. What we need now is not just survival of ourselves but also of the whole system called nature. Lone survivor often perish not because of starvation but because of loneliness. If we let everything else to perish in order to survive our own species, superficially it seems improbable because of interlinkages between all forms of life but also because what there be life without the life itself. We may be able to replicate an artificial world. We may be able to engineer the whole ecosystem but will we be able to create the symmetry as has been seen in the nature we share?
The question is important because we shouldn’t forget that we are an offspring of this nature. Nature created us. We are one of the many faces of the nature. It took millions of years for the first cell to reach present levels of diversity of species. The ocean of mysteries in just one part of our own body makes us wonder about the efficacy of nature. Nature has extended life in all odds. Nature itself is the best motivation. Tardigrades, one of the manifestation of life, is an example of survival in the near impossible situations.
Why is the life trying to survive against all odds? It’s because this is what life is meant to do. Life is everything minus death. Death ends everything. Nothing which has died ever come back except those in mythologies. Life doesn’t want to lose out living because death lurks everywhere waiting for the chance to leap upon its prey. Life must be an endeavour worth living. We are responsible to ensure that life becomes better every tomorrow. It’s not just an individual responsibility but a collective one. What differs us from the rest of the forms of life? Let’s talk about the life of a tiger and a man. On outside, tiger seems to be living a simple lifestyle i.e hunt, eat and die. The matter of fact is that the life of tiger is as tedious as that of a human. A tiger is the apex predator of the wild. It has the responsibility to not only survive but also ensure the survival of other species. A tiger has to learn, adapt and survive in changing landscapes. If a tiger fails to remain on it toe all the time, it might put the whole food chain in jeopardy. The other is our species, which is better suited to ensure the survival of life. This is because we have a culture which makes it easy to transmit experiences and lessons to newer generations. Sometimes I wonder, if there was no culture, life would have been really frustrating. Culture provides a meaning to life. Even if a person doesn’t see meaning in life, our culture provides it with such a well delineated set of roles that a life is spent easily just fulfilling those duties. But culture must not be frozen in time. Culture must respond to the changing values of time. A frozen culture is like an old water reservoir. The tides of change keep looking for an opening to make way and one day, the walls burst. The opening in the wall is a reference to the despair of people towards the present culture. This despair may lead to chaos, violence and breakdown of society or even worse, the state of inactivity. In case of breakdown of society, we may have to start from where we left before the despair set in. But, in case of prolonged state of inactivity, we may have to start from scratch, which we might not be willing to.