War and a Dream

India has retaliated. My morning news on Asianet used the word ‘revenge’ gleefully. India has taken revenge on Pakistan. A few friends texted me personally to imply that Modi, whose faithful critic I have been, is a real hero, fit to be a world champion. A septuagenarian and former professor of sociology quoted Modi proudly: “Ab Bharat ka pani Bharat ke haq mein bahegi.” Now India’s water will flow for India’s benefits. The rivers flowing into Pakistan have been blocked by Modi.

My response to the prof, who is apparently aging without acquiring wisdom, was: “That’s a jingoistic view. I’d put is as: India won’t tolerate terrorism and we know how to deal with it.”

I’m not against violence per se. You can’t preach nonviolence to an aggressive buffalo, as a proverb in my mother tongue says. I salute India’s latest action on Pakistani terrorists. They deserve it.

However, my question to my old prof friend – who is as much a fan of Modi as I am his critic – is: Does that retaliation (revenge or whatever you call it) make Modi a great world leader, Vishwaguru?

The world needs healing, not more war. Light, not more darkness….

I know that line of thinking won’t work. Because it will be mocked as futile idealism.

Idealism is not dead, my friend. It still works. In the palaces of the rulers who sacrifice their citizens, their soldiers, their country if need be, for the sake of their ideals! Idealism has become the privilege of a few. Would Lord Rama approve of that? What about Lord Krishna?

The world stands in need of a leader who can bring ideals to the ordinary person on the streets. To you and me. And the poor woman who is begging for alms on the street to feed her little children. Especially to the man who shouts jingoistic slogans for the leader who is taking his country to war in the name of ideals.

Is it possible to take the country to peace in the name of those ideals? The one who can do that is the real Vishwaguru, for me.

I dream about a leader who can reinterpret the scriptures and the epics. Make Rama or Krishna relevant today. And awaken the spiritual potential that lies latent in human breasts. Instead of arousing violent passions, dark emotions, and savage instincts. The plain truth is that no one requires any particular skill to move a mob towards violence. Any twopence gangster can do that.

Leadership is a totally different affair.

Leadership is not taking the country to a war. Which will end one day. And then the leaders will shake hands, as the Palestinian poet wrote. They will pose for photo-ops. Display trophies. Advertise success stories. Rewrite history.

Who loses? The mother loses her son. The wife loses her husband. Children become orphans.

This has been going on ever since human civilisation originated. If your leader is repeating the same thing, what greatness can he claim, my dear prof friend?

Is there another way out? You may ask. I have no answer. If I had one, I would be the Vishwaguru. Since I don’t have one, I dream. I dream as I prepare for the mock war drill that my country is giving me this afternoon.