War and Meaning of Victory

In the summer of 1999, while the rest of India was soaked in monsoon and Cricket World Cup, the country’s soldiers were clawing up frozen cliffs daring the bullets that came shooting from above. India’s incorrigible neighbour had sent its soldiers and militants to capture the snow-covered peaks of Kargil. It was an act of deception, a capture of India’s land stealthily. The terrain was harsh and hostile, testing the limits of human courage with every jagged step. The Kargil War was not just against a human enemy, but against peaks of stones and snow where the air itself was an adversary.

Three months of bitter conflict and subhuman killing ended in India’s victory over the invading Pakistan. Victory! July 26 is celebrated ever after as Kargil Vijay Diwas by India.

What is victory, however? Philosophically, I mean. We are supposed to be rational (philosophical) creatures, after all.

“War does not determine who is right,” Bertrand Russell said famously, “but who is left.” Every victorious nation in a war boasts of killing so many hundreds or thousands of the enemy people across the border. Is killing fellow human beings victory? Of course, when they encroach upon our land, it is our duty to defend our property. But can we go beyond that sort of clannish thinking for a while? Remember we are rational creatures.  

“Peace cannot be kept by force,” as Albert Einstein, Russell’s illustrious and worthy contemporary, said. War is never a solution. War is a problem. Always. And it creates more problems. It is not a celebration of the Kargil victory that is called for on this anniversary of that horrendous conflict. It is a philosophical (yes, let us start using that dying faculty of ours) contemplation that we need to embark upon. That’s why I have invited Russell and Einstein here in this humble space.

“Peace can only be achieved by understanding,” Einstein said. Education, dialogue, and empathy – Einstein advocated those for international peace. And education meant for him a lot more than what we are imparting in our schools and colleges these days. A lot, lot more.

India is now doing just the opposite of what Einstein suggested. India’s present government is stifling rational thinking by suffusing everything including mathematics with emotions like nationalism and parochial pride. While history classes now echo with hymns to Hindu glory, math lessons summon Aryabhata as if he were a foot soldier in a war for cultural supremacy.

“I want the new generation to come forward to scientifically prove the astronomical formulas in the scriptures of India, and to study them anew.” India’s Prime Minister said in no less scientific a place than ISRO [Indian Space Research Organisation] two years ago after the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3. He has made too many claims which are all founded on gross emotions masked as nationalist pride.

Such emotions don’t ever create peace. They create wars. As Russell said, wars are products of nationalism, fear, and greed.

Both Russell and Einstein together produced a Manifesto in 1955 whose spirit may be summarised in one sentence: “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest” [their own words in the Russell-Einstein Manifesto].

As we remember our great soldiers who sacrificed much, including their lives, on the merciless Kargil cliffs in 1999, let us also pause to ask what kind of world we are building on the peaks they won for us. Aren’t we forgetting our shared humanity – across borders, beyond flags? True victory lies not in reclaiming land, but in reclaiming the conscience of a nation.

PS. This post is a part of ‘Tricolour Tales Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed under #EveryConversationMatters