Spare us from war rhetoric, jingoism

Ira Pande

WHY is it, I wonder, that we find it so easy to ape bad behaviour but are so reluctant to follow the path of sweet reasonableness? This is not an idle thought but one that has engaged several philosophers and writers down the ages who find themselves more drawn to a villain than a hero. Milton, a devout Christian, was so enchanted by Lucifer that his best work was based on this ‘Prince of Darkness’. Our own epics similarly draw our attention to the negative characters, perhaps to show us the many faces of evil that lurk everywhere. It is as if we define ourselves by identifying the Other.

In the current political scenario, with our neighbour (our dark Other perhaps) provoking us to pick up arms and start a war, public opinion is increasingly turning belligerent and certain TV channels have started openly advocating an armed conflict. Our attention is constantly drawn to the plight of minorities ‘there’, the breakdown of civil government and to ‘their’ military’s role in arming and training jihadi groups. Even if we assume for a moment that we are as pure as driven snow in this proxy war, does anyone stop to consider whether war is a solution at all? Name me one armed conflict that has benefitted a nation or one where innocent lives are not sacrificed. It is never those who take such decisions that are killed but the foot soldiers and those caught in the crossfire. For a nation that prides itself on winning its independence without bloodshed, it is absurd to talk of violence and armed conflict as preferred state policy. Yet, night after night, we have bristling military moustaches and self-righteous anchors holding toxic discussions on the need to teach ‘them’ a lesson. How far we have drifted away from the sane and gentle lessons that Gandhiji gave us as he headed the movement for freedom from foreign rule! Yet, instead of remembering him, we prefer to hark back to medieval times and the real or imagined pain inflicted by Muslim rulers to justify our moral position. 

My generation came of age during a time of great political ferment (the apogee of American imperialism and the Cold War) and the stirring students’ movements in the West that spread to every part of the globe. The anti-war, anti-nuke rallies on university campuses across the world also inspired soul-stirring poetry and memorable revolutionary lyrics. Don’t forget that the Beat Generation was not limited to just the Beatles but counted among its luminaries Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Leonard Cohen who sang their way into young hearts. They sang of love rather than war and were responsible in no small measure for drawing the world’s attention to Vietnam and the heroic struggle of the Vietcong against the American imperialists. In those days — long before Wahabbi Islam — Iran, Turkey and even Pakistan were islands of modernity where women led free lives and were not forced to drape themselves in burqas and hijabs. Who knew then that in a mere two decades blasphemy would be hauled out of its medieval coffin in most Muslim countries and made an instrument of torture? Or that Rajputs in India would suddenly be reminded of an imagined code of honour to glorify ‘sati’ and ‘jauhar’? That Hindus would prostrate themselves before a cow and Muslim mullahs would outlaw music and cinema? 

The Victorian prudery that we laughed at in our youth is back in full measure: girls are meant to be swaddled in modest clothes, they should not move out of their homes unescorted, drinking and smoking are banned not because they are bad for your health but because good girls just don’t do that. We take pride in the women who have broken the glass ceiling at workplaces but they must remain within the ‘lakshman rekha’ of patriarchal khap panchayats. In the hands of politicians who spout utter nonsense (such as the worthy Central minister who denounced the Darwinian theory of Evolution), one can see where such idiocy comes from but what is wrong with our so-called liberal parties? Why must they declare publicly that they are Hindu and write books justifying their belief? What prevents them from bravely declaring that they were born Hindus (or Muslims, Christians, Sikhs) but will not submit to the bigotry of their creed. Because that is what such ‘religious faith’ is all about: intolerance, misogyny and bigotry. It is the ‘My daddy strongest’ syndrome practised by adults with small brains. I shudder each time I see the glee on the faces of these bullies and goons wielding lathis and iron rods. They are drunk on the power that their religion is now giving them. Imagine what this country will be like if they are allowed to multiply without any check. 

This is why I mourn the sudden death of the brave Pakistani Asma Jahangir, a fighter for human rights and democracy in Pakistan. She refused to be cowed down by the mullahs and generals of her country and spoke to give her people the courage to stand up. So the next time someone says we must go to war against Pakistan, please tell them we believe in peace not war. This is what our Bapu taught us and no self-respecting Indian defies his father.