After the operations carried out by our army in Myanmar, in which they entered and destroyed the camps of insurgents suddenly minsters in the Modi government appear to be on a 'macho trip'. The result being that India has now got a bad name in international circles for giving publicity to the Army's surgical strike inside another country's territory only because a government that was on a downward graph domestically as far as popularity was concerned wanted to use the incident to score political points.
Not only was the Myanmar action, that was carried out four times in the past by our Army with cooperation from the Myanmar authorities blown up this time, some ministers also went ballistic claiming, that Pakistan better be warned and with a 56 inch Prime Minister, they will also be dealt with in the same manner. Well Pakistan is no Myanmar, it is a nuclear country with a professional army so the bravado may actually be misspelt but that for another piece.
To me as a student of mythology, the India Pakistan issue reminds me the dispute between the two cousins the Pandavs and the Kauravas in the Mahabharta.
"Very often when I tell my friends stories from the Mahabharata, they are surprised to know that in the final chapter, post the Battle of Kurukshetra and 36 years of ruling their kingdom, when the five Pandavs and their wife Draupadi renounced their lives and proceed to heaven; save Yudhishtira none of the four brothers and Draupadi are allowed entry into "Swarga"- The kingdoms of the gods! Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva & Draupadi are sent to "Narka" where they have to suffer the consequences of their actions.
A distraught Yudhisthira is disgusted that while his immediate family has been sent of to hell, to suffer, the Kauravas, the wrong doers in the war are standing besides the gods, welcoming him into swarga, into their folds!
Why does Vyasa not end the Great epic with simply the victory of the Pandavs? The Mahabharata, the world's greatest book according to me, is not a book of victory and defeat. Nor is it a book of right versus wrong. The book is an explanation of the root causes of conflict and the horrific result of revenge and hatred.
A dying Duryodhana, withering in pain with his thigh bone broken and legs split open asks the question: who won the war? They, who lived all their lives as Kings and died as kings should on the battlefield or the Pandavs, who lived their entire lives second to their cousins, who spent years in exile trying to hide and finally when they 'won' the battle, took over a bankrupt kingdom, filled with dead bodies including all the Pandava children save one.
A furious Yudhistira standing in swarga - seeing his cousins there, rants and screams at the gods asking them how such proponents of hatred could find a place in swarga, while his family had to suffer in narka? The gods run out of patience and ask him if he renounced everything, why does he still cling on to the past? Why does he still carry anger and bitterness? If he cannot let go of his hatred, his negativity- how can he enter the kingdom of gods? Yudhishtira also goes to narka along with his brothers and wife.
The Mahabharata is perhaps the world's most complex book, just like in real life the book teaches us that both the groups of cousins were right and both were wrong, both won and both lost, both justified their actions while condemning the others. And somewhere today, that is our state. Our electronic jingoistic media tries to simplify things as good versus evil, us versus them, justifying our actions, condemning the others actions.
Can't we end this? Do both countries really need the chest thumping? Do both India Pakistan really need to play to the glarries and the jingoistic electronic media? Can either of our two nations afford a war? And for India do we not realise, Pakistan is a Nuclear country, with weapons aimed at us and maybe they may not match us in a conventional war but they have always made it clear, they will not hesitate in the first nuclear strike. And for Pakistan don't they have enough internal issues to deal instead of trying to divert the attention competing with India.
Can't we build a new world order based on humanity? Does bitterness, revenge, violence, punishment, bans, revenge, sedition have to figure in our schemes? Why do we justify our armies actions, even decorate them with medals, while we condemn the bullets of the other side? Why are statements of our politicians who want to carry out strikes in another country statements of patriotism but statements from leaders on the other side 'hate mongering'? Aren't our hero's, villains for others, just as our villains become hero's on the other side? To enter swarga - should we not reach out to everybody, to every stake holder, rather than making 9 PM debates about hate under the guise of patriotism and right vs wrong. Cause the Mahabharata teaches us that in the end nobody won the war! What use is the power to have rockets that can go to space and come back, to have huge armies that can crush opponents, if we simply cannot give those staying on the land we fight for their freedom liberty and basic human dignity?
(Tehseen Poonawalla, is a political commentator and a leading entrepreneur. He is a student of mythology and will soon be appearing in his first television series)
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