Peeping into the Past

I have vivid memories of the years 1989 to 1991, when so much changed all over the world and we felt we were going to have a new order in the world. President George Bush spoke about the new world order after the decline and collapse of communism in the Soviet empire and East Europe. But what he meant and what we yearned for were not one and the same. We wanted a peaceful world where all nations would coexist in harmony, no more being caught in the cold war friction of a bi-polar world. We were hoping that there would be no more need for nuclear weapons; the neutron bombs that were designed to kill life without destroying buildings; the short range and long range missiles that could be used in a third world war between USA and USSR, their aligned countries, and engulfing the entire world.

The collapse of the USSR was followed by the significant breaking of the Berlin Wall. The  East and the West would meet and mingle in a free world. And our joy knew no bounds when Nelson Mandela, the prisoner of the century, stepped out of the prison of apartheid after twenty-seven long years. Wasn’t it the time to celebrate freedom?  

Twenty-three years later Mandela is now on his death bed a week before his ninety-fifth birthday on 18^th July. He has accomplished his mission of freeing South Africa from official apartheid and will continue to be an inspiration for generations to come.

Coming back to George Bush, his idea of the new world order obviously meant that the USA would from then on be at the centre of the world. But the world is too vast and humanity too diverse for universal hegemony. Human beings want to be free from immediate control as well as remote control. Diversity is heavenly; uniformity is hell, controlled or otherwise. Whether it were Alexander the Great of ancient Greece or the emperors of the great Roman empire or our own Ashoka the Great, the seeds of decline grew with the ambition for expansion. 

The dreams of peace after the end of cold war never came true: entered chemical weapons, germ warfare, and terrorists’ bombs. Terrorism became the new world disorder of the day, not confined to declared war zones but targeting civilian habitations, anywhere, any day, anytime.  The worst part of it is that religious fundamentalism is taking the place of ideological antagonism. Terrorism may have started as a violent manifestation of political aspirations, but now it is growing on the basis of misunderstood religion. Peace and goodwill which are the natural fruits of true religion are giving way to intolerance and hatred propagated by religious bigotry. It becomes easy for the perverted and power hungry politicians to loot and rule, and to trigger mass hysteria by camouflaging a hidden agenda in the garb of religion, false religion I mean. The wolf which comes in the garb of a lamb is an apt image to describe this phenomenon. Simple people easily fall for these fakes only to realize much later that they’ve been taken for a ride.

Conflict has always been a part and parcel of human history, including religious conflict. But we must realize that while other conflicts are confined to geography and natural resources, the religious conflicts are increasing and crossing national boundaries. A global dimension, and therefore global solidarity, is increasingly applied to religious conflicts.

Religious intolerance is increasingly becoming the order of the day in our own country. It becomes easy for politicians to polarize the people on religious basis, creating fear psychosis and then playing on them, instigating violence, calling for solidarity with the hope of maintaining a monolithic vote bank. But the people should realize that suspicion and hatred can never bring peace and prosperity. The germs of hatred will forever create insecurity and division. The victors of one period of time will become the vanquished of another period. Revenge, not law and justice, will be the national order of the day.

It is important not to bring a sectarian approach to our national discourse. As the 2014 elections approach, we expect more histrionics and more shrill voices to rise. It is important that political leaders and parties should not respond to those diverting people’s attention with petty issues by doing likewise. Demagogues must be responded to not by other demagogues, but by sober, logical and moderate leaders. We still remember how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was described in humiliating terms during the 2009 elections by the then opposition leader. But the sober people of India proved that they could not be swayed by derogatory speeches, and opted for dignified silence.

A peep into the history of India and the world can indeed be illuminating.

 

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 14.07.2013