7. IGNITE PUBLIC MIND OR TORCH PUBLIC PROPERTY DR C.V ANANDA BOSE

 7. IGNITE PUBLIC MIND OR TORCH PUBLIC PROPERTY  

I saw him praying at the Hanuman temple in the morning. Then he had no tail. The next time I saw him he was on television. In front of the Secretariat. Then he had a tail and there was fire in the tail. That fire was seen spreading to a government vehicle on the road.

He was registering his protest. At what? That he was not sure. But he did know how to protest. If the protest is to be a protest a government vehicle should burn. That is the basic lesson of protest.

What is wrong in arson? Arson as a weapon at the height of protest was first demonstrated by Hanuman in Ramayan. But the sparks that flew from the tail of Hanuman were sparks of dharma against adharma.

If there is a moral basis for the protest what should be incendiary is the ire of the people. When people’s anger refuses to be ignited, will it be enough to torch public property? If there is an instance of injustice on the part of the authorities, the people’s feelings will be hurt. When it intensifies, the people will react with protests, breach of law and other forms of resistence. Gandhiji had demonstrated how a government could be forced to genuflect by farmers and factory workers who voluntarily come forward to take part in a non-violent struggle. What Nelson Mandela too showed in recent times was the inner strength of moral struggle. But what do we see now? The champions of protest are incapable of touching the hearts of the people. So they set fire to public property.  

In a pluralistic society having strong differences of opinion, it is wrong to expect unanimity of views on all matters. There have been intense clashes of interests at different stages in the evolution of civilized societies. In the United States known as the cradle of freedom, we have once seen serious social clashes between the white men and the black. In international politics there have been clashes between power blocs that reached flashpoints. In the economic sphere capitalism and socialism are known to put sparks to the powder keg of interest clashes. But humanity has been marching ahead overcoming all these. Interest clashes in the society are a reality. And we have to accept them with a sense of reality. What is important is the balance that comes out of such clashes. This can be evolved only through a combination of restraint and consensus. Not through any form of destructive protest.

Torching public property on the street has become a ritual art that needs no training. We were angry seeing the manner in which the Taliban administration in Afghanistan went about breaking up, burning or otherwise destroying archeological and historical monuments and artifacts. In the dark corners of the world, libraries had at times been destroyed by arson. But we had not gained anything from such destructive fervour. What happens here is protest against whom? To whoever it is, the protest ultimately reaches the diesel tank of a government vehicle. Who loses? What is burnt is not the private property of the ministers in power from time to time. What is destroyed on the road is public property which is the sum total of the money paid by the tax payers to provide succuor to the poor millions of the country. Its destruction is like mauling one’s face. Shakespeare character Polonius says this of Hamlet: ‘Though this is madness, yet there is a method in it. ’ In the madness of destruction of public property, however, there is no method whatsoever. Burn when out of power, weep when in power. Who gains, who loses?

Among the Samurais of Japan there is a ritual—harakiri. Ritual suicide by self-disembowelment with a sword. There is bravery in this. But disemboweling another person is not bravery. It is murder. There is greatness and respectability in registering protest through sacrifice and self denial. But destroying public property and making anonymous claims away from the scene is cowardice. The strength of moral right is not there for this unjust show of protest.

There is a scene in Sophocles’ ‘Antigone. ’ Antigone’s brother Polyneices lies dead and the body is kept, awaiting a funeral befitting a royal personage. But being a traitor to Thebes, King Creon issues a decree barring the funeral. Ignoring the royal diktat, and the fiery royal anger that may singe any transgression, Antigone takes a handful of soil and sprinkles it over the body in a symbolic funeral rite. She ignores the royal decree insolently but her protest is born out of sense of justice against arrogant injustice. It is the flame of fearlessness born in self-respect. In our case the torch of wanton destruction on the road is lit by the farce of a protest that is born out of lack of enlightenment, that does not have any conviction, or self respect. Fighting with shadows is self-deception by those without inner strength.

Negativism has become the national character of Indians. A mentality to oppose and defeat anything and everything. If any subject is received that can spur them to protest, they behave like street curs that get a piece of bone. Whether it is piece of bone or ruby, there is no difference in the way in which it is handled. The poet says about ruby in the hand of a monkey:

Smelled it, kissed it,licked it and bit it,

But being a monkey, threw it finally away.

But the poet has a consolation.

Great jewel, don’t grieve as it is your luck

That he did not try to break you open

To find what is inside.

This is truly what we say when we see jewels are shattered in the street like this. No one has any responsibility to anyone. And the attitude is he is not responsible for his own actions. Then who else is responsible? If an asnwer is not found to this simple question, the nation’s growth will be downward like the snake gourd.

In ‘Don Quixote’ Cervantes gives a graphic account of the insane antics of the chivalrous hero. The Don who thought himself to be a great warrior after reading the exploits of great knights, sets about in shining armour on a skinny horse to wage war against injustice, wherever it is found. Then there is an unendiung flow of foolish exploits. Seeing windmills and mistaking them to be giant enemies, he tilts at them, falling down in the process. Though injured, he has the smug satisfaction that he has vanquished his enemy. When he hears the calls of shepherds herding sheep he misunderstands them to be the sound of soldiers engaged in battle. Sword drawn, the hero jumps into their midst,scattering the sheep away. At death bed, however, he realizes the folly of his actions and confesses:I was insane. Now I have woken up. Think of me with kindness. Forget whatever happened in the past.

Perhaps our own brand of instant revolutionaries who wage wars against windmills and herds of sheep in the street may sometimes have a change of heart. Let us pray for that. For the sins committed every time this repentance itself is expiation.