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Every nation has an inherent nature. China has an expansionist propensity while the US has a global policing instinct. India has a tendency to maintain the status quo. Ever since independence, India as a nation has always strived to maintain status-quo. While India doesn’t like to interfere in the internal matters of its neighbours, nor covet their territories, it expects all neighbours to reciprocate this attitude. The former was amply demonstrated in the 1971 war when India liberated East Pakistan and gracefully recognised its independence.
Over the years, successive Indian Governments seemed to have forgotten the difference between Vyakthi-dharma andRashtra-dharma. This confusion manifested time and time again in India’s unrealistic ‘all is well’ approach towards its neighbourhood.
The urge and need to maintain a status quo is tenable only if the neighbours also think alike. In matters of governance and legislation, ideals and principles are important but pragmatism and a practical approach are even more important. Over the years, successive Indian Governments seemed to have forgotten the difference between Vyakthi-dharma and Rashtra-dharma. This confusion manifested time and time again in India’s unrealistic ‘all is well’ approach towards its neighbourhood.
One of the most important texts that narrate the principles of conduct for a ruler is the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. When it came to killing his grandsire Bheeshma, Arjuna hesitated and was overcome by his sense of ethics. Bhagwan Srikrishna advised him to keep aside his personal sense of Dharma and to kill his enemy ruthlessly. This wisdom was not followed by Prithviraj Chauhan who pardoned Mohammad Ghori in all the battles they fought before he ultimately lost to him. Mohammad Ghori didn’t return the favour and after treating Prithviraj Chouhan with the utmost brutality, Ghori finally killed him. He didn’t even respect the support and friendship of Raja Jaichand and killed him as well. This mistake of Prithviraj Chouhan and Jaichand in not following Raja-dharma and replacing it with their individual opinions or Vyakthi-dharma cost this nation dearly and enslaved it for the next thousand years.
When Alexander invaded north-western Bharat, King Dhanananda of the Magadha Empire decided not to interfere until Alexander’s army threatened his borders. As a result, Alexander could annex the North-west kingdom. Chanakya had advised Dhanananda to intervene and help the border states to fight Alexander. Dhananand’s non-interference and Alexander’s conquests at the borders of the Magadha Empire resulted in the collapse of the Nanda dynasty.
Similar events played out even after the British left the country. This confusion of imposing personal beliefs on the nation’s moral compass was seen repeatedly under successive Indian Governments which consistently avoided making hard decisions for the security of the nation. The leaders ended up looking as if they were mainly interested in getting a Nobel Peace Prize. Be it the unwillingness to drive a hard bargain at Shimla 1972, Sharm-el-sheikh 2009, India made this very same mistake of supplanting Vyakthi-dharma with Rashtra-dharma.
Pakistan annexed Balochistan and illegally occupied Gilgit-Baltistan. Similarly, China occupied Tibet and parts of Ladakh including Aksai-chin. India must not emulate expansionist ambitions of China and Pakistan, but must actively safeguard its national interests at all costs.
When the Chinese People’s Liberation Army marched into Tibet and forcefully occupied it, PM Nehru not only didn’t oppose it but also held the view that communist China had a right and duty to modernize an archaic Tibet. Here again, he made the cardinal blunder of putting his personal communist leanings before the strategic interests of the nation. Nehru committed a similar blunder in the case of Kashmir accession as well, insisting that India wouldn’t intervene in the problems faced by Kashmir until it decided to accede to India. The Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh had requested Indian support to help him push back the invading Pakistanis while he was still contemplating whether to join India or Pakistan or to remain independent. Had Nehru moved in time, Pakistan couldn’t have taken hold of Gilgit-Baltistan and Western Jammu areas, which it still illegally holds. While Pakistan persistently interferes in India’s internal security and has unilaterally changed the legal status-quo in parts of Jammu & Kashmir, India has never made serious attempts at taking back what it claims to be its legal territories. Contrast this with the actions of Pakistan and China. Pakistan annexed Balochistan and illegally occupied Gilgit-Baltistan. Similarly, China occupied Tibet and parts of Ladakh including Aksai-chin. India must not emulate expansionist ambitions of China and Pakistan, but must actively safeguard its national interests at all costs.
While India wants to play by the rule-book, unfortunately, its neighbours don’t behave the same way. China has broken every single deal made with India. Be it the border peace agreements, or facilitating ease-of-trade between the two economies, or the mutual commitment to settle boundary disputes peacefully, they were broken with impunity by China. Pakistan is not far behind, as it too has broken several agreements with India. Be it the agreement to maintain the ceasefire, or disallowing territories under its control to be used for terrorist activity against India, several such security arrangements have been reneged by Pakistan.
An asymmetrical war cannot be managed or fought under the rules of symmetry. Bhagwan Srikrishna waged an asymmetrical war to eliminate Karna. As per the rules of engagement, the opponent had to wait till his challenger was on his chariot and was fit to fight. The wheel of Karna’s chariot had sunk into the earth, and while he was unarmed and in the act of lifting it up, Bhagwan Krishna advised Arjuna to kill him, even though it meant breaking the rules of war. Bhagwan Krishna repeated this when he encouraged Bhima to smash the thighs of Duryodhana, which is against the rules that mandate Gada-dharis not to strike below the navel in combat. What Krishna advised Bhima served the larger purpose of defeating the anti-dharma forces. In the more recent history, we can see how Chanakya created a confederation of smaller kingdoms to support his cause of creating an Akhand Bharat. After the creation of Akhand Bharat, he ruthlessly subdued all those who were in it for their personal gains.
During the Mahabharata war, one day Bhishma started fighting like an Ashta Vasu, he being the eighth Vasu on earth. Seeing this, Bhagwan Srikrishna took Sudarshan Chakra in his hands and rushed to kill Bhishma, even though he had taken a vow against it. This action of Bhagwan Krishna was meant to send a message to Bhishma, Arjuna and the world that Vyakthi-Dharma (individual dharma) is always inferior to superior Dharmas like Samajika Dharma (Social Dharma), Rashtra Dharma (Nation’s dharma), Yuddha Dharma (Dharma during war) and Nyaya Dharma (Dharma of Justice).
The spirit of Bhagwan Shri Krishna’s teachings in his ultimate message to Arjuna in the statement “uttishtanthu kounteya, yudhhaya krutha nishchaya” advising Arjuna to fight and not be timid had been lost on modern India for decades.
Bharat needs to unshackle itself from its status-quo mindset, non-violence and non-interference policy to that of Dharmika Kshatram, in certain circumstances implying rightful aggression.
Under the current government, we have come a long way from complete inaction towards Pakistan by taking much bolder actions in the form of surgical strikes-post the Uri and Pulwama attacks. Bharat needs to unshackle itself from its status-quo mindset, non-violence and non-interference policy to that of Dharmika Kshatram, in certain circumstances implying rightful aggression. Let it not wait for the next intrusion or aggression from adversaries. The principle of Dharmika Kshatram as a mindset of the Government and its policy would impose credible preemptive and deterrent costs effectively discouraging them from embarking on any misadventure against our nation. We don’t need to look at lessons and experiences from across the globe. We need to sincerely tap the universal and timeless wisdom bestowed on us by our ancient civilization.
Not many so called indians will agree with this approach and main media will portray any action taken by india as an act of war rather then its just doing what needs to be done to protect our boders.
Excellent article
Very well articulated,v hats off to you sir . you are the the voice of the minds of many Indians who cannot speak or spell it out at least speak in public.
Very wel said and needs Indian policy maker to think on it .
Strong and firm action is reqiired for India secuirity for future. We people as nation are with Goverment .
Really good narration…
Maverick analysis of a Marvellous War principles which are indicative of the Truth of protecting people from mis-rule and safe guarding the I interests of people at Large. In addition to Chanakya morals, the Kutila Neethi also has to be followed by the Rulers which is known to be protecting vast populace from Adharma and to protect Dharma.
An excellent article well presented Giridhar Mamidi garu. You are a Maverick in Political or especially the War Politics in protecting Dharma and borders.
చాలా మంచి విశ్లేషణాత్మకమైన వ్యాసం. దేశ నాయకత్వానికి అనుసరణ యోగ్యమైన సూచన. అయితే ప్రస్తుతం మన నాయకులు ఇదే నీతిని పాటిస్తున్నారనుకొంటున్నాను. సర్జికల్ స్టైక్ కావచ్చు, బాలాకోట్ బాంబింగ్ కావచ్చు, అణు బాంబులను ముందుగా ప్రయోగించటానికైనా వెనుకాడమని ప్రకటించటం కావచ్చు, చైనా దురాక్రమణ ప్రయత్నాలను దీటుగా ఎదుర్కోవడం
కావచ్చు ఇవన్నీ కూడా మీరు సూచించిన రాష్ట్ర క్షాత్ర ధర్మాన్ని సూచిస్తుంది. ఇది చాలా శుభమైన,సరియైన పరిణామం.
A deeply insightful article. Inspiring. Well articulated by Mamidi.
Always enjoy reading Chintan series, it is a daily dose of intellectually satisfying content.
Excellent article. Being bystanders and allowing a Road Roller to go through us is not acceptable. Agree with Giridhar ji that decades of inaction or status quo has lead to India being harassed by Pakistan and China. Current Government is standing up tall. But huge damage done due to inaction of the past ( to please the Chinese)
Crisp and to the point Mahodaya. Govt is Arjuna here, Who will play the role of Krishna to remind and ask arjuna to adopt Dharmika Kshatram, is the crux. More than 70 Years of Adharmik works need to erased as of yesterday. Huge task on hand.
Dharma principles explained in a very simple and understandable language by the author. Several examples have been given right from Mahabharata times through several ancient kingdoms, post independence govts and the present one by the actions and inactions and subsequent successes and failures. All appreciations to the platform Chintan and the author for reminding all bharatvashi about their kartavya for nation.
Dr. Satyamurthy,
I totally agree with every statement that you made.
In the Theory of Constraints practice that I work on, there is a step called SUBORDINATION.
Basically it means all parts of the organisation must subordinate to the bottleneck or constraint to achieve the organisational goal.
Once you are a part of the system you must subordinate to the overall system goal.
Veena commented that not many so called Indians would agree to this view.
It does not matter.
Every movement starts with one person.
Step by step others will join.
You are a fool if you think that Geeta have the knowledge of DHARMA. words of KRISHNA in Geeta are from the words of Qur’an not from knowledge of universe’s.the book called Geeta is has been written down in the regime of AKBAR under the guidance of abul fazal during 1580 to 1602. The basic thing in Geeta is to taught Hindus that there is no family value.only god controls the universe as accepted in Bible and Qur’an. Hencefore there is no God which controls the universe.Giveup of family values is the basic reason of going world towards blood bath. In real there is not a single row calling kurukshetra in Haryana and so called kurukshetra. The area described as kurukshetra actually the area of Babar’s army’s containment during first panipat battlefield.
Closet Jihadist spotted. How do you sleep at night after peddling such fake stuff?? The name you picked doesn’t align with your islamist ideology. I hope your Quran worship eventually brings your the 72 whores that you were promised. And I pray that you dont follow your masters footsteps and molest 9 yr olds.
ये विचारधारा बाबर की थी वास्तव में गीता बाबर के विचारो से कुरान कि आयतों का संस्कृत में अनुवाद मात्र है। गीता का दूसरा अध्याय बाबर के उस भाषण का संकलन मात्र है जो खांवा युद्ध से पूर्व अपनी सेना को दिया था।यहां तक कि फ़िरदौस का वह शेर हूबहू गीता में उद्धृत है जिसमें लिखा गया था अपयश की जिंदगी से मौत बेहतर है।इतने बड़े प्रमाण के बावजूद यदि आप जैसे लोग गीता को प्राचीन ओर ज्ञान कि पुस्तक मानते हो तो आप लोगो से बड़ा मूर्ख कोई ओर नहीं मिलेगा। जिस परिवार व्यवस्था को कृष्ण ने गलत बताया है वही परिवार व्यवस्था विश्व शांति की संस्थापक है। पूरे विश्व में अशांति का मूल कारण गीता उर्फ कुरान दूसरे शब्दों में कहूं तो बुद्ध की आत्मा परमात्मा की अवधारणा का प्रचार ही है जो अप्रमाणिक आस्थाओं को धर्म कहकर विभिन्न आस्थाओं में विवाद उत्पन्न करती है जो अंततः शक्ति प्रदर्शन से रक्तपात को जन्म देता है।विश्व शांति के लिए परिवार शुक्षमतम इकाई है परिवार में बिखराव की शिक्षा देने वाली गीता कभी भी विश्व शांति में सहायक नहीं हो सकती। विश्व शांति के लिए वसुधैव कुटुंबकम् के मंत्र की स्थापना के लिए पारिवारिक मूल्यों की स्थापना आवश्यक है जो गीता के पूर्णतः विपरीत है।व्यक्ति निजी हित त्यागकर राष्ट्र का भला नहीं कर सकता हम चंगे तो जग चंगा का विचार ही विश्व के विकास का माध्यम बन सकता है।जोव्यक्ती पारिवारिक शांति नहीं रख सकता विश्व में शांति कैसे रहने देगा?
Excellent. Well articulated.
Super ji need of hour need to crush our own urban naxals by these if it comes to national security . Good article well narrated
Article is well presented. DHARMIKA khatram is the need of the hour. Our borders are threatened since our leaders in the previous decades imposed Vyakti dharma ignoring samashti dharma.
Excellent article, even internally we need to use our Chaitriya darma, once side minority population is mushrooming other side we r becoming single child parent. We dont hv our temples in our hand. Bcas of that temples are loosing its importance. Our schools are not teaching our culture. Mass media literally raping our culture and we are in deep tamas.
Another brilliant piece from the author. Very nicely written.
I also strongly believe that after Mahabhartha India never fought any war of that scale. Even when provoked by other nations, thanks to some of our cunning leaders, we just remain silent. This is changing now which is a good trend. It is dharma. Rashtriya dharma. Jai hind.