My Button Works!!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/why-twitter-did-not-block-trump-after-nuclear-button-threat/article22365347.ece

The most powerful Uncle Sam shook the world with the unabashed display of the “much bigger and more powerful” nuclear button on his desk. And yes, it works!!

The reference is to the new year tweet of the POTUS to the dictator-ruler of North Korea Kim. It looked like an Allahabadi gully cricket slugfest between kids where one claims superiority over the other on the basis of the good bat he has. However, a nuclear weapon is no ordinary toy. The statement comes from the head of the state of the only country to have used a nuclear weapon. Who can forget the pictures of mushroom clouds formed by the explosion of the Little Boy and the Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively?

What resulted in the de facto culmination of the 2nd World War did not ensue obliteration of nuclear weapons at large. These exist opaquely in the countries in unknown quantity and intensity in various pretexts ranging from deterrence to national security.

In essence, these weapons increase the ambit of the realpolitik of major powers of the world. India also attributes its increased international clout to the development of its nuclear capability. Nuclear weapons justify our animal existence that is so well reflected in the ruminant essay by eminent Hindi litterateur Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi titled Naakhoon kyun badhte hain . Nuclear weapons are the modern day nails that ensure the survival of the fittest. a theory recently questioned by a Union Minister. Just like no one has witnessed the evolution of ape into a man, no one has seen the nuclear buttons of Kim and Trump. However, latter has the greater veracity because might is right.

Trump’s demeanours are right in the face of the situation and palatable to those who believe in ‘if you have it then you must show it.’ In India, onlySRK closely follows Trump in self-declaration of supremacy. No doubt, USA wields its soft power and hard power with utmost panache. In fact, right from our policies to our daily chores, USA has penetrated our whole existence. It impels one to suggest that instead of seeking DNA samples of Biharis Nitish ji should have demanded a nationwide DNA test of our Bharatiyata. If not DNA, then we are sure to fail psychological tests in this regard. We tend to demean all that is ours and then wish to emulate the USA in its achievements.

It is this perennial incompatibility that makes us live in eternal confusion. Hence, a petition in the Supreme Court seeking ban on communal read Hindu prayers in the Supreme Court whereas we are happy to sing Hindi translation of Pete Seeger’s We Shall Overcome. After all, it’s American! We are perhaps the most xenophile country in the world. I am sure even Hugo Chavez would be proverbially turning in his grave by the response of our Left-wingers to all that challenges our nation as a singular entity.

We had an intellectual essay by the pacifists like Arundhati Roy when we conducted Pokhran test in 1998. The whole developed world, responsible for injustice historically, rejoiced with their unnatural partners. India suddenly became a creepy land capable of destroying world peace. Our neighbour got a good excuse for copying us. Yes, their chief scientist A Q Khan not only developed but transferred the technology to the land of Kim which was then under his father’s rule. There are speculations that the technology was also passed on to the terrorists. So, don’t be afraid if the next big attack is a non-state nuke attack.

The present bonhomie between India and USA in light of latter’s Pivot of Asia policy is yet another foreign policy manoeuvre that we must tackle ingeniously. We cannot let our guards down in light of our gritty neighbours like China and Pakistan. The changing geopolitics is based in the Asia Pacific for the neutralisation of the ‘superpower-esque’ growth of China. China is a juggernaut that can be stopped only by Chanakyan Sam Daam Danda Bhed. For that, we need to stop scorning our dharmic values that might need contemporary tweakings. Then, hasn’t Iqbal claimed that kuch baat of ours to be the cause of our sustenance in the timelines of history!

Allahabadi coincidence

POTUS tweeted his retort to PONK on the day the annual Magh Mela started in Allahabad. It is an annual quest for salvation where the Bharatis, commonly knows as Hindus, congregate from throughout the country.

Liberation is all that we seek. Hence, what seems to be our backwardness is nothing but a dfferent template that does not conform to the Western template. Many Americans are exploring the world and could be found in the holy city of Prayag trying to decipher the mystery of our existence.

We were powerful once but we could not learn the guile needed to rule the world. We were happy being the Jagadguru of the world, which is a benign manifestation of power. Even Alexander had to acknowledge our uniqueness. There are many apocryphal stories that talk about his encounter with a fakir and ultimately Porus.

Apparently, we might be a placid culture having no youthful exuberance. However, it’s hard to logically accept this assertion on the basis of the distorted history of what is undoubtedly one of the oldest civilisations of the world. I agree that it would take some time for us to tweet in the way Trump did. But then, is it really necessary to do so?

After all, America, the eternal peacekeeper of the world, has not signed a single treaty that deals with nuclear non-proliferation. Even the latest Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, which is the first legally binding treaty to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapon with an aim to achieve its total elimination has not been signed by any of the P-5 countries including the USA. That way, Indian governments have been smart enough to avoid committing to such arrangements and developing civil nuclear power programme simultaneously.

The sangam of sanatan (certain perennial ideals) and the contemporary is the only way to find a veritable existence in these times. What role does India need to play when the nuclear stockpiles of USA and North Korea collide with each other? Radiations are not prohibited from cross-border movements. We couldn’t punish the American who caused the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984. What chance do we have in present times to deal with nuclear emergencies? The answer lies in finding self-respect and cherishing it to the last breath. Has anyone ever heard criticism of Lincoln, Jefferson or Washington by an American especially in front of others? No. But we love abusing our country and culture without even knowing it or trying to know about it.

After that, if someone feels that he may muster the courage to proclaim that HIS BUTTON WORKS, then he is grossly mistaken. The real human existence is a struggle. Institutions are established to minimise these struggles and ensure congenial existence within accepted norms. Dharma (not religion) has that potential as it envisages holistic view of human existence and aims at securing harmony.

To realise that Trump-like power in the domain of realpolitik we need practitioners of the exhortation of Swami Vivekananda, “Strength is life, weakness is death. ” Our leaders ar part of us only. We cannot create genuine Bharatiya persona by developing a foreign psyche. Maybe the symbolic purity of Ganges and living evidence of our survival can help us light a candle of hope. We are surrounded by Kims whose threats have gone unanswered for too long. We need our own version of power that accomplishes its goals with the sword stationed in the scabbard of smile. Therefore, embrace all that adds to your intrinsic existence without changing it fundamentally but do not fall prey to allurements that are easy to follow but destructionist in nature.

I hope that I die in a country that would not need to proclaim that my button works. Instead, the very fact that I possess that button should be a veritable deterrence.

अहिंसा परमो धर्मः धर्म हिंसा तथैव च।

World peace is based on the comity of nations and must be achieved in a harmonious manner. That does not mean cowering down in weakness. Assert and strike if needed. Till then it is better to bow in humility like a fruit-laden bough. As an aside, I like antics of Trump. He is only relying on the age-old principle of “my home is my castle.” The means he uses to achieve this end will create all the difference. Response of India would be of immense importance. Let us take a Bharatiya stand for once by amalgamating our basics with the realism of the world. It is high time that we have our own Henry Kissinger!

– Prashant

My Button Works!!

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