lesson one: b for bomb, t for tomb
rajmohan
Dhritarashtra said:
"Tell me, O Sanjaya, what my sons and Pandu's assembled on battle intent, did on the field of Kuru, the field of duty".
(The Bhagavad Gita)
"It is said of Vishwamitra that once during an acute famine he did not get any food for days together. One day he saw the rotting leg of a dead dog lying in a Chandala's house. Vishwamitra snatched it and got ready to eat it by first making an offering to God. The Chandala exclaimed, 'Oh, sage, how is it you are eating a dog's leg?' Vishwamitra replied, 'Yes, I must live first and be strong in order to do penance and good deeds in the world."
This story, quoted by M S Golwalkar 1 to show how important is strength for a Nation, seems to be the driving force for his disciples who are in a mad hunt for more and more rotten dogs.
Gandhi too had his own vision about using strength and force: "It is perfectly true that they used brute-force and that it is possible for us to do likewise, but by using similar means we can get only the same thing that they got"2 . But Gandhi's new-age disciples too are seen mesmerised by the taste of the rotten dogs.
India conducted its second round of nuclear tests in May 1998 and declared itself a nuclear weapons state. The first round of nuclear tests was conducted in October 1974 when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. The governments of Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda and I K Gujral were in full readiness for exercising the nuclear option. The opposition leader, Congress president Sonia Gandhi praised the achievement of the scientists and engineers, expressed pride in Congress having kept India's nuclear capability up-to-date and reiterated the commitment of Congress to a nuclear weapons-free world and peace with her neighbours . The politicians, the scientists, the engineers, the clerks, the peons, the barbers, the cobblers, the scavengers and the jobless millions of India joined a grand orgy to celebrate the "the victory of science" and "the day India became a superpower". The isolated voices that had courage to condemn this pagan act were declared as voices of traitors. Pakistan, the mirror image of India, too exhibited its nuclear capability by exploding 6 instead of India's 5 bombs, thereby bringing the sub-continent into a constant fear of a nuclear disaster.
Anand Patwardhan's documentary War & Peace deals with this mass hysteria that engulfed the two neighbouring Nations, India and Pakistan. While Patwardhan's camera moves from the streets of Mumbai to the desert town Pokhran, from the power capital Delhi to the "enemy land" Pakistan, from the first users of the nuclear bomb America to its first victim Hiroshima, what we see is shameful and frightening.
As soon as the "poet, philosopher" Prime Minister announced the successful nuclear tests at Pokhran, the ignorant, jingoist Indian mass started celebrating it as India's elevation to superpower status. Nuclear bomb suddenly turned out to be the symbol of Indian Nationalism and this false pride became the minimum requirement for an Indian to be a "real Indian". The saffron group, who earlier succeeded in changing Lord Ram as a symbol of Hindu awakening in India, once again succeeded in symbolising the nuclear bomb as a National symbol and thereby turning this newly emerged nuclear Nationalism as Hindu Nationalism. Then what we see is total absurdity: we see miniature models of bombs and missiles getting placed alongside ladoos and fruits as offerings to lord Genesha, we also see at a Shiva Sena tableaux how the divine Genesha intervened to subside a sandstorm in the desert of Pokhran for the successful conduction of the nuclear tests, the symbolic blast on a pigeon, the universal symbol of peace and the youth who believe that their political masters would never do anything harmful to India. But when we hear from the same politicians that "Merely producing a bomb doesn't make one a nuclear weapons State. We need a program to throw the bomb. You need a command and control system. For this Vajpayee needs 4, 5 years. By voting in the elections you can strengthen Vajpayee's hands to make this a true nuclear weapons State. That's how important your vote is. This is about Pokran, about Agni" everything becomes pretty clear.
Scientists, a community which otherwise remained secluded from the mass, suddenly achieved superstar status. We see a great Indian scientist speaks about the status India gained among the World Nations after the tests and the song of India, the song of hatred, each Indian would sing in the future. We also hear another "superstar" scientist speaking about the cost benefit of nuclear power, compared to which the risk factor gets nullified. Dr P K Iyengar, an eminent Indian scientist says: "I personally believe that we should never explode a nuclear device in this subcontinent. It is injurious to us, as it is injurious to our enemy." The humane face of science? Wait, he has something more to say: "That leaves you the option of only using a long range target. Which means you must have missiles to launch 2000 Kms or more. That requires further research and development." Raja Ramanna, the 'father' of India's first nuclear tests, cracks jokes about the nuclear tests and enjoys himself playing a piano. When Rome was burning….
The ridiculous theory, which emerged after the blast that atom bombs would ensure peace in the region, was proved wrong when confrontation between the two armies broke out at the Indo-Pak border at Kargil. The population of the subcontinent, which amounts more than one-sixth of the world's total population escaped narrowly from a nuclear exchange. The Tehelka expose that shook the Nation established how easy it is to intrude into and control the topmost layer of the Indian defence force, with just some currency and how weak are the hands that hold the nuclear buttons.
What we see in Pakistan is nothing but a mirror image of India. When Indian fanatics celebrated the "Hindu bomb" it was the "Muslim bomb", the reason for celebrations to the Pakistanis. Both these governments have one thing in common that they took their respective people centuries backwards to the dark ages. For both the Hindu warriors and Muslim Jihadis the nuclear bombs were like god send.
The elderly Bishnoi at Khetolai, the nearest village to the 'Strength Site' at Pokhran who believes that if the world were to follow the Bishnoi teachings, it would never be in need of nuclear bombs, cannons or ammunitions. The farmer who says that he doesn't want his country to be taken to the moon but wants to be on the earth itself, the Gandhian commune working dedicatedly towards peace, the Pakistani school girls, all remain as a ray of hope at this period when false nationalism has blinded all our senses.
When we get to see this real madness that we too took part, we realise how ridiculous we were. Patwardhan's powerful film is capable to evoke such a realisation among ordinary people. This power of the film forced the censor board to order many cuts for the film. All these cuts demanded by the censor board seem just ridiculous when commonsense is applied. One such demand is to "Delete the visuals and dialogues of entire Tehelka episode wherever it occurs in the film", which doesn't make any sense because hours of taped sequences by Tehelka was aired on television at prime-time slots. The next is the real absurd one: "Delete the entire visuals and dialogues spoken by Political Leaders including Ministers and Prime Minister." Thanks to the Honourable High Court of Mumbai, we are again able to see the film.
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Mahatma Gandhi said: "It may be long before the law of love is recognised in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another. One thing is certain, if the mad race for armaments continues, it is bound to result in slaughter such as has never occurred in human history. If there is a victor left, the very victory will be a living death for the Nation that emerges victorious. There is no escape from the impending doom, say through a bold and unconditional acceptance of the non-violent method".
(Quoted in the epilogue of the film)
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