Brutal Baba - Gurmeet Ram Rahim

I vividly remember, several years ago, when I was returning to Gurgaon from Hissar, a convoy of about 100 cars, all recklessly driven, packed with goon-like armed men, -aggressively posturing to get on the kerb any vehicle that was on the road - had overtaken my car. There was no police, to help normal vehicles, which were all hauled up by the facilitators of this motorcade.  

Besides, there were baton wielding men standing at every 100 ft for "Seva" (facilitation)  when the convoy of the Baba passed, it was an ugly spectacle orchestrated by a so called holy man, in a resurgent 21st century India. In an India which in technological advancement, not limited to IT or space research, is a frontrunner in the world, such god-men playing on the in-security, obsequiousness and superstition of people, is a dichotomy hardly anyone can comprehend.

Political class with the bureaucracy in tow, help the rise of such Godmen. They provide such self declared agents of Gods, VIP treatment, with perks like Category Z security at the cost of the exchequer, sometimes in return for votes, or loaning of cadres during elections and on others just godly blessings.

These godmen draw legitimacy from this political patronage and feed on the gullibility of the people to enhance their personal pelf and power from such legitimacy, and garner more followers whose teeming numbers add to the socio-political cloud of these self-styled godmen. With time, they acquire swagger, larger than life size image, and small funding from the bottom of the pyramid class and large funding from the biggies, along with land-banks at throw away prices from the government for their ashrams. They all build hospitals and orphanages, as they serve as a front to all their nefarious activities.

Their diminutive intellect eventually starts feeding fat on this sense of power and  entitlement which eggs them to be so covetous, that they disrespect the law, both in letter and spirit, disregard property and defile others’ women, not once twice or multiple times, but repeatedly till they get caught and punished.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim is just one such case.

Triple Talaq

Social democracy is the bed rock of political democracy. The courts in the case of triple talaq, took the expanded meaning of the term : ‘socialist, democratic’ enshrined in the constitution to imply social democracy and that ‘triple talaq’ is a clear aberration in the way of social democracy.

Triple Talaq, bad in law and bad in theology, its only claim to currency is an established code of conduct, age old custom with the force of law, all of which the courts have a right to strike down, in the interest of equity and justice and in alignment of the overarching values enshrined in the constitution and equipped with this right they struck down this provision, just as they did in the case of sati, polygamy or child marriage and thereby engineered a huge socio-economic transition.

While a regressive Kapil Sibal continued to argue on the behalf of the Muslim orthodoxy, one, on the premise of non intervention with personal laws, and two, court judgements leading to abrogation of the Triple Talaq in other theocratic and secular muslim states could not be treated as valid precedents for abrogation of the same in India, I think, the stance taken by the SC is path breaking and perhaps a step in the direction of the Uniform Civil Code.

People's Army and Indian Army : Variance of Ethos and Riparian Terror

While, Indian media has been more restrained this time in waging a blitzkrieg against a hegemonist neighbor, it is the Chinese media which is going overboard in revving up war hysteria much more than India and cautioning India of the consequences of the Dokhalam misadventure. While Modi has been firm, and his government more assertive on the Dhokalam issue, it is the Chinese premier who has been more pugilistic including his relentlessly poignant speech on the Chinese army day celebrations.

1962, once slighted, forever shy, India on the other hand, has been ghosting Chinese border infringements and incursions as a part of the Nehruvian policy of perpetual denial of Chinese threat,  under Modi however, practical realism has been much more pervasive than ever in the past, and the mood has been changing. Had a Dhokalam been orchestrated by Pakistan, the Indian media would have by now tried Pakistan on its multiple channels and declared war on it. With China, somehow, the reportage is more controlled and calibrated. The reasons notwithstanding, the outcome is good.

Relationship with China has always been precariously balanced. The Chinese army owes historical allegiance to the Communist army of Mao. That army was raised from a poignant peasantry, trained in guerrilla warfare and fed on the hate of the class struggle, very different from the Indian army, which fights more for valor and honor much more of the soldiers’ village than of the country.

While, the stand off at Dhokalam may continue for some more time, till China relents or reconciles with India's nascent penchant for upping the ante against China's policy of crawling encroachment, India must get prepared for the riparian rivalry that China will unleash to punish India's standing up to it. In defiance of the historical treaties and international conventions, China may release more water to flood Indian rivers or release so less that India craves for more, either way causing riparian terror to disrupt and distress the Indian NE.

The Black Swan

The Black Swan

The western world always thought swans are always white, till I guess as late as the 17th century, when some naturalists discovered the black swans. We like to predict life and all of us want to inhabit a deterministic world. Whether, determinism holds or not, is not clearly the subject of this blog, but using the past to predict the future, is clearly a fallacy that most of us fall pray to. And one black swan event, which may not always be for the bad, changes all that we have known and all that we plan or project. 

Russel in his own uncanny manner illustrates this using the example of the chicken  who starts to believe in the innate kindness of humans, as they feed it, till one day it is slaughtered. Events can always buck the past or currents trends, and take us by surprise and it for such contingencies that we need build personal and organizational resources.

But Black Swans could also be for the good for some, like a usual neighborhood girl getting married to a billionaire and everything changing.

Rezang La

But 1962 should have been a lesson bitterly learnt. India lost due to Nehru’s indecisiveness, lack of foresight and bonhomie with the Chinese. While an unprepared India, still reveling in the lately gotten independence, suffered a humiliating defeat, the Chinese must not forget Rezang La, where a mere 120 strong company under the leadership of Major Shaitan Singh repelled 3000 strong Chinese force and killed about 1200 of their soldiers.

War favors none and leaves a country bereaving its brave. If China believes, war would make it stronger, the example of a decadent USA, which though very smartly kept war off its own land, yet smarts under its deleterious effects, should be an eloquent testimony to the destruction that it causes both to the winning and losing side. 

China has clear numerical superiority. More than numerical superiority, it has very clear superiority in weaponry, which is a generation ahead of India. While, India still struggles to keep the bureaucracy and brass aligned with the IAS hating the uniform, but the subordinate services hold the men in uniform in awe, and this dichotomy delays defense deals, priorities and procurement. To the extent that a JS can tick a Brigadier off, he is happy to preside on this delay, But it hurts the army as a fighting machine in a time, when change in warfare is happening faster than in civilian life.

Chinese army on the other hand is under a monolithic ruling party directly and the bureaucracy works in tandem to support the army. The processed of procurement are aligned to making the Chinese army a robust fighting machine, unlike India, where the largest scams are buried under defense deals.

Xi Ping wants the World to Listen

Xi Ping is about 3 years younger than Modi, but that Modi will beat him in Yoga is something which none should ever doubt.

Ping is rather tall for a Chinese and should be standing over 6 ft with shoes on. I was, till date of the bounden belief, that leaders with dictatorial tendencies are usually short, Hitler (5’8”), Napoleon (5’5”), Mussolini (5’6”), Churchill (5’6”), Modi (5’7”), Lenin (5'5"), Stalin (5’5”), Putin (5’7”). But it appears, Xi Ping is a clear outlier.

Xi Ping, with a slight slant of neck, decked in battle fatigues, made a tough speech to a resurgent nation restlessly seeking the respect which it believes is now so much overdue. I don't recall having ever seen a Chinese premier in battle fatigues. This theatrics has shades of the Fuehrer.

While many political commentators may like to believe, Xi Ping’s speech was a call to the world to acknowledge China as an emerging super power and message to its neighbors to stay cognizant of China’s growing military might, but I think, that is a stupid premise. While China may be a straight jacketed single party polity, nevertheless, to a leader public opinion is something of paramount importance. Stanceful, strident and subtly pugnacious Xi Ping’s audience was determinedly domestic, and that he succeeded to do - draw international attention was a bonus.

Just like Fuehrer, he relies on re-kindling national pride, he relentlessly alludes to the century of humiliation of the Opium Wars and leverages the fear psychosis to drum a xenophobia that could be both dangerous and disastrous.

India for once showed adroitness in handling the Dokalam tri-junction ingress, and responded to the Bhutanese SoS with the alacrity that behoves a friend and strategic ally. The political polemics and shady shenanigans not, withstanding, she braced up to the blatant Chinese attempt to gerrymander geographical borders, and pushed the Chinese back to their position prior to their impudent ingress. She acted decisively with calibrated force and position of strength that for a change was devoid of chauvinistic chest beating.

It is China’s chastened belief that Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal and several adjoining areas are a part of its territory of which India is in wrongful occupation. It would not be out of place, if on some parallel logic, India would set out to reclaim parts of Afghanistan, all of Bangladesh and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Sind back.