No lessons learnt
Indian rulers fought each other when British came, our leaders are fighting as China bares its fangs
Children in India are taught in schools that the country was repeatedly enslaved by invaders, be it the Turks, Mughals, or the British, because of the lack of unity among natives, especially the rulers. Even as the powerful enemies eyed India for conquest, Indian kings kept fighting each other. The ongoing slugfest between the Government and the Opposition reminds us of that unfortunate fact about our past. As the nineteenth century French author and journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” At least in India. Almost everyone in India—indeed in the world—that knows that China, the world’s most powerful rogue state, wants to pin down India in every possible manner. From weaponising the infamous Belt and Road Initiative to triggering flare-ups on the border, it has been doing everything to harass and hurt us. And what, pray, are our political masters doing? Are they closing ranks to take on the malevolent dragon? Not in the least. At a time when they should be burying their differences and joining hands to put up a united front, they are fighting each other. Just like their forebears, our rulers are using China’s aggression as a pretext to fire salvos at each other. The more things change…
Like any other day, Parliament was rocked on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding an apology from the Congress over controversial remarks by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Speaking at Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra at Alwar in Rajasthan, Kharge had said that the grand old party won independence for the country and later its leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives. “Has even your dog at home died for the country? Still, they [BJP leaders] claim to be patriots and if we say something we are termed as deshdrohi [anti-nationals].” Kharge also expressed displeasure that the Government did not allow a discussion in Parliament on the border clash with China in which several Indian soldiers were injured, albeit none seriously. While the Congress president has a point, that the Government should not curb debate and discussion over the attack, he did not cover himself in glory by the dog remark. This is not the kind of phraseology a senior politician should be employing to make a point. On their part, the Government and BJP leaders too seem more interested in taking potshots at the GOP rather than endeavouring to unite the entire political class over the subject. Sixty years ago, we fought a war against China, and got a bloody nose and wounded pride. Today, China is much stronger than it was in 1962. But the Government seems more interested in exposing the supposed shenanigans of the Congress. It raked up the issue of alleged Chinese donations to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. If any impropriety, let alone treason, is involved why aren’t the offended behind bars? It looks like our leaders have learnt nothing from history.
Source: the Pioneer
