The proactive leadership of Narendra Modi should be emulated by our leaders in the Indo Caribbean Community while the culture sycophancy should be loudly denounced. Politics is a warrior’s game and should not be left to eunuchs and pleasure girls. This was exactly what happened when a woman of the harem was elevated to the throne in China. The result was the death of the monarchy, the occupation of the country by foreign powers and civil war and the plunging of millions of Chinese into poverty, starvation and death.
The Hindu scriptures are littered with stories about individuals and groups that are bent on destroying the lives of innocent people. Have Hindus taken heed of these lessons? If they had, they certainly would not have fallen victims to conquerors and proselytizers and those bent on destroying the Hindu way of life.
Bhagavad Krishna had promised that “whenever there is a decline of righteous and a rise in evil, I will take birth to protect the good people, destroy the evil ones and re-establish dharma.” (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, Verse 7) When Ravana was threatening Hindu dharma, Bhagavad Vishnu took birth and had him killed. Ravana was not only disrespecting the saints and sages but also demanding taxes from them. Those who had no money to pay had their blood extracted for compensation.
Ravana felt unstoppable! Arrogance and pride were the hallmarks of his character and he stopped at nothing to have his way. His lust for power made him usurp the throne from his father. Learning of the beauty of Sita from Soopnakaya, his wicked sister, Ravana went on to kidnap her.
Surrounded by sycophants as his advisors, Ravana was intolerant of anyone who disagrees with him. All his courtiers were too eager to shower praises upon him to win personal favors. When his brother Vibhishan mustered the courage and told him that he was wrong to kidnap Sita, Ravana exiled him from his kingdom. Even Queen Madodari, known for her equanimity of mind, failed to convince Ravana that his actions were wrong.
Sycophancy is a psychological placebo that weak leaders use to overcome their weakness, fear and incompetence. Surrounded by these sycophants, these leaders never get around to learning the truth. Praising the leader to the hilt and carrying news of threats to his leadership, sycophants are true parasites living off the fat of the treasury.
To have a brother like Kumkaran who eats and sleeps only, not bothering about the affairs of the kingdom, is a blessing to the Ravans of the world. However, after waking up from his stupor, it was too late to reverse the wrongs. The result was the destruction of Ravana and his evil ministers and the restoration of a noble ruler in the person of Vibhishan.
Today the citizens of India are questioning the non-violent campaign for India’s independence led by Mahatma Gandhi. His non-violent campaign only appealed to the Hindus while the minority Muslim population was hell-bent on destroying law and order to create a separate state for them.
Some have argued that Gandhi fulfilled what the Buddha had started. It was exactly those districts that emerged to form East and West Pakistan (now Bangladesh and Pakistan) that had the largest concentration of Buddhists. Denouncing violence, the concept of a warrior class and a sitting army was viewed as irrelevant by the new faith.
When invaders began invading the northwest in the 15th century, there were no sitting armies to check their onslaught. Those who resisted were killed, others were enslaved and accepted to pay taxes and live like second-class citizens wearing distinct identity marks.
Northwest Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang Province in northwest China and the entire Central Asia wee well-established Buddhist territories. When the invaders came the Buddhist legacy of peace did not help them to defeat the enemies. It was massive conversion and destruction of Buddhist icons and temples and their replacement with mosques. The destruction of the Bamiyan statues by the Taliban in more recent times was an expression of hatred and scorn for their ancestral beliefs and culture.
The recognition of Netaji Subhash Candra Bose by the Modi government is a clear statement that India is ready to employ arms to protect the people and the territorial integrity of the country. It was Netaji’s Indian Nationalist Army marching from Burma into India that hastened the demise of the British from India.
India under Modi is not self-loathing but boldly identifying with the culture and legacy of the land, no longer waiting on the incarnation of an avatar to fight its battles and defeat its enemies. The increased spending to equip the army with the latest missiles is a clear statement that the Indians are not going to turn a blind eye to any threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Mother India.
The proactive leadership of Narendra Modi should be emulated by our leaders in the Indo Caribbean Community while the culture of sycophancy should be loudly denounced. Politics is a warrior’s game and should not be abandoned to eunuchs and pleasure girls to influence the throne. This was exactly what happened when a woman of the harem was elevated to the throne of China. The result was the death of the monarchy, the occupation of the country by foreign powers and civil war.