VIOLENCE : The most essential ingredient for remaining NON VIOLENT

The title looks controversial and full of paradox, especially in India which claims that it has achieved its freedom due to a very successful Non-Violent Movement. While it is true that we have achieved freedom through Non-Violent movement, it is a fact that this movement succeeded because its failure would have resulted in such violence, which was beyond the control of the British Colonisers.

Mahatma Gandhi the father of nonviolent movement has said that “ Non-violence as perceived by him, has to be the non-violence of an Elephant and Not of a Goat”. In this simple way he summarises what I said in the title that “Violence is the most essential ingredient of Non Violence”.

Question may arise as to what is the necessity of discussing this subject now? And the main reason is to ensure that Indians start believing in themselves as a strong nation capable of guarding itself and its pride without again falling prey to a number of parasites who thrived on their own definition of non-violence to keep Indians timid with inferiority complex and earn a very comfortable living for themselves from the funding of some international agencies whose financial interests are threatened by emergence of a strong and competent India.

History of Non-violence in India

Since we have a history of more than 5000 years of civilisation we have to examine it, in totality, to establish, if at all, we were a Non-Violent nation. Especially because after start of Islamic invasions from the year 712 AD (by Mohammad Bin Kasim) due to their plundering, massacres and destructions, very little documented evidence has survived.

Be it Ramayan or Mahabharat , the stories are full of war. Wars with different weapon systems, large armies, grouped and launched as a coordinated effort to achieve a military goal. Military leadership was considered an essential trait for the king. There were clear cut rules of engagements and chivalry was considered as a soldierly virtue.

The performance of Ashwamedh Yagnya by a king (where in a horse was let off and the kings army followed it capturing and or subjugating every kingdom which came in its path) establishes that the expansion of ones kingdom was a normal practice followed to enlarge the empires and reduce smaller empires as their protectorates. All this was natural, normal and was continuing till perhaps 300 BC.

The Influence of Budhism

Gautama Buddha started Buddhism in 500 BC and it spread in next 200 years with its doctrine of tolerance, mercy, nonviolence and a simple way of individual living. While it kept on becoming popular way of living at individual level it was not adopted by then Rulers as a matter of State Policy.

Samrat Ashok (around 300BC) also fought great wars but after the battle of Kalinga, he was shocked to see the destruction and loss of human life and decided to adopt the Buddhist way of living as a matter of state policy. Spreading this message of peace, tolerance and nonviolence at state level became his policy of expansion of his kingdom. Since Samrat Ashok was a very powerful king, his message of compassion as state policy was adopted by all the surrounding kingdoms as they were direct beneficiaries of this policy.

With prevalence of peace, the society became stable, had time and resources to work beyond basic necessities and pursue fundamental studies. Such peaceful state ensured more prosperity and better distribution of wealth in the populace. The Buddha Bhikshuks took this message of peace and love across Himalayas to China, across Hindu-Kush to Afghanistan and across oceans to Sri Lanka, Japan etc.

The spread and adoption of Budhisim slowly resulted in to smaller kingdoms, honouring peaceful coexistence of each other and strict chivalrous rules of engagement when at war. This ensured that a surrendered king was released with honour, his kingdom and People living were not subjected to plunder, rape and massacre. The war was only considered necessary as a last resort of state policy with aim to establish superiority without annihilation.

This spread of principles of Budhhism continued even after revival Hinduism (Advaita Vedant,Sanatan Dharm) by Adi Shankarachary sometimes after 500 AD. Adi Shankaracharya born in a village in Kerala travelled from there to entire Indian Sub-continent, established Shiv Mandir at Srinagar in Kashmir, and Four Maths (Piths) in four corners of India (Dwarka Math in the West, Jyotir Math in North, Govardhan Math in East, Shringeri Math in South). Such travel by a young boy across the length and breadth of this country establishes the kind of peace and interaction that was prevalent at that time and also establishes that a knowledge based society was prospering in the sub-continent.

Islamic Invasions

Islam originated in Arabia, where normal existence was very tough due extreme weather conditions and scares natural resources. Survival of the fittest was the only rule prevailing in the nomadic societies of Arabia. In addition the Islamic societies never had a parallel religious and administrative heads like Christens (Pope and the Kings) or Jews. Here the Khalifa or the Head, was both the Ruler and Religious Head. Therefore in due course, all actions of Khalifa were conveniently incorporated as the diktats of the Almighty.

Islam being a very modern religion of its time, with a very fair and just approach to women and other weaker sections of the society (by 7th century standards) and stringent punishments for the Non-Believers, it created a very strong bond between the tribal societies and converted them in to very ferocious armies, under strong leadership, for expansion of the Islamic empire.

These armies started expanding their areas of influence in Iraq, Iran, Turkestan, Europe, China and India. The aim of these armies was to loot, plunder, convert and return. Thus Islam slowly spread to the Levant, Iraq, Iran, Turkestan, Mongolia and it focused its attention towards Europe and India. In Europe after capture of Spain the Islamic retreat started due to various factors. Simultaneously the Islamic Tribes from Mongolia and Afghanistan also started raiding India for looting plundering and raping.

Victory by any means and followed by creating terror with extreme violence, to create panic and setting fear psychosis in the opposing Armies was key to their success. “Fear and Treachery” were the main ingredients of Islamic military doctrine for this.

Clash of Civilizations

These barbaric Islamic Armies with their tribal ferociousness and scant disregard for human life came in contact with the opposing armies in India having totally different ethos.

The Indian societies had abhorred violence for more than 600 years. Large empires were reduced to small states. Even a number of cities were virtually converted in to city states.

Since Indian sub-continent is blessed with better climate and very productive terra firma, there was overall satisfaction and desire to accommodate others than fight. Notwithstanding that, the basic human nature ensured that wars were fought between these Indian States but with far less ferocity, strict rules of engagements and general population was spared from the destructive fall out of conflicts.

When these two types of Armies got engaged in battle, the Islamic Armies being far away from their motherland and fatigued due to travel, were beaten and made to surrender and were let off after surrender with promise to not repeat such venture. This kind of treatment was a shock to the invaders and after realising their good fortune despite of defeat, they took full advantage of this leniency (Mohmd bin Kasim was let off thrice by King Dahej, Mohmd Gaznavi / Ghori was let off 17 times by Prithviraj Chouhan ).

They went back and came back with new troops and continued doing same till they managed to achieve first victory for which treachery was found to be very essential. After first victory they revealed their true colours and ferocious hatred to local populace by massacre plunder and rape. Once this was complete, they went back. However some of them found it much better to settle down here only as they were expecting a very hostile reception back home. Thus Islamic capture of India started.

Since the Muslim victors were well aware of their vulnerability due to small numbers they created an atmosphere of absolute fear and terror with ruthless massacres to ensure least resistance to their plunder. The local population soon found it more convenient to live under such tyranny than fight because of fear of retribution.

Under the Muslim Rule

The Muslim Rulers found it very safe to stay and continue to rule in India as it was much more prosperous and peaceful here than back home. Their rule was basically collecting and enjoying the wealth here and making the population believe that “as long as the Sultan keeps things to himself” his rule is to be accepted as Fait Accompli.

It also created two types of leaderships in the then Indian Society. First was of brave fearless fighters who refused to accept the alien rule and fought with them. The second was a group of very shrewd intellectuals who gave a cover of spirituality to their cowardice by preaching Nonviolence and Tolerance as a religious virtue of Hindus. This second group was encouraged by the Muslim Rulers for their own benefit. Living under such cover to hide cowardice became so rampant that any effort to discard it and fight was sabotaged by treachery and betrayal.

End of Muslim Rule and Start of British Rule

The Maratha Empire established by Chhatrapati Shivaji expanded and ruled most of the India for 150 years till it was lost to Britishers in 1818. It’s a fact that the Britishers came to India for trading and had no interest to establish their rule here (Napoleon called Britain as an Island of Shop keepers). But after getting the Zamindari rights in Bengal they saw the great profit potential in collecting revenue directly than trading and started expanding their dominance.

However unlike Muslim Rulers the British governed India as a colony to exploit its wealth. They were equally ruthless and had no hesitation in using violence, cunning, treachery and betrayal to expand their Empire. They were lucky to find local population ready to accept an alien Ruler for fear of violence. They also inherited the favour seeking class of Mughal era to control and expand their kingdom and encouraged this class to continue preaching Non Violence and Tolerance to cover cowardice. Further the Macaulay’s Education system ensured that Indian accept their subjugation to the Britisher’s and treat themselves as an inferior race.

Freedom Struggle under Mahatma Gandhi

After his return from South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi went around India and realised that after more than 1000 years of slavery, people had resigned to their fate and were ready accept any kind of injustice. The fear due to tyranny was such that nobody (barring very few exceptions) was prepared to fight the alien ruler. The society’s urge to fight, even for survival, had nearly finished.

Once the population accepts to live like slaves then, they create a society which generate slavery within itself. In India the origin of degradation of human beings based on their birth (Caste System by birth) became prominent after the start of Muslim rule and continued in British era duly encouraged by them to keep the society fractured based on Caste Creed and Religion.

The Britishers were running India as a colony with just about 2 Lac Britishers employed in the service of Govt of India, ruling nearly 40 Cr Indians and sucking out Indian wealth to Britain. They were holding on India like Leech by exploiting the fissures in the society and sucking Indian Blood.

After understanding the whole thing, Gandhiji’s plan of action was simple. He wanted maximum population to participate in freedom struggle with minimum per capita contribution. So he designed the Satyagraha as a non-violent means of protest, in which anybody could participate with very notional cost for the “Desh Bhakti”. His plan of action was to start a very big social movement from grass root level to close the fissures in the Indian society and link it with freedom struggle.

This shook up the foundation of British Empire, as entire population got a tool to exhibit their dislike without fear. This massive dislike was complemented by increasing number of violent Strikes on the Empire by angered young Indians. The fear of increasing violence, coupled with loss of British population in World War 2, made it impossible for the Britishers to continue their rule and forced them to take an honourable exit by handing over power peacefully. Of course before leaving they ensured maximum damage to the country by partition to suit their future interests.

Lessons to be learned for a Powerful India of the Future

Violence, how so ever undesired, is an integral part of civilization. Nonviolence is desired but cannot be ensured in the world where ‘survival of the fittest’ is the ‘law of nature’. Hence unless one has the strength to be violent and courage to apply that strength, he himself will be victim of violence.

External Threats.

We as a nation state have to protect our interests and integrity from the External and Internal threats. In 1962 the Chinese woke us up from our naïve Utopian Slumber. This sudden awaking to the real world ensured that we develop and maintain a strong and modern military to protect our borders as well as International Interests. A strong Army with national will to deploy is sufficient deterrent against any foolish acts by our adversaries. After effects of Surgical Strikes and Balakot Air Strikes are the best examples of this.

Internal Threats

Our main weakness to internal threats is because of the subjugation suffered during 1000 years of slavery, due to which, the fear of violence keeps lingering in our subconscious all the times. In addition we have developed an art of self-condemnation by blaming the massive majority for everything wrong in our society. This manifests in our continued habit of mollycoddling the minorities giving them a moral ascendency which is unrealistic and equally harmful to them.

Let us see the first example of fear still lingering in the minds and getting exhibited in a different way. In the first half of 20 th century in India, three states suffered massive massacres, specially of Hindus at the hands of Muslims, with a conniving act of omission by the state. The first was in Kerala in 1920 during the Malabar Mutiny where massacre, rape and forced conversions were rampantly carried out by Muslims and it was never retaliated, thereby allowing continuation of Muslim Morale ascendancy.

The second example is of Bengal where Hindus suffered maximum casualties during the riots started as a part of “Direct Action”. By the time Hindus were able to regroup and retaliate, the intervention of Mahatma Gandhi stopped the possibility of retaliation thereby allowing continuation of Muslim Morale ascendancy.

The third example is different , it is of Punjab during partition. Here the Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs were able to reciprocate the violence with equal force which ensured they do not carry such fear nor develop a phobia for violence.

Now see the effect of this. Subconsciously Bengal and Kerala try and avoid any confrontation with Muslims. They are ready to accept infiltration and any assertive encroachment under the garb of tolerance and peace.

The Bogey of Majoritism.

International agencies, for their financial interests desire that India remains under developed. To achieve this they raise this false propaganda of Majoritism. Fallacy of this needs no proof as the smaller minorities i.e. Jews, Parsis, Christens, Buddha, Jain, Sikhs are all prosperous minorities and have made great contribution in building modern India. It is only the largest minority or second majority community i.e. Muslims are exploited by this bogey due to their illiteracy and subconscious guilt of partition to use them as vote banks.

So We, the people of India, which is emerging as a world power has to ensure that when required we have the means and will to react violently if our interests are harmed. This we can do with confidence when we stop feeling shy about asserting our strength as majority with clear conscious.

To Conclude

In 1939 Mahtma Gandhi said “ Let no one say when I am gone that I taught the people to be cowards…I would far rather that you died bravely dealing a blow and receiving a blow than died in abject terror… fleeing from battle is cowardice and unworthy of a Warrior….Cowardice is worse than violence because cowards can never be non-violent”.

Nothing more is required to conclude except what Bhagwan Shri Ram had said “Bhaya Bin hoye na preeti”.

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