I was watching a news clip where Indian PM visited Golden temple along
with Afghanistan President before ‘Heart of Asia’ summit. And my first thought
was of a complete cynic. ‘Shouldn’t a patriotic Indian seek apology from
Afghanistan President for the plunders of Ahmed Shad Durani or Abdali?’ Then I
realized that there is some poetry or design of fate in the fact that I
witnessed on video: Afghanistan PM wearing a saffron shawl(उपरणे in Marathi) in Golden
Temple during the visit. Saffron was not a random choice!
Why do I see the poetry or design?
Here’s the interesting fact, not an academic explanation!
Apparently, as Wikipedia tell me,
Ala Singh, may be the ruler of Patiala, had been with Abdali during the third battle
of Panipat or his time in India and Ala Singh was crowned as first Sikh
Maharaja at the Sikh holy temple. I am trying to highlight irony of nostalgia, much prevalent in Maharashtra, of relating Maratha empire’s
actions to national interest. If one does so, then one invariably calls other
kings of that time as traitors. We should just look at them as events and not
something which we can refer to today. The democratic nation is the construct
which no one referred then. I do not wish to call the patriotism of any group
in question. In fact, quite the contrary, I would like to say that we should
not bring historical patterns to develop claims of patriotism. We are not aware
of all skeletons and something embarrassing might be thrown at us, though we
can always hide embarrassing truths under the tyranny of numbers!
The other
curious piece of fact, is again there at Wikipedia page of Ahmed Shah Durani.
Apparently, he wrote a poem ‘Love of a nation. (Well, as much I believe Babur
wrote Baburnama or Sharad Pawar wrote his autobiography, I believe that Abdali
wrote this poem!)
The poem, with the typical
flourish, goes as this (translation again from Wikipedia),
By blood, we are
immersed in love of you.
The youth lose their
heads for your sake.
I come to you and my
heart finds rest.
Away from you, grief
clings to my heart like a snake.
I forget the throne
of Delhi
when I remember the
mountain tops of my beautiful Pakhtunkhwa.
If I must choose
between the world and you,
I shall not hesitate
to claim your barren deserts as my own
Well, now India see Afghanistan as
an important cog in the game to be played in the Asian neighborhood. As I read
in some history books, Afghanistan had always proved troublesome instrument for
any power to utilize. ‘The Great Game’ was a good evidence. Afghanistan is yet to
leave the fold tribal fundamentalism which still occupies great part of the country.
It is clear that India will never coax it’s friend for this transformation, but
help the infrastructure transformation as long as it allies with India and not
with Pakistan on global stage. But if this transformation doesn’t take place, the
fundamentalist in Afghanistan will tilt towards Pakistan, which again a tricky
choice for Pakistan, since they want fundamentalism in Afghanistan but not in
their own country. It is all tricky mess since
strategic relationships are based on threats of violence and hence involve
influencing violence in neighboring countries while minimizing in one’s own.
Fundamentalism is cause of violence, both for our foe and friend. But while we
condemn the same for foe, we cannot for friend for the fear of alienation. It
reminds me of Sanskrit subhashit सत्यं ब्रूयात
प्रियं ब्रूयात न ब्रूयात सत्यं अप्रियम्. (Speak the truth, speak those words which
listener would like to listen, but do not speak unpleasant truth.)
(Note: I
understand that Wikipedia is not the great source of facts. If I am wrong
anywhere, then I would like to improve my mistake if the reference for doing so
is provided.)