Violence breeds violence

The murder of Mahendra Karma, the Chhattisgarh Congress leader in a terror attack by the Naxalites has initiated discussion about how to tackle this very complicated issue of Naxal violence in India. I am no expert in this area and I recommend readers to read some excellent articles mentioned in the links section which express very balanced views about this subject. These are very complicated socioeconomic and political issues for a country like India. There are many people who either support or oppose either side involved in this conflict. They all are very emotional about their beliefs but this argument about who is right and who is wrong has been going on for decades without producing any result. I think the time has come to stop that argument and think about the possible solutions all over again. Violence only breeds violence. We have seen it many times in human history, no matter for what purpose it is used, violence always results in more violence. People suffer, generations fight with each other for no reason, and different communities, countries, or religions hate each other without even knowing why they are doing this. This violence exists in many forms before it erupts as a full-scale bloody war and hatred or animosity between groups of people is one such form.

I think I have mentioned this before in some of my posts but let me say this once again, we humans are a very intelligent species and we very often use that intelligence to justify our questionable acts like war, murder, or any other controversial thing. There are so many examples from history or even from some scriptures where violence on a massive scale is justified or even glorified, celebrated and many people are very much okay with it as long as it is a part of their scripture. I agree that sometimes it is impossible to avoid war but to glorify it is an altogether different thing. One thing is for sure, we humans are no strangers to violence and we have been involved in it from the beginning of our civilization. But this doesn't mean that violence is the only option available for us to settle any major dispute. I agree that it is the most used option by many communities but we have also seen nonviolent ways to achieve great things. Many of these people who propagated nonviolent conflict resolution methods are ridiculed for their passive thinking and attitude. However, even after all the odds against them they were successful and were able to leave their mark on history, for example, Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately, they failed to generate loyal supporters who can take their beliefs to the next level and make sure that they become part of day-to-day lifestyle. I agree that it is not an easy way to follow, maybe that's why it failed to attract many followers. In today's world, these examples are looked at as kind of exceptional cases where this strategy worked somehow. Mahatma Gandhi is a very good example of this. He was instrumental in getting India's independence by using nonviolent protests but after getting the independence India is continuously battling with one violent conflict or another. Even in India, Gandhi's ways of resolving conflicts are considered outdated and nonpractical. Violence comes very naturally to animals. Even though humans are also animals, we call ourselves civilized animals, so we cannot behave purely based on natural instincts just like any other animal. However, many times our behavior doesn't justify the civilized tag for us, we need to work harder to call ourselves a civilized community.

In most cases, violent conflict is a result of false propaganda (especially in the case of communal riots). Some people mislead the masses for their own selfish political or personal benefits or gross negligence by the government (Naxal problem) creates situations where people engage in violence. Both these scenarios are totally avoidable with proper planning and education. People need to be aware of their rights and all resources available to them to practice those rights. At the same time, they should also be aware of their responsibilities, it is very important to be aware of both things to be a responsible citizen of any country. Rights and duties are different sides of the same coin. One cannot demand only rights without fulfilling their duties, and one can not fulfill their duties completely without having those rights, so both of these work together. Wherever we see any imbalance between the two a conflict is bound to emerge sooner or later. For any society to have a healthy atmosphere it needs to make its people aware of their rights and duties.

If we start arguing about who is right and who is wrong then it will become a topic of endless discussion. People from both sides can argue very passionately to justify their approach but ultimately we only see a lot of emotions, passion, and drama but no real solution. We need healthy dialogue not just arguments about this issue, and one should keep emotions in control during any discussion otherwise it turns into an argument and defeats the whole purpose.  Ultimately common people suffer in all this, so they need to take control of the situation. Once common people realize that they are being used by both sides as prawns to play power games I think they will look for a solution, until this happens this bloody game will continue.

Thanks for reading and please share your views about this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)

Links:
1. The continuing tragedy of the adivasis- Ramachandra Guha
2. दन्तेवाड़ा की जड़ें- सुनील