The images are disturbing. Burning rubber, riot police in full regalia, rampaging mobs – their sticks held high in defiance. That’s Bangladesh, on the east of India. Blaring sirens, helpless rescue operators, heaps of mutilated bodies, the acrid smell of death, the wrench of terror… That’s Pakistan, all’s literally quiet on the western front. And if that was not enough – a beaming Narendra Modi spewing vitriol as India’s largest opposition party prepares to ride the hate mail to power.
There’s more. Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition of Bangladesh, cancels her courtesy meet with the visiting Indian President, Sri Pranab Mukherjee, ostensibly to show her support to the “Bundh” called by the fundamentalists. On the other end of the spectrum, Indian students in an American Campus recall their invitation to Narendra Modi – apparently, influential sections of the student community are allergic to his address, even by Video Conferencing.
The only positive image on Television was that of a youngster: bandana firmly tied on his forehead, swaying the Bangladeshi flag in the rhythm of the terror defying chants that’s filling the air in Shahbag. Here is a generation of youngsters, born after the War of Independence, claiming their rightful place in the Freedom Sun. And this is what fills me with hope.
The young of the subcontinent – socially connected, right thinking global citizens of tomorrow – are not only capable of seeing through the divisive politics that terror mongers want to subjugate us to, but are also not scared to raise their collective voice in protest. War criminals in Bangladesh cannot escape their wrath. Nor can politicians with bloodied hands hide behind the development agenda in India. Hopefully, the children will also stop those who want to take Pakistan and Afghanistan back to the medieval ages – a much stiffer challenge considering the ground realities, but well within the ambit of possibility.
These are difficult times – abject poverty allows men with mischievous intent to access cannon fodder with relative ease. Those that are living dead are easily swayed by the prospect of eternal bliss and are converted to carry out heinous crimes at the bidding of their masters out to spread their web of deceit. Illiteracy is the other demon that feeds this all pervading gloom. A morally defunct, compromised by corruption, mainline political system further aids this process of alienation, with no leader tall enough to address the situation and offer to lead the people to the promised land.
When the then President of India, the much revered “Missile Man”, Hon. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had called on a famous Jain saint, the saint had greeted him with an unusual request. “Why don’t you make for us a Missile of Peace” the saint had urged. A missile, that can be targeted on the areas of unrest – to deliver a warhead of peace. Peace that will be followed by prosperity.
As the young rise, giving vent to the pent up anger and frustration, increasingly challenging what we have burdened them with, the prospect of a wave of humanity transforming into such missiles of peace is fast becoming a reality. What is even more heartening is the spontaneity with which such protests are breaking out and crystallizing. Be that in Delhi or in Dhaka, the young are seizing the gauntlet that life has thrown, increasingly using their connectivity to attain critical mass. I will not be surprised if the movements throw up the leaders of tomorrow from within their ranks – leaders, armed by righteousness and backed by the right thinking, who will junk the luggage of our past and take us on the path of peace and prosperity – to our rightful place in the world order.