Another view of politics

Oct 28, 2012 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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(Excerpts from speech delivered to Caribbean Hindu Conference NYC July 7th, 2012)
I’ve been asked to say a few words about “Raj Neeti – translated by the organizers as “politics” – and its adaptability to today’s society. I assume that it was intended that we discuss our Hindu view of ‘politics’ and how it may possibly be adapted to the exigencies of the present.
And this is as it should be because, since we do not have an absolutist position on rules and regulations (whether on governance or otherwise) in Hinduism. Rather we believe that there are the eternal principles of Dharma that that have to be applied the institution or situation we’re considering. But always taking into cognizance the particular desh, kaal and paristhiti – place, time and circumstances.
So we have to first answer the question, “What is ‘dharma’?” before we can get to its application to governance or politics. We Hindus do not like to define things – this always limits and circumscribes – we prefer to enumerate their lakshanas or attributes.  In the Shanti parva of the Mahabharata (109: 10-12) there is a very succinct summation of the lakshanas of Dharma:
All the sayings of dharma are with a view to nurturing, cherishing, providing more amply, endowing more richly, prospering, increasing, enhancing, all living beings: in a word, securing their PRABHAVA…
All the sayings of dharma are with a view of supporting, sustaining, bringing together, upholding all living beings – in a word their DHAARANA…
All the sayings of dharma are with a view to securing for all living beings freedom from violence. In a word, AHIMSA.
It is because of these characteristics of dharma – prabhava, dhaarana and ahimsaa – that we therefore speak of Raj Neeti. For while “Raj” may be substituted for what we call today, the state, neeti is more properly translated political ethics rather than ‘politics.’ ‘Neeti” connotes: conduct; propriety; policy; a plan; politics; righteousness; morality. The ethical element of Dharma is always present in the Hindu practice of politics.
If the politics we practice is bereft of these three attributes then we are practicing adharma  and in this instance, tyranny, injustice or anarchy.
DANDA:
Now how does the State achieve all these noble ends? Our shaastras advise that the ruler/executive must possess DANDA. Meaning a “staff”, it signifies punishment, chastisement, subjection, control, restrain. In a word, the State must have possess BALA – “power,” “strength,” or “coercive force” to ensure the law of the fish, matsya nyaya (big fish eating little fishes), does not prevail.
While there was a brief period of Raam Raajya, when everyone observed Dharma and there was no need for danda, those days are long gone. As was stated in MhBrt Shanti parva 68:8
There is no other justification for the king to exist than to protect in every way, the people. For protection if the first foundation of all social order. It is from the fear of danda that people do not consume each other: it is upon danda that all order is based.
Our task in the present is to therefore insist that our political leaders create the conditions to secure our ‘protectedness’. It is for this reason that over twenty years ago, a group of us right here in NY identified the Physical Security Dilemma of Africans and Indians in Guyana. Indians might  take political office because of their numbers in a Guyanese democratic system, but unless the leaders possessed the bala to enforce the danda,  they would always be at risk because of the matsya nyaya. We recommended that they make the Disciplined Forces – the repository of bala –  representative of the country’s population and the state be federalised. To no avail. So today in Guyana, Indians have become a minority in population and without protection, once again.
AAPAD DHARMA: IN TIMES OF EMERGENCY
It must not be thought that the principles of dharma, are so straight laced that the forces of darkness, might be allowed prevail over its practitioners. The exigencies of circumstances altering the application of Dharmic principles to Raj Niti is most graphically illustrated during catastrophic  ‘emergencies’.
When political, social and economic conditions become such that life, or the state itself, is threatened with destruction – in such an abnormal time or emergency, aapad kaal – then all must be done for self preservation.  “It is better to be alive than dead; alive a person can order his life again.”  Shanti parva 141:65
“The king and the people should, in times of distress, protect each other: this is the abiding dharma of all times.” SP 130:30
During Aapad Kaal, therefore, the state must take whatever steps that are necessary for the survival of the society. After the emergency is over however, the principles of Dharma must be reasserted. Or the state itself will fall victim to adharma. It’s a fine line to tread.

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