Prafulla Kumar Mohanty
Protest by simplistic logic is
dissent or disapproval; against an idea or law or religious - nonreligious
value systems. But primarily it stems from a fear of survival constraints. This
fear is at the root of all human activities. When the Czarist regime became
tyrannical the havenots and suppressed revolted. Revolt, protest, rebellion ,
dissent are all close cousins. The tyrant too indulges in tyranny out of fear
of his own survival. Any protest or revolt against repression is also survivalist in its core.
Therefore what is sacrosanct about protest? All religious teachers propound
profound theories to live with some measure of happiness protesting against
Nature or the Human Condition. They create gods of exclusive dimensions and
often protest against each other's gods. In the pre- enlightenment ages fear
induced physicality enforced its own logic only to survive. It was more
emotional than intellectual. But when enlightenment dawned Reason was Supreme.
Reason gave birth to Science, Humanism and Progress. But reason doesnot have
well defined contours true for all ages and climes. The Romantics however, did
not accept reason as the panacea of all problems. The French Romantic Symbolist
poet Charles Baudelaire wrote, " There are but three groups worthy of
respect; the priest, the warrior and the poet. To know, to kill, and to
create." But how many human beings of any hue would subscribe to
Baudelaire's perception?
In the modern world the State,
Politicians and the Executive forces - the Bureaucracy, the Police and the
Corporates are the destiny makers. The state is controlled by the politicians
and the society by the other two groups. The producers -suppliers have their
'poets', that is innovators, the bureaucracy and politicians have their
creative idealism. Religion in this system becomes a subsystem. But what we see
today is a clash between the political law makers and the religious lawgivers.
The politicians too are in a sense 'religious' groups for they believe in the
ideals of certain master thinkers who had protested intellectually ( that is by
Reason) against religious ideals. This protest aimed at replacing the powerful religious Masters by
their own Socio- intellectual rebels as they believed in Progress. It was
nothing but a power struggle between two different ideologies: One
believing in Love, Submission to the
unseen powers controlling human destiny and the other believing in human Power
Controlling and guiding man's social destiny. Religious love was replaced by
human love of man and the king or the President - Prime Minister took over. In
the undeclared war between Love and
Power, the latter won as it became more acceptable for human well being. But power of any kind is divisive: it is
inbuilt, power is always challenged by rival aspirants for power.
What we see today is this clash
of power groups, be it religious, political, economic or even racial. The
Islamic state tries to push out of existence the Political establishments,
Democrats protest against the Republicans, the Labour against the
Conservatives, the Liberals against the Nationalists and so on. Today protests
manifest in the form of sanctions by the World Power Groups and terrorism by the weak. In India the Hindu
Nationalists try to consolidate the secular values of India in a ruthless
manner much to the chagrin of the religious minorities. Since the minorities,
especially the Muslims feel threatened by the current power group they protest
anything that is said or done by the ruling group. The Congress, Left Parties
and others who indulge in appeasement politics have decided to protest laws
that are meant for the general wellbeing of this country.
The CAA ( Citizenship Amendment
Act) and the proposed National Register of Citizens hold no ghosts or hidden
knives but certain groups feel that these laws are against their ideologies.
The Muslim population in India is growing whereas Hindus, Sikhs, and Parsies in
the neighbouring Muslim countries have
declined exponentially. The Indian administration aims at equal rights, equality
of law and uniform civil code. But the minorities cling on to the religious
laws and protest against the Government's new initiatives. The opposition takes
this protest as an opportunity to overthrow the current political system. Hence
protests are fuelled by them to create an atmosphere of unrest.
When protests turn violent the
society loses balance. Bloody protest means an undeclared war. Such things are
the repetitive features in human history. All these things happen and will
happen because there is no Reason controlling human affairs. All protesting
groups are motivated by reason only - they argue. But who will decide whose Reason
is more life sustaining?
