Bombs for Freedom
Donald Trump moved to the Iranian front with a pose as though he had come to set the Iranians free from clerical domination and enslaving forms of Islamic social codes. After a month of war, if one thing has become clear, it is that the Iranians do not want to be "bombed into freedom." Ironically, the 'Peacemaker President' bombs schools while proclaiming his peaceful intent, and eliminates heads of state and bombards Arab neighbours to liberate the Iranians!

Having failed, the self-declared Emperor of the World changes his tone. I will wipe out the civilisation of Iran, he swears. "Our military will finish up the little that is left of Iran," threatens the Nobel Prize aspirant. What he threatens to do is nothing less than reduce Iran to the 'Stone Age' (3600 BC). Americans were the first to be horrified by such inhuman utterances. Christian believers were shocked beyond measure. Could a President who campaigned with a Bible in hand make such statements? Vice President JD Vance was heckled at the University of Georgia. "Jesus Christ does not support genocide," people cried. "You are killing children," others echoed. 

The Arrogant Need to be Self-Critical, lest They Fall
Pope Leo, mild by nature, insisted that Trump's threats do not fit in with the Gospel. Trump hastily retorted that the Pope was "weak" on crime and "terrible" on foreign policy. His words sounded like a veiled threat. But Leo remained unshaken. "I have no fear," he said. Jesus' teaching is clear. Pope Leo enjoys an 84 per cent approval rate in America. Believers are unanimous that Trump's style of seeking to annihilate an entire population does not fit in with Christian principles. Over 3,300 people have been killed so far in the Iran war. White House is reportedly covering up numbers. We cannot forget that over 70,000 have died both in Ukraine and Gaza. Remember, every individual counts.

There have been protests all over the Western world against Trump's Iranian venture. Crowds held out posters that said, "In America, we have no kings." Evidently, Trump needs to be careful. Viktor Orbán's defeat in Hungary is a clear warning to those heading towards illiberal democracy. Modi also needs to take care. Niccolo Machiavelli had counselled, "A sign of intelligence is an awareness of one's own ignorance."

It is a good message for those who are overconfident in their innate wisdom and inevitable success. Anup Sinha says, "Now it is normal to be arrogant, show off wealth, use strength and power to realise selfish goals and personal agendas." Cruelty to the weak is normal. In the Middle East, nations are more concerned about economic anxieties than about human suffering. Meanwhile, Iran's determination has only grown. They are fighting for their own homeland. They are ready to die to the last man. Their demands are clear: compensation for losses, withdrawal of American forces from the region, the right to nuclear weapons, and removal of all sanctions.

Decline/Collapse of Civilisations
As for the erasure of a civilisation, history teaches us many lessons. Most civilisations disappeared on their own. Historian Arnold Toynbee's view can be summarised as follows. A community rises to new levels of civilisation when it responds to great challenges under the leadership of a "creative minority." Giddied by success, if the creative minority gradually becomes an "oppressive minority," the community/country/civilisation moves toward decline or sudden collapse. The Carthaginians under Hannibal pressed so hard on the Romans that the Romans grew determined, pushed off the immediate threat, moved on to Carthage, and wiped out the city.

Rome took a longer time to yield to invading forces. With the Roman elite becoming merely a plundering and exploiting team, a downfall was due. Ultimately, the "barbarians" stormed the eternal city. One may ask who was more barbarous: the invading Germanic tribes or the oppressive Roman leadership? The same question may be asked again in our own days: who are more civilised: those who threaten to wipe out entire civilisations or the victims of such a barbarous assault? We do not wish to pursue the question further due to its sensitive nature.

But one thing we know: the originators of violence fall victim to violence themselves, in the long or short term. The civilisations of Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt, and the empires of Greece, Rome, Portugal, Spain, France, and England ... all vanished. Herodotus was unaware of the existence of an Assyrian civilisation.

Historians say the Assyrian period was exceptionally violent. Violence does not pay, as Europe discovered after two suicidal wars. America is slow to learn, since it prospered on arms production during the two World Wars, and thrives still on arms production for Ukraine, Gaza and Iran. Trump has proposed a defence budget of $1.5 trillion to Congress!!

Similar Instincts in All Leaders Who Are Not Open to Criticism
Trump can be criticised. Millions of Americans are doing so, including his supporters. Jeffrey Sachs calls him a 'madman, a megalomaniac.' But Mallikarjun Kharge is in trouble because he argued that Modi has been harassing his critics, Kejriwal, for asking for the graduation certificate of the Great Leader, and others for questioning the breadth of his chest (56 inches?). The RSS and BJP are free to say the worst about the Gandhi family, but a whisper against the Supreme Leader by the INDI Alliance is blasphemy. Mere political jokes are anti-national. Pakistan's blasphemy law is about the Qur'an and the Prophet; India's blasphemy norm is against any political criticism of the Prime Minister. But political criticism is every citizen's right. Evaluation of policies is every citizen's duty.

The linking of women's reservation with the delimitation bill was like making Bharat Ratna conditional on accepting an arrest warrant. The unjustifiable linkage was far too evident even for the blind to see, and its defeat was predictable. As Kharge said, it was Modi who killed the bill on women's reservation; the Opposition fought only the delimitation bill. Those who contrived the plot to combine the two bills together project an embarrassingly ridiculous image to a neutral observer, like the great Nobel Prize claimant who keeps bombarding Iran and issuing threats, becoming the laughing stock of the world.

Identities, Cultures under Threat
We spoke of civilisations under threat. In India, cultural identities and ethnic and regional pride are continuously under threat from the RSS-BJP alliance. Regional resistance to the delimitation bill was unanimous. Stalin burned the copy of the bill. He accused Modi of becoming a 'Mounaguru" concerning the fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka, not a Vishwaguru stopping the Ukraine war. Naveen Patnaik swore that Odisha would be the greatest loser if delimitation came through. Akali Dal felt that delimitation was discriminatory against Punjab. Mamata alleges that delimitation is meant to trifurcate Bengal, making it part of Bihar and Odisha.

Delimitation based on the 2011 census would benefit Rajasthan, Bihar and UP the most. Kerala and Tamil Nadu would be the greatest losers. What the Assamese have been worrying about is the "Hindification" of India. Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the AJP leader, feared that delimitation might promote the "colonisation" of Assam politically and culturally by North Indians; that Assam would lose its identity; that North Indian dominance would fully establish itself in Eastern India; and that indigenous Assamese would become second-class citizens in their own homeland. Gogoi laments that politicians from Bihar and Rajasthan are already contesting elections in Assam. When Nagaland Governor Nand Kishore Yadav observed Rajasthan Day in Kohima, referring to Rajasthan as the "Land of Kings," the anxiety was whether the North-eastern political leadership was surrendering to the business community.

The greatest fear, of course, is that if Lok Sabha numbers rise to 815, as proposed, it becomes an assembly merely to acclaim their Supreme Leader and clap for his achievements ... as it happens in China and Russia.

Majoritarians Intend to Wipe out Dissidents
TMC alleges that lakhs of citizens are missing from the voters' list, which is a direct threat to democracy. It is in such a context that Adityanath Yogi appears at Bankura, Bengal, and is welcomed by his supporters with a bulldozer decorated with a BJP flag. No matter what the Supreme Court says, the bulldozer is here to stay. It is increasingly becoming the symbol of Majoritarian India, annihilating the minorities. Modi sought to bring the national leaders together to discuss what approach to adopt to address the Iranian issue, while steadily undermining the confidence of the minorities. Mohan Bhagwat called for unity while fracturing Indian society along religious lines.

But Yogiji goes one step further. He believes in wiping out dissidents, adopting the bulldozer as his symbol. His vocabulary approximates that of Donald Trump; Himanta Biswa Sarma closely follows his UP master. Assam Nagarik Sammelan condemned several of Himanta's deplorable utterances. AJP President Lurinjyoti was raided of late. Bulldoze those who oppose, no matter what the Supreme Court says; in this, Sarma closely follows the Yogi formula. Yogi, addressing election crowds in Bengal, warned "criminals" who threatened Bengal's art and culture. What does he know about Bengali culture? His threat was to the so-called 'mafia.'

But who decides who the "criminals" are and who forms the mafia? Are critics and intellectuals criminals? Rajnath Singh expressed his fear of "white collar terrorists," as Kharge made a veiled reference to terrorism at the topmost levels. 'Urban terrorists' seem to be appearing at the highest levels of the Majoritarian machinery.

Elections Planned to Promote Majoritarians
Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India, says that any person born in India has a right to be on the electoral roll. But Mir Jafar's 346 descendants have been struck off the electoral rolls, after 15 generations!! Ask Rishi Sunak, of Indian origin, how many generations it took him to become the Prime Minister of the UK. Ask Kamala Harris whether she has the right to vote in America. Enquire of 5.4 million Americans of Indian origin how many of them voted during the last elections. Was Trump too indulgent towards Indian migrants? If Mir Jafar's descendants are disqualified because he betrayed India, what about Jagath Seth, who sold India to the British and financed Clive's Plassey venture? Is there some consistency in these central matters?

Media Studies estimate that nearly ?1 lakh crore was spent on the 2024 elections! Evidently, Indian elections have become plutocratic. The allegation is that the BJP spent ?1000 crore merely to split minority votes. Mamata says a trainload of 50,000 was brought from UP to influence Assam polls. A snake can be trusted, she asserts, but not the BJP.

At the BJP High Command's prompting, the Election Commission has prepared a list of "trouble makers" among TMC members, including MLAs and candidates. What criterion have they adopted? Can partisan policies be justified in a democracy? Modi accuses the TMC of neglecting North Bengal. All India has repeatedly accused Modi of neglecting Manipur, but he looked the other way. He promises to impose UCC in Bengal to unite all Hindus. Deceptions galore!

Empty Promises
Nikita Khruschev used to say, "Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river." Modiji promises a flood-free Assam. Amit Shah had done so, as though he controlled the weather; he assured the Assamese that illegal immigrants would be thrown out within five years. If he has not done so during the last five years, will he move an inch further in the coming half a decade?

Congress sees Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma following the "asset accumulation model" for himself and the "debt accumulation model" for the state. Shrinate holds the Government of Assam guilty of landing in a two-lakh-crore-rupee deficit, while the CM's family has been making a fortune. The debt burden corresponds to ?54,000 per person in the state. No wonder Rahul blasted, Himanta Biswa Sarma is the most corrupt Chief Minister in the country.

Expert social activists contend that populist welfare programmes just before elections cripple the state's long-term development goals, e.g., Himanata's promise of free LPG cylinders during Durga Puja! Immediate transfers of funds, such as Himanta's bribing of women with ?10,000 just before voting, cannot replace planned social welfare strategies with long-term benefits in view. Cash transfers must be combined with structural provisions for social well-being, effort, purposefulness, and long-term productivity and growth. Encouraging cheap dependence is not helpful in the long run. Election bribery weakens democracy and damages social outcomes.

Meanwhile, India's GDP has slipped to 6th place after the US, China, Germany, Japan, and the UK. Premature boasts have crippled our immediate future.

Never Be Blind to Long-term Consequences
Trump should have considered the long-term consequences of his Iranian blunder. The attack on Iran has merely radicalised the Shiites. Iran says 30 million fighters are ready. He was unperceptive of the future, like George Bush. Modiji seems to be selling himself to the crowds. Beware! Dom Moraes once said, "An Indian is not part of a team; he is part of a mob." That accounts for the mob subordination of this country. All take advantage of it: film-makers, politicians, godmen, and now BJP-RSS emotion-builders.

Save this civilisation from such exploiters!