Man and man
Yakub Memon has become
a celebrity with the Indian media. The print and the electronic media have
given space and time disproportionate to someone who had been an abettor in
snuffing out more than 300 innocent lives. Major Indian newspapers have devoted 4-6 full pages as to what he ate
the previous night before his execution, what breakfast was served to him, what
were his last apocryphal words , how he walked to the gallows etc as though he was a martyr whose last moments
were to be captured for posterity. He died with regret, but not regretted by
all. Even his family members felt that he had to pay for his own and his
brother’s sins.
What an irony! Four days
before Yakub was executed, a great son of India died while performing his
duties as an inspirational teacher to the young men and women of India who were
ready to launch out on their career. Abdul Kalam died without regret, regretted
by all. Yet the media gave coverage to both –in fact more to Yakub than to the
former President-an act of utter thoughtlessness and crass indiscretion. Kalam was
a Man of peace, the other a man of violence. Kalam has left behind an enduring impact, the other’s
evil existence will be buried with his bones .The silver haired former
President endeared himself to everyone of any age, gender , religion and caste.
The white haired Yakub harboured a religious vendetta and was hated even by
those who opposed his death sentence. One was a patriot, the other was a fervid
traitor. Kalam was love and gentleness personified, Yakub was full of hatred
and ruthlessness. Kalam cultivated humanity, Yakub destroyed humanity. What a
pity! Our media spaced itself between a Super human and a sub human.
On the day President
Kalam was laid to rest, the media was fiercely debating about the rightness and
wrongness of Yakub’s execution. There is
no point in covering the debate that had different lawyers, politicians and
journalists speaking all at the same time( a daily comedy show on the TV) to
make or reject the plea for the abolition of the barbaric death penalty . It is
ironical that the Home Ministry’s advice to President Mukherjee to say “no” to
the mercy plea was conveyed by the Home Minister, a strong believer in Hindutva
ideology. It is surprising that the BJP that champions the cause of the Hindu
nationalism as though it needed such espousal against imagined opposition to it
and carries Hindu tenets forever on its sleeves has forgotten the story of
Aswathama in the Indian classic, the Mahabharata. The heinous killing of all
the young Pandavas was the most heart wrenching incident of the Kurukshetra war
between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Lord Krishna with his mission to restore
dharma(that which sustains the harmony and stability of the universe) and destroy ‘adharma’(that which is not in accord
with ‘dharma’)) could have severed Aswathama’s head with his Sudarshana chakra (spinning disc-like
weapon)but he chose to let him live for 3000 years in Kalyug roaming in pain with his body full
of oozing warts. He is cursed to be forever despised and receive no love or
courtesy from mankind.This is Lord Krishna’s punishment for Aswathama to be in
eternal pain and suffering, despised and scorned.
The Mahabharata has many lessons for mankind and one of them is the
futility of revenge killing. It neither acts as a deterrent nor as a
punishment. This is proved in the case of Yakub who had been a part of the
savage killing of 300 innocent people. The hordes of suicide bombers do not mind
being blown up if they could blow up a whole lot of others who are not of their
clan. Death is a finality; it subsumes both life and suffering. But life
sentence that makes one go through hardships and pain of living is more of a
deterrent than just being gibbeted. A lonely life of physical hardship within
the four walls of a cell in jail, hated and shunned by the rest of humanity is
far more excruciating than being hung on a gibbet where even the pain of death
does not last for more than a minute. It is a pity that our judicial system has
the penal option to choose between the gallows and incarceration for life.
It has been an unusual week when we lost a Man of Peace, a patriot, a
scientist, a teacher, a lover of children, a mentor of youth and a gem of a human
being. He collapsed even as he was
performing his duties as a mentor to hundreds of young management graduates. His speeches, actions, and conduct all through his
life point to his firm belief only in positive deeds that would save and nurture
humanity and never in deeds that give
man the power of the divine to take the life of another of the Lord’s creation.
The power to create and the power to destroy is solely that of the Lord. Man has
no claims to make with regard to the Creation of the universe that includes
himself also. When he has no power to create, how can he usurp the Lord’s power
to destroy?
All thinking and sensitive individuals in the country will feel
disconcerted and troubled at our Media’s thoughtless elevation of Yakub to the
status of a hero and giving him a hero’s farewell. It was the public- particularly
the aam admi and aam aurat who stood in a serpentine queue to pay homage to the
People’s President, who restored some semblance of sanity to the nation from
the reckless media obsession with the people’s killer. The ordinary men and
women in the remote corner of South India had greater perspicacity to
distinguish between Man and man. Though they have not been schooled in
philosophy and theology, in cosmology and Weltanchauung (a comprehensive
view or personal philosophy
of human life and
the universe), they displayed the intuitive perception of
Kalam, the Man who subscribes to the Hermetists’
definition of ‘the human on earth as a mortal God’ and ‘god in heaven as an
immortal human’. Hope the media learns from the ordinary people of India to
distinguish between Man and man.
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