THE AGE OF ALTERNATIVES

THE AGE OF ALTERNATIVES The Peaceful Method I N ancient times, ambitious people had only one arena in which to fulfil their ambitions—the battlefield. But the modern age has seen a seachange in this regard. Now we are living in the age of alternatives. There are many options other than engaging in battle. For an ambitious person, a number of peaceful alternatives are available. Those gains that people expected only from war are now achievable, on a far greater scale, by availing of peaceful alternatives. To illustrate these points, here are two parallel examples. The Mughal rule in India was a dynastic one. Aurangzeb (1618–1707) was the sixth ruler of this dynasty. He and his brother Dara Shikoh (1615–1659) had different agendas. At that time there was only one course available to settle the differences—that was battle. Therefore, a battle took place in which Dara Shikoh and his supporters were defeated and killed. In present times, there are two major political parties in India—the BJP and the Congress. These two parties have different agendas. Since India is a democratic country, both parties contest general elections to decide their fate and this principle works. Thus, in May 2014 in the wake of the general elections, the political leadership of India changed hands peacefully. This alternative is available in every country, even in those countries in which some groups are engaged in violence. Every day we hear news of bloodshed in these countries. This state of affairs is due to our leaders’ unawareness of how the times have changed. Those leaders who are engaged in violence in these countries are acting under the influence of an old mind-set. According to this mind-set, they are familiar only with the ancient model of kingship. They are unaware of the present democratic model. Although the result of this kind of violent struggle is terrible, the conditioning of the way of thinking of these leaders is so deep-rooted that they are unable to rethink their strategy. In recent times, several leaders have become victims of such violence, for example, Saddam Hussein (died 2006), Muammar Gaddafi (died 2011) and Abu Ala al-Afri (died 2015). Those gains that people expected only from war are now achievable, on a far greater scale, by availing of peaceful alternatives.