A motley group of political parties coming from varying background and even differing ideologies (in some cases not having any ideology is also good ideological match and reason to come together) calling as INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) have decided to portray themselves as the challengers and have yet, unwittingly or maybe as part of some larger plan decided to stake their own team I.N.D.I.A. in the game of political chess.

Undeniably for this political group, it is as much about survival as it must have been for the Crown Prince Duryodhana when he decided to challenge and defeat Dharmaraja in Game of Dice rather than honourably take on him in the field of battle. The ‘strategy’ behind the move can be lauded or criticised depending on which side of the political spectrum one stands but the moot question still remains, should the Nation be the stake? Can INDIA be staked? What if this challenge falls flat? What if the group calling themselves as I.N.D.I.A. develop internal schisms moving forward (which has been the case in the past too whenever such Alliances have been cobbled up) due to their internal contradictions and splits from within? Would that be considered as a split in I.N.D.I.A.?

This political game which has been unleashed on the Nation may give a premature sense to the brains behind this strategy a sense of having pulled off a master stroke by naming their motley political group as I.N.D.I.A. (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) yet, there is no denying that whenever the Nation is staked, there is only something to lose for everyone in it. Even Duryodhana was assured by his Advisor and Uncle Shakuni that his plan to draw his more powerful and popular Cousin Yudhishthira to take up the bet was guaranteed to succeed and that, there would be no coming back for the ruling Pandavas, ever.

Those who are getting confused with the analogy being drawn let me tell you a short incident from a long story from the history of this land – The Mahabharata. Once upon a time in Bharatavarsha, there was a Crown Prince called Duryodhana. The Prince right from his childhood had been fed on a staple diet of misplaced aspirations along with large doses of sense of entitlement that the Throne rightfully belonged to him and was his for the taking wherever he decided to have it for himself. All through his years of growing up, he was constantly instilled with misplaced confidence by his siblings, other conspiring courtiers and advisors around him with vested interests who knew that their own survival hinged on the survival and success of the Prince.

The Prince was jolted out of his own manorajya (Kingdom of Dreams) when unexpectedly fate threw up a Challenger in the form of Yudhisthira, the affable, hard-working, honest and industrious Man with a vision. The challenger, Yudhisthira was (as viewed by Crown Prince, Duryodhana), a rustic who had grown up as and amongst the common man away from the corridors of power with his parents and siblings who lived the life of hermits. Yudhisthira had 2 major sources from where he drew this power – his steadfast belief in Dharma (Righteousness or in our context let us consider it as Honesty) which led the people around him to view him as the Hope for the Future of the Land and, his devoted, invincible siblings. For his siblings, the word of Yudhisthira was a command which was to be obeyed. That was the type of loyalty he commanded not just from his siblings but everyone who had come across or engaged with Yudhisthira in any which way.

Duryodhana quickly realised and sensed that the politics of the land was witnessing an unprecedented tectonic shift. Clearly, the mood of the people as well as of those powerful satraps who shouldered the responsibilities of Administration (do we refer it as ecosystem in our modern-day parlance) shift their support in favour of Yudhisthira – the torchbearer of Dharma. Duryodhana decided to shake off the Challenger by hounding him at every possible opportunity including unsuccessfully attempting to eliminate his support structure. Soon the wheel of destiny and the fortune of the land turned in favour of Yudhisthira who became the unchallenged Sovereign Emperor of the entire land rendering the distraught Prince to have his own some fiefdoms of power which were subservient to the Sovereignty of the Emperor Yudhisthira. The Nation flourished and started witnessing some never-seen-before progress while, Yudhishtira continued with his policy of treating equally every State within the Empire while bearing no animosity within the States irrespective of their allegiance at heart.

Time passed leaving the ever-restless Duryodhana left licking his self-inflicted wounds and his ever-increasing dissatisfaction with what he had as his own, Hastinapur. Duryodhana was constantly fanned by the sycophants around him who brought to him one-after-another schemes of conspiracy which all fell flat on their face. The more they schemed the more it boomeranged on them.

Finally, when nothing seemed to be working out in his quest to reclaim the dominance which he had seen and enjoyed in the past, Duryodhana got down to make his moves with his closest advisors. Deep within Duryodhana was possibly was aware that he could never defeat the Yudhisthira backed by the Pandavas in a straight contest or in any form of display of strength. Advised and egged by his advisors, Duryodhana decided to lure Yudhisthira to stake their Kingdoms in a ‘winner takes all’ game of dice. Duryodhana would surely have weighed the consequences of the outcome of the ‘game’ either which way it turned out. He was even counselled by the few wise men left in his camp that, the Nation was not something to be staked but, fuelled by his unbridled greed for domination as well as the depraved sense of his deemed entitlement, Duryodhana refused to heed to any of the rare voice of sanity emanating in the midst of all the conspiring minds.

What followed once the Nation was agreed as the stake ended in Mahabharata – the greatest destruction ever witnessed by mankind and changed the future of this land for all times to come. It is said, those who forget history, are condemned to repeat it. Surely, the challengers branding themselves as I.N.D.I.A. don’t seem to know their history well enough and done seem to have been well introduced to our Puranas and the lessons to be learnt from them but, we can indeed hope that this time around those entrusted to carry the Sengol of Raj-Dharma can clearly see through the machinations of the conspirators and refuse to pick the bait. May better wisdom prevail on everyone.

For the sake of India, Don’t stake I.N.D.I.A.