It’s common knowledge that political alliances in India are more temperamental than teenage romances—you never know when a break-up is looming, or when a new romance is on the horizon. Even by those standards, Madhya Pradesh made news this week, with Jyotiraditya Scindia joining the BJP. Of course, the story would be incomplete without the sore ex complaining bitterly that the break-up was unexpected.
Let’s take a peek at the Mahabharata today. We’ve all heard the clichéd boast of the epic: “What is here may be elsewhere, but what is not here cannot be found anywhere”. But what is in there, really? Very shrewd political advice, for one thing. Take for instance the politics of dissension, exemplified by the advice of the minister, Kanika. He advises Dhritarashtra to create conflict among his enemies, and narrates the story of a jackal in the forest, who exemplifies this brand of Machiavellian politics.
There was once a jackal who lived with his friends in the forest—a tiger, mouse, and a mongoose. There was also a well-built deer in the forest, whom the tiger had tried to kill several times, but the deer was too nimble and quick-footed to be captured. Now the jackal, who was talented at gaining his own ends, hit upon a plan to kill the deer with the help of his friends. Accordingly, the mouse bit off the deer’s feet as it lay sleeping, and the tiger killed the helpless deer, who could not run away. Then they all decided to feast on their kill together. The jackal told his pals to take a bath and come back for the meal, and promised to guard the deer carefully.
The tiger came back first, and found a worried jackal waiting for him. “I’m rather disappointed,” said the jackal. “The mouse was just here, and he claimed that he was responsible for killing the deer, not you.” The proud tiger was affronted. “Well, I will make my own kills from now, and live by my own strength. I need no help getting my prey”, he said, and walked away in a huff.
Then the mouse returned from his bath. “Listen, mouse”, the jackal said, “The mongoose was just here, and he doesn’t seem to like venison much. He was saying that he prefers to eat mice, instead.” The terrified mouse scurried away as quickly as he could.
Finally, the mongoose arrived after his long bath, and saw the triumphant jackal all alone. The jackal said to him, “I have defeated all the others, and they have surrendered their portion of the meat to me. If you like, we can have a fight to decide which of us gets to feast on the deer today.” “If you’ve defeated the quick mouse and the mighty tiger, I do not stand a chance”, said the mongoose, and he went away, too. Then the happy jackal feasted on all the meat himself, without anyone to oppose him.
Kanika is summoned to be Dhritarashtra’s adviser, and his politics in the epic stands in stark contrast to Yudhistira’s unqualified forgiveness. But perhaps, Kanika can teach us a thing or two about politics today, because our state government in Karnataka is not faring any better than the Centre. We have no idea what is happening with the rebel MLAs, and DK Shivakumar, whom none of us need an introduction to, for all the perfectly wrong reasons, just became the president of the Congress in Karnataka. With the longstanding rift between DKS and Siddaramaiah, do we even need a jackal to push a party with a death-wish over the cliff? Go figure.