Divide and thrive

The many versions of the Ramayana within the country are well known, but the text has also travelled into the rest of Asia, taking on forms that would be unrecognisable to many among its followers

The British came up with it first, as a formula to keep the natives under control. But in a quintessentially Indian way, the brutal ways of the coloniser have become that of the colonised. Successive governments have used “divide and rule” as a substitute for governance and this year, in a violent and interminably long campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, it has been elevated into a promise for a better future — bring us in and we will ensure that there is no “other”.

Unnervingly, however, all of this is being presented under the cloak of tradition: That it is