THE din on Indian TV channels toggles between spewing hate and conjuring an enemy that can be cut into four. It’s what religion and nationalism on steroids does to a people.

Markandey Katju, the pacifist former supreme court judge, has tried every reasoned argument to seek a probe into the Pahalgam tragedy before beating the war drums against a nuclear-armed neighbour. Find the criminals to establish the masterminds, the judge says. But common sense or reason has few takers in a mob that a large part of India has turned into.

To make the unspeakable crime more grotesque, a security search was carried out for the Pahalgam suspects in a Sri Lankan plane that arrived in Colombo from Chennai. The tip-off from India suggests the culprits may have already dodged the dragnet and fled.

Stirring the political pot was a mythological allusion by the RSS chief to the Pahalgam massacre of 25 Indian tourists. Mohan Bhagwat quoted the Ramayana to demand retribution and destruction of the stone-hearted criminals. He reminded his followers of the epic war in which Lord Rama defeated and killed the king of Lanka for deceitfully kidnapping his wife during their exile in the forests of Dandakaranya.

There are a few problems with Bhagwat’s Rama-Ravana allegory. In the context of modern warfare, not least with nuclear-armed countries like Pakistan, the tempting recourse to religious metaphors could become problematic. As many Pakistanis would remember from enjoying the Ramayana TV serial on Doordarshan, which they were able to see on........

© Dawn