Slaying Demons

Each year, Dussehra offers a timeless lesson of the triumph of the good over evil. The effigies of Ravana, towering with their ten grotesque heads, symbolise the many evils humanity must overcome. For India today, those heads are all too real. From Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of terror exemplified in the barbaric Pahalgam terror attack to US President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs, to the ever-pressing burdens of energy shortages and climate extremes - the country faces demons on multiple fronts. There is another Ravana lurking within in form of the Opposition’s persistent bid to fracture India along caste and religious lines.

The Pahalgam outrage in April this year where terrorists massacred Indian civilians by segregating them on basis of religion was a grim reminder of Pakistan’s unchanging playbook. The government’s response was swift: suspension of elements of the Indus Waters Treaty and targeted military operations – Operation Sindoor and Mahadev - to eliminate key terror operatives.

If security challenges are one set of heads, trade pressure is another. America’s tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Indian exports have unsettled markets, cut into jobs in textiles and gems, and exposed overdependence on a narrow set of buyers. Its stringent fee on H1 B visas have jeopardized aspirations of many Indian households. Yet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has sought to turn adversity into advantage. Fresh trade pacts with Europe and other blocs (including strategic convergence with our rival China), a renewed push for ‘Make in India’ and an expansion of digital and physical infrastructure all reveal a strategy of resilience.

India faces a more insidious domestic danger in form of an irresponsible Opposition, which has often peddled anti-India narratives instead of calling the ruling government to account on actual issues. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s relentless spewing of vitriol on the government while casting aspersions on the functioning of paramount bodies like the Election Commission has threatened to undermine unity at a time when India requires collective resolve to withstand foreign hostility and economic strain. By playing identity politics, the Congress and other parties of its ilk have tried to weakened the national consensus needed to sustain security doctrines.

Dussehra’s symbolism offers an answer. Just as Rama’s arrow felled Ravana not through brute force but through precision, India’s way forward lies in steady focus. Militarily, that means deterrence against terror sponsors. Economically, it means diversifying trade, fostering innovation and reducing dependence on any one foreign market. Politically, it requires rejecting the false narratives of caste warfare and affirming a unifying vision of development and dignity.

Modi’s government has shown flashes of that resolve. As the effigies burn tonight, the lesson is not only about good vanquishing evil but about vigilance. Demons reappear, sometimes in different guises. While one head wears the mask of cross-border terror, another wears the armour of economic coercion and the garb of domestic demagoguery. All must fall.