Shastra Puja or weapon worship by defense minister Raj Nath has drawn admiration and criticism both. Some called it a great Hindu rite, some called it war mongering attitude. Both may be right and both are wrong.
The truth is that war in atomic age is unthinkable by any sane human being. And still we keep adding nuclear arsenal to national weapons stockpile. America has done it. Russia has done it . Pakistan and India are doing it. It is a deterrence to scare the other side. Fine. but worshiping French war plane Rafael does not make sense for India. It is ugly.
Buying planes and weapons is a big necessity, but with its great vision and pride India should keep its war rhetoric to a minimum. It is foolish and below Indian dignity to compete with Imran Khan the Pakistan PM, doing publicity of a plane with higher weapon carrying capacity. Such are the issues that are best kept at minimum noise. Well being and safety is the first responsibility of a democratic government of 1.3 billion people. Narendra Modi has been trusted with total faith with a grand majority in the Parliament of India. No one is arguing that issue.
But India should also be aware of studies like the one done by prestigious Rutgers University which predicts possibility of India Pak nuclear war by year 2025 and that can wipe off over one hundred million (ten crore) people, destroy the environment for generations to come, weapons heat creating large patches of infertile land, causing deceases and starvation, in areas affecting many neighboring countries. This is not a sword, a rifle or a machine gun game. It is unthinkable beyond our present history. But we can see the melted coins, destroyed humans and land in after effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, still displayed at UNO in New York, all nations promising never to repeat that misery.
Therefore, please, please forget the very thought of shastra puja. Just create deterrence, protection that you owe to the people of this land, but soberly.
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