Mir Jafar, Jaichand, and now Jyotiraditya Scindia. Then there is Brutus, Macbeth, and Vibhishan. Betrayal is the oldest trope in history and literature.
When it comes to betrayals the one phrase that has to be mentioned is ‘Et tu Brute?’. Now, it is not known whether this was just part of Shakespeare’s (or whoever wrote his plays) finesse as a playwright in Julius Caesar or something that Caesar actually said, when his ex-best friend stabbed him in the back, quite literally. Whatever the source of this iconic phrase maybe, one has to lament the fact that no one from the Congress or the media used this expression after Jyotiraditya Scinidia’s departure to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But then, one has to also contend that “Brutus was an honorable man” and when it comes to politics, ladies and gentlemen, honour left the room long back.
Betrayal, ‘dhokha’, ‘fareb’ — whichever dramatic way you qualify it in — has been an intrinsic part of politics. When it comes to power, which is the fundamental reason why anyone joins politics, a lot of things go out the window — and the first to meet its demise is invariably ideology. If there is anything that Scindia has proven, it’s that everything is transient in this world, especially one’s beliefs. How else can someone join the very party he was criticising just two days ago? Opportunism does not know time frames, clearly.
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It’s a tale as old as time
It’s a tale as old as time, the cliched line is important here, that betrayal is a very fundamental part of this civilization. From Brutus stabbing Caesar to Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus Christ for a couple of silver pieces. If a deity was not spared from the good ol’ stab in the back, what are mere mortals? The significant difference here is that thankfully, people don’t lose their lives anymore. At least, in most cases.
And it continued in history as well. The Mughal Empire’s quest for power is immortalised in history textbooks and is quite a case study in power politics. Son betraying his father who in turn betrayed his brother to assume the throne is not unfamiliar. The most well-known is the tale of Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh, who was the heir apparent to Shah Jahan, but was defeated by his younger brother who came to be known as Emperor Aurangzeb.
“Remember, remember the 5th of November” — the gunpowder plot to assassinate King James I by Guy Fawkes is considered ‘the’ face of treason, with an immortalised mask and all. While his plan failed and he had to face the gallows, his murderous plot to practically blow Protestantism out of England (what a fail!) was one of those unforgettable points of history.
Donna Marina, also popularly known as the woman who betrayed the Aztecs (not very subtle), and is reviled in Mexico helped the Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes topple the Aztec Empire by acting as his interpreter in the sixteenth century.
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When fiction is still stranger
They say truth is stranger than fiction, but in this case, literature has not been far behind in terms of political betrayals. Spoiler alert, for those who have not yet read these books.
The three major themes of the epic Mahabharat, effectively, are politics, power, and betrayal. The magnum opus of two warring families is filled with cunning characters who keep plotting treason against each other. The most interesting part though about the epic is that the plotting and the betrayal were practiced by both the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ side, by both the evil uncle Shakuni and Krishna, who was considered god incarnate.
Girish Karnad’s play ‘Tughlaq’ is also a masterful portrayal of the transient nature of rulers and how betrayals most often turn the wheel of empires. The play is rife with scenes of betrayal, beginning with Tughlaq killing his father and brother to assume the throne and ending with him killing those who attempted to assassinate him, those he once considered friends with the poignant exclamation — “Why must this happen, Barani? Are all those I trust condemned to go down in history as traitors?”
And one person who took inane pleasure out of the fact that to assume power you just have to be opportunistic and cruel — Niccolò Machiavelli. In The Prince, he very categorically stated, “If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared”. The guy clearly had issues.