In social science or in the mechanism of every social system, the concept of Ideological subversion had ever been extant and practiced from the inception. Man as a social being is prone to adhere with his preferred group following a set up of social system. This social set up always develops upon the concept or ideology. This ideology may be good or bad. In a social system, every group always remains inclined to increase its influence over other group for the sake of replacing that by spreading its thoughts.
Ideology is an inseparable part of a social system. In general, a social system mainly props upon a religious and political ideology. In the beginning, often religious ideology overlaps the political thoughts. It’s because religion helps influencing the thought process of of mass of people and becomes a helpful tool as “soft power.” An another important facet of this religious move is, suppressing the “paradigm shift” may also become a tool to out root the another religious sect. History is fraught with so many instances about this religious moves. The long existing crisis between “Shiite and Sunni” in Muslim Community is a widely known paradigm.
On the same in the past centuries in Hindu Community, an aggressive rift between Shiva and Vaisnava sects been of much significance majorly in medieval period of history. Besides, Hindus observe the polytheism widely. Like wise the same rift of ideology we notice in Christianity in the name of Catholics and Orthodox Christians. These examples are being cited for the sake of ideological shifting, that had ever been the part of process in so many countries. When this religious crisis reached to a peak, it led to bitter conflicts in shape of religious-cum- political warfare. Here political ideology stepped on to overlap the religious thought process but eventually both got intermingled.
When an old established social order of a society that exists in shape of a Nation is decimated by the ideological concept of ” another group’; on the surface, it’s called regime change. But in fact it’s an outcome of “ideological subversion.” The concept of Ideological subversion is not a new one. It had ever been extant in every society by other names. The great leaders of world, in their own countries took resort to this concept in the past. Lenin out rooted the Czarist regime by infusing Communistic ideology. The same thing occurred in China.
Even the same process took place in every struggling Nation in the past to get free from the yoke of rulers. Not necessarily the only one kind of ideology was followed; whatever suited the situation, that was adopted according to circumstances. This “shift of thoughts” in the name of ideological subversion still supposed to continue in the human social system and in political arena.
On record, the theory of ideological subversion gained a prominence during the Cold War era. It was simply a tool to change the thought process of a country’s social order by introducing a new ideology as a reformative and innovative one. Side by side, this process of ideological subversion denied the present existing ideology of that country. The entire process is a time consuming long process and needs insistence on patience to gain the outcome. No matter how many long years it may consume.
This term was popularized by the Soviet Intelligence Agencies and policy was accredited to the name of Yuri Bezmenov. But whether it was an original idea of Soviet agencies as such? No, it was not, for it existed and practiced from time long ago. Simply it got recorded in modern political history as such. And, as it has ever been a fashion, once a “trade mark” is given to some one, he is presumed to be the propounder. Likely to that, Yuri Bezmenov is acknowledged for coining of this term and ideology.
The politics teaches us, to undermine a social system, silently capture its educational system and destroy it to change the thought process of generations to come. This was properly experimented by Britishers in India. Firstly, they came here as trader, then became ruler. The first most social transformation in the name of reforms they did were to destroy the old Hindu’s educational system. They introduced their own schools and succeeded in metamorphosing the mind set of big number of people who were able to influence the society at large. This introduction of their own curriculum helped them to rule over India for more than two hundred years.
Prior to Britishers, when Mughals invaded India they too aimed Hindus’ prominent centers of education. The prominent educational heritage of Nalanda and Taxshila are the glaring example of specific assault where world’s contemporary richest libraries were put on fire to annihilate every thing related to education system. These invaders knew, to reign over a country first step should be to destroy its intellectual properties. What was this? This was simply an attempt to hinder and destroy the existing thought process of a social system so an exotic educational pattern may replace it.
Pakistan, that came into existence just about seventy five years ago. They maneuvered to follow a different educational curriculum to change the thought process of their generations. They drafted their own history which begins from 712 AD only. The first Muslim invader Mohammad Bin Quasim is their hero( who never had any connection with Pakistani heritage.) Their all heroes of history are exotic people. Even modern history is taught with distortion in the light of Indo- Pak relationship. This is being done, as a part of change in thought process of coming generations. Just to raise this coming generation with a hatred feelings for Non Muslim or Kafirs and specifically Hindus.
This change in thought process, when hits adversely to any present regime, it becomes a significant tool of ” shifting of power.” And when this new authoritarian government too just proven fake in the name of stability, this entire process is given the name of “ideological subversion.” This ideological subversion also imply the time tasted British principle of “divide and rule.” It’s so pernicious for sitting/ruling political party, if she just ignores it, it my cause a great harm to its existence. In every Nation, foreign agencies work upon this theme and ever remain engaged to destabilize the existing regime. Now a days, a new term “eco system” we hear, this is also the part and parcel of this subversion that always works as toolkit to undermine the existing government.
The worth notice point is, the concept of ideological subversion is not of recent origin. From the very beginning of the human civilization, it had been present with different names and with different modus -operandi in every socio- political order of the world. In the history, we read about ” rebels and revolution.” Why a person becomes a rebel? Only when his mind is infused with some anti thoughts. And when innumerable “rebels” gather at a place and begin to implement a plan in a synchronization, it turns up into revolution. Though in the present political order, ideological subversion is taken in the form to destabilize a Nation’s political order without bloodshed or violence. But, violence never can be avoided when there is a tilt in political thoughts, yes it can be mitigated. But the insistence is on the point, the idea of subversion of thoughts has ever been in practice from the very beginning of the civilization. Penned by– Vinay Pharasi