Politics of Duryodhana

Duryodhana is a shrewd politician who disguises his lust for power in democracy. He is manipulative, appearing to be a hero of the people; with Dushasana he apparently works for the interest of the people, but secretly he plays a false democracy game to lure people into supporting his rule. He's a tough, realistic leader who claims that Yudhisthira is soft; he errs too much on the side of mercy, love, affection, and truth. Yudhsithira is unable to lie. Duryodhana's philosophy is that his is a weakness. He tries to be popular by helping people like Karna and befriending the so-called, "common man," when secretly he is only welding the political alliances he needs to crush the opposition.

He speaks publicly, promising everything, but is only playing a bullshit democracy game; get people to love him enough to support him, and then take everything for himself. This is only public relations and self-promotion. The important thing for Duryodhana is power.

His friendship with Karna is also false. He only needs Karna to defeat the Pandavas. Duryodhan was a friend of Karna when everybody disowned and insulted him. Duryodhana stood by him, treating him as an equal and giving him power as a king; but in the end he uses Karna as a weapon for his own nefarious purposes.

When the people of Hastinapur followed the caste system, it was the cynical politician in Duryodhan who, breaking the caste system rules, awarded Karna, the son of the charioteer, a status which his skill, talent and knowledge deserved, making sure that everyone saw Duryodhana as the champion of the outcastes. Demonstrating himself as a man of the people, he neither saw his background nor the place he grew up. unlike his teacher Kripacharya who denied Karna in a competition which was based on the basis of his birth, instead he befriended the sutraputra and always hold him in high regards all through his life. But in this way, Karna is appealing to the democratic sensibility of the people so he can control everything later by taking power.

And Karna falls for the bait, never forgetting this gesture of the cyncial Duryodhana. Karna tuly does believe in friendship and so even rejects his mother and doesn't side with Pandavas even when Lord Krishna reveals that he is one of the Pandava .

The so-called friendship between Karna and Duryodhan is never genuine because Duryodhan, the selfish and jealous only manipulates Karna to challenge Arjun, the best archer.

Duryodhana also manipulates Bhishma and Drona, forcing them to swear to help him. He forces the Vrishnis to swear that they will fight to the death to support his cause. His lack of concern for his soldiers, who are slaughtered by the thousands, betray him as a cruel and envious despot with cynical intentions, equal to Hitler.

When Duryodhana has the opportunity to choose between Krishna and his army, he chooses the army and then makes them swear to die for him. He tells Krishna, make them swear that they will die for me. Make them swear publically. In this aspect he's like the Godfather in the mafia movie. He uses the Pandava's good side to his own personal benefit. He uses Karna. In the end everyone swears allegiance to Duryodhana and then has to follow his orders, just like the nazi officers who burned villages and gunned down innocent people in the Ukraine. They were just following orders.

Duryodhana is powerful. He's charming and charismatic. His own megalomania convinces him that he is goig to win. No one can stop him. He has everyone: he has Bhishma, the greatest of all the warriors, he has Drona, the military guru of the Pandavas, he has Karna, equal to Arjuna. He even has the personal army of Krishna himself, sworn to fight to the death to defend Duryodhana. How can he lose?

But at heart, he is a coward. And when Bhishma tells him to fight, he hides. This is a curious type of Royal ego, raja-abhiman. "I must hide to protect the king," he thinks. "The king is the most important. I must protect the king. I hide to protect his royal highness." And so Duryodhana hides to protect himself. He has no doubts about his own royal status, his invincibility, his absolute right to do whatever he wants, and in this sense he is just like Hitler; a dictator sure of his own power, ready to annihilate all the opposition. His only principle is survival of the fittest; and in the end cowardice, self-survival and self-aggrandizement. His concept of dharma is "Kill for me. I'm the best."

Arjuna, on the other hand, has self-doubt. This makes him a greater hero. He thinks. He questions. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Arjuna even questions Krishna: "Why are we doing this? What is all this violence for? I shouldn't fight. I can't fight my relatives, my teacher. This is crazy, it's madness." In the end, Arjuna fights for dharma, but he is a reluctant warrior until his son Abhimanyu is ruthlessly slain by the followers of Duryodhana.

But for Duryodhana, Arjuna's reluctance and hesitation to fight are his weakness. He's ready to ruin the world jus for his own ego. So his ego and ambition make him the real villain of the Mahabharata because he is ready to destroy the world for his own ego.

But Duryodhan is not stupid. He's much more subtle than we give him credit for. He's a man of the people. Karna loves him. He has the backing of the old blind king, his father. He's a practical ruler. He shows justice. He's charming and charistmatic. He bides his time, building popular support, before making his move. He doesn't cheat the Pandavas directly but uses Shakuni to cheat them at dice, exploiting Yudhisthira's weakness. He doesn't challenge Bhima's strength physically, but secretly poisons him. So Duryodhana is capable of great subtlety in his villainy; he disguises his evil intentions with charm and charisma.