Farah Adeed |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a wounded lion in Indian politics. He wanted to make India great on the tenets of a self-defined Hinduism. He tried but he failed. He wanted to be a hero who would have changed the fate of the poor in Indian. He made several attempts but all in vain. Then he wanted to win the upcoming elections. He again tried but it backfired. For Modi now it is do or die.
Pulwama tragedy has proven a blessing in disguise for Pakistan for five reasons. First, Pakistan has remained peaceful, restrained and logical since the day one after Pulwama attack. Second, Pakistani media remained graceful, a promoter of peace and an advocate for dialogue between Pakistan and India.
Modi is bad for Pakistan but he is surely worsted for India.
Third, opposition and government in the country decided to keep everything aside and stood along with the armed forces of Pakistan to give a message of decent unity. A collectively positive approach adopted by Pakistan helped her achieve the attention of the international community and appear as a responsible state. Fourth, the state of Pakistan now has to officially disown any non-state actors it has been using as its strategic tool.
Fifth, Prime Minister Imran Khan is a statesman who exerts considerable influence over the military establishment in Pakistan and has his own policy when it comes to peace and order. In other words, it is the win of reason, confidence, sanity, and grace in the case of Pakistan. India, an ideal developing state for many in and outside Pakistan, has disappointed her admirers and lost the game on three fronts.
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Firstly, India is no longer a secular state where basic principles of democracy are not only written in the constitution but are also genuinely practised and valiantly defended. Secondly, Indian media is a partner in crime when it comes to politicization of murder of more than 40 Indian soldiers. Post-Pulwama Indian war-mongering policy exposed the sheer lack of seriousness, deliberation and journalistic ethics in the Indian media ministry.
Thirdly, Indian democracy is so fragile and vulnerable that it can easily be hijacked by a person who even was not able to deliver something substantial during his tenure as Prime Minister of the country. PM Modi has lost the battle but he is the guy who is not made to concede. He is now telling stories to Indian youth that they don’t have required weapons to defeat Pakistan.
Pulwama tragedy has proven a blessing in disguise for Pakistan for five reasons.
Elect me once again, I’ll buy more artillery and destroy our neighbour, he implicitly conveyed to his haters and followers. It clearly means he is setting new trends of election campaigns whereby a politician after serving as Prime Minister will enlist the names of weapons e.g. jets and guns to maximize his political support.
Modi is on his way to capitalize it. As a matter of fact, it is a moment of shamefulness for Indian democracy that a person after serving five years is not talking about what he has done to improve economy, education or foreign policy but telling his people that he has found the way to destroy Pakistan, and will turn it into ashes if elected to power again.
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It is the high time that Indian intelligentsia, rational and independent journalists, robust civil society and opposition parties get united against a constant threat to their democracy. Modi is bad for Pakistan but he is surely worsted for India. He can only use force against Pakistan that can be countered but he can destroy Indian secularism, political inclusiveness and the rule of law without being questioned.
It takes years to establish democratic norms but it takes days to destroy them. Most of the developing states are trying to become what India has decided to lose at the moment. The situation is alarming since a major chunk of country’s youth is behind PM Modi and his extremist vision of making India a Hindu state.
Wake up India! For Modi it is now do or die.
The writer is a political analyst.