It was on an Indian national day that the boys and girls of
Indian origin of a high school in the US had staged a show. The theme, ‘The
Incredible India’ was true reflection of the Indian media, pretentious,
boastful, frivolous and tedious. The amusement was writ large on the faces of
the audience. The uncanny smile said it all. The unsuspecting innocent kids had
made a laughingstock of themselves mimicking their native media craze. They did
not realize that the audience was not all Indian.
India is unique in many ways, from its proud heritage, architecture, pre-Modi
philosophical pluralism, glamour and amazingnatural beauty to miles and miles of
roads littered with human defecation on daily basis. Its number of illiterates
and poor, each, exceeds the entire population of Pakistan. It isranked one in
the worldfor rapes. Two hundred million untouchables are lesser humans and for
its oppression of the minorities India is beinggraded worst in human rights
violations.
Modi can go berserk. Anyone in his place, an uneducated, uncouth petty tea
vendor without a worthwhile background, social or political, catapulted to the
highest position in the most populous democracy in the world could have gone off
his rocker.Only an exception would keep hissanity intact. But then what went
wrong with everyone else in this gigantic mass of land and living beings, the
land of intellectuals, writers, philosophers and humanists,exceptional men and
women, who have done India proud. Why are all the existing big names notup in
arms in this defining and most consequential time in Indian history. Why the
great have been outdone by a pigmy? Why the fascist narrative of a bigoted
reactionary has overshadowed the grand vision of Gandhi and Nehru. Pakistanis
would shiver at the prospect of handing over their country to a fanatic like
him. How can a billion and a half Indians afford a peaceful night sleep with
Modi at the helm of affairs.
There is a popular saying in Pashto which means that the biggest masochist makes
the biggest sadist. Only a Modi biographer could tell the miseries poor boy
Modimight have gone through before being picked up by the RSS goons. There is a
lot hidden behind his animal behaviour. Only a good Indian psycho analyst might
be able to fathom the dark side of his life.
The founding fathers of India had the vision to realize that a lasting edifice
of the Indian Union could only bebuilt on the concept ofsecularism. A large and
heterogeneous population, a strong caste system and variety of colour and creed
had never allowed India to remain united in the recent and distant past. Fascism
and racism are the ideologies that must lead India to fragmentation. Modi’s
one-point agenda to marginalize the minorities beginning with the largest
minority, the Muslims, has lost focus on many core national issues. In form,
substance and methods he is a Nazi to the hilt.
The biggest damage Modi has done to India is to politicize its military. Its
institutional esteem is at stake. The DGMO of any army is a highly regarded
professional. He plans and conducts operations. His statements ought to be
pragmatic, based on cold-blooded military logic. When the Indian DGMO appears
again and again on the media, telling lies about the Indian surgical strikes and
Pakistani intrusions into Indian territory to please his saber-rattling
political bosses with no evidence to show on the ground, he loses respect. An
Indianarmy chief making as preposterous a claim as his ability to take on China
and Pakistan together, only makes professionals across the world laugh out loud.
Modi has arbitrarily changed the special status of Kashmir, an established
disputed territory. He has taken over nine million Kashmiris hostages for the
last almost one year. He is killing the Kashmiri youth at will. The Indian army
continues to leisurely indulge in ceasefire violations across the LoC and
international borders. It is well aware that the bombing and shelling create
little impacton the Pakistan military. They kill only the civilians, men, women
and children. Safoora Zargar, a woman journalist is in prison for speaking
against Modi’s atrocities. She is pregnant with accompanying complications. The
Hindu judge rules that she must suffer for inciting dissent.The Human
Rightsorganizations all over the world writhe in frustration and pain. The world
should wait, the history tells until a Hitler strikes.
Unfortunately, under the present geopolitical realities, Modiseems to have been
caught in a no-win situation. Every Pharaoh must blunder into his Moses. So has
Modi. India’s sly maneuvers on Indo-China border with the intent of annexing
Ladakh, a disputed territory like Kashmir were picked up by China pretty early
in the day. According to my favourite, General (retd) Tariq Khan, ‘China landed
five thousand troops in Galwan Valleydominating the only communication link to
Indian Daulat Beg Brigade…now totally unsustainable and operationally
untenable’.China has by this one move also secured the CPEC project against
India’s nefarious designs.
If India persists in its folly, it will be repeating ‘theHimalayan Blunder’ of
1962. Discretion is the best option for India, as it knows like everyone else
does that Indian military is mortally scared of the Chinese. I agree with Gen
Tariq Khan that India, for face saving, claims that it would be able to resolve
the issue bilaterally. Realistically, ‘the deed is done’ for India. The
situation is irreversible. Ladakh is lost with its strategic implications that
should be of serious concern to India. This is an end to India’s dream of
regional leadership and its friends’ fallacious hopes for finding a regional
match for China. Modihas no one else but himself to blame for leading ‘the
incredible India’ up the garden path.
(Major General ®Askari Raza Malik hasauthored the book ‘Pakistan in Search of a
Messiah’)