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The Modi-Doval doctrine of “Offensive Defence” marks its arrival

Gaurav Sansanwal
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The Modi-Doval doctrine of “Offensive Defence” marks its arrival

OpIndia.com’s last post on the Uri attack, ended with this line:

At the moment, we must just trust our army to do what is needed, “at a time and place of their choosing.”

It was written in the backdrop of the reported counter attack which had taken place, but which was denied by the Indian army. Given the fact that no one could ever say whether it was a covert strike or it never happened, it was wise for all to just wait. Wait for the army to give it back. And now that time has come.

After more than two years in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally given shape to what the now National Security Advisor (Ajit Doval), had once famously described as the “Offensive defence” tactic of dealing with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The surgical strike in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) should be celebrated, for it displays India’s righteous resolve to inflict measured punishment, on those who seek to bleed India with terrorism. At the same time, attempt should be made, to place this strike, within the ambit of a wider foreign policy doctrine, which India has clearly adopted, in the last couple of months- one that has “Offensive Defence” written all over it.

The Diplomatic Offense

Ever since the Uri army base was attacked, Prime Minister Modi has stayed away from knee-jerk reactions, and mindless chest-thumping. He has stayed in the background, and allowed the experts to do their job. A level-headed Sushma Swaraj was sent to expedite Pakistan’s “diplomatic isolation” – at the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly. As it turned out, the duo of a junior diplomat Eenam Gambhir, and India’s External Affairs Minister was enough to give voice to reason- something that was totally missing in the speech of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Any other government, and this would have been it. But little did Pakistan know that India had given up “strategic restraint”, in favour of “strategic retaliation”, and indeed “strategic isolation”. Top diplomats orchestrated the SAARC pull-out, by countries that matter, in the region. What is important to note is that the letters given by the likes of Bangladesh, and Afghanistan hold Pakistan just as guilty of spreading terrorism in their own countries. Therefore, what was “visible” was not arm-twisting by India, but the message that South Asia’s regional body- as a whole, had no place for Pakistan, given its establishment’s love affair with terrorism.

As far as the issues of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, and Indus Water Treaty (IWT) are concerned, the Prime Minister continues to be briefed by experts from the concerned Ministries. Chances are that the MFN status will be revoked. Business lobbies have also welcomed the prospect of such a revocation. So far as the IWT is concerned, India has announced its intent to scale up construction of dams, and move towards ending the unilateral concession, which it had granted to Pakistan. In doing so, India will not violate international law, for it will only be claiming its rightful share, as per the Treaty. Other options relating to a review of the Treaty itself, are also being considered.

Another major objective of our “diplomatic offense” has been responding to interference in Kashmir, by giving voice to the freedom struggle of Balochistan. In doing so, India has made it clear that the great game is not limited to Kashmir anymore. Open endorsement to the freedom struggles of Balochistan, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan was not made in passing. It is a discourse that India has held on to. Perhaps the first major step will be granting of asylum to Brahamdagh Bugti, whose application has been sent to Intelligence Bureau by the Home Minister, for vetting purposes. The final call will be taken by the Union Cabinet, soon enough.

The Military Offense

This is obviously not the first time that the Line of Control (LOC) has been crossed, but this is surely the only time (in recent memory) when the crossing has produced tangible results. This highlights the conviction that Prime Minister Modi has displayed. Gen (Retd) Bikram Singh, the former Chief of Army Staff, had the following words to say, in a TV interview:

“These kinds of operations have been done in the past. I’ll be honest with you .But, the scale at which it has happened, the political will after which it has unfolded is something to be appreciated. Earlier, it was left to the military to carry out. But this time the military operations have been supported entirely. I would say, they’ve been steered by political will, by political agenda.”[1]


The Indian Army, after Uri, clearly said that they reserve the right to retaliate at a time, and place of their choosing. The Prime Minister gave them the operational freedom, and the go-ahead to execute it as per their wish. Even so, the strike was a limited one, and conducted in a disciplined manner. The strike was on terrorists, and not on the military. The objective was not to take back the territory, but to send the message that such open attempts at infiltration will not be tolerated. What were the terrorists doing 3 kilometres away from the LOC, if not waiting for the opportune moment to infiltrate, quite possibly with the aid of cover firing from Pakistan Army? Such terrorist launch pads deserve to be targeted. Justice has been served, to the martyrs of Uri attack.

At the government level, immediate evacuation of border villages was ordered. This was done, quite predictably, to ensure that no civilian casualties are incurred, should Pakistan provoke India again, to save its face.

“Offensive Defence”

All this has been done, after engaging in more than two years of regular diplomacy. Attack after attack, PM Modi continued to engage. He paid a visit to Pakistan, and even laid a red carpet for a visit by their intelligence officers. All such efforts were subject to widespread condemnation by his own vote-bank, and yet he pursued them. This has helped, for the world can now see through the designs of the rogue state, which Pakistan is. India has converted its diplomatic setback into an advantage- one that it will now use to further justify its “offensive defence” doctrine.

The response of the international community illustrates that the world respects India’s choice of retaliation. In the statement by the United States (US), there was no condemnation, or censure of India’s strike. That NSA Doval was in touch with his American counterpart- Susan Rice, is further proof of the growing realisation that India has had it enough. Reports further specify that China, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have so far refused to issue statements de-legitimising India’s strike.[2] The fact that Pakistan is still giving contradictory statements regarding the surgical strike is causing further damage to whatever is left of its credibility. Till the time it doesn’t confirm, its so-called allies will have nothing to support it for. And if it does decide to confirm, it will end up implicating itself as a terrorist state.

The “boys” in Uniform have played well. And so has the man himself. Well done, Mr. Prime Minister.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5xy4R9VeIk

[2] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Surgical-strikes-US-slams-Pakistan-for-cross-border-terror-urge-calm-and-restraint/articleshow/54593508.cms

Jaane Mat Do Yaaron

rohitagarwal
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Jaane Mat Do Yaaron

It wasn’t very long ago that media (or press, as it was better known as) enjoyed near universal public trust and respect as the fourth pillar of democracy (the legislature, executive and judiciary being the first three). This because of its onerous role of keeping the other three pillars honest. It was rightfully considered as people’s watchdog, representing their voice against corruption, injustice, malpractices and all other forms of exploitation that the people were otherwise hapless to raise.

Not that there wasn’t cynicism against this even back then. Worries of big newspapers being in bed with politicians and bureaucrats have always existed. The classic Kundan Shah movie ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ was a tongue in cheek satire on this very relationship. The slapstick sequences including the hilarious Mahabharata scene apart, the movie portrayed mutual back scratching relationship between a newspaper editor and corrupt officials working towards the interests of some builders. Notwithstanding the huge success of the movie, the media continued to enjoy its high pedestal.

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Possibly the reason was that before the era of social media, they had a monopoly on dissemination of information. So, as a common citizen if I wanted to express my disagreement with their point of view, the best option I had was to write a letter to the editor of a leading daily, and hope like hell that it would be published. Even in the off chance that such a letter, criticizing the very people deciding whether to publish it or not, was published, I had no way of knowing how others reacted to it. Of finding out how many people out there shared my opinion, connecting with such like-minded people and joining my voice to theirs to make a chorus loud enough for it to be heard over the raucous decibel levels of the mainstream media.

With the advent of social media on ubiquitous smart phones and other devices, powered by ever rising internet penetration, all this has changed. The stranglehold that newspapers and TV channels had long maintained on information has broken. And how. Today, a single tweet of some of the big influencers on twitter (many of whom are ordinary citizens) often has more views / impressions that the viewership of large TV channels. And this visibility is available at the low cost of a smartphone and internet connection.

This has resulted in a situation where the word of a media doyen is no longer above scrutiny, questioning and rebuttal. Somewhere along the way, scandals like the Nira Radia tapes affair and the Essar phone tapping scandal exposed the cosy, incestuous relations that the journalist – politician – corporate triad shared. Where favours, inside information and favourable reporting is fully convertible currency. This caused a major dent in the people’s confidence and belief in the word of all journalists. With information tools now available, it was much easier for Mr Average Singh to start questioning the duplicity of some journalists, who were seen as partisan, building their stories around a particular narrative they wanted to push to the public. Such as the narrative of 2002 Gujarat riots, Narendra Modi’s complicity in the same and the whole fear psychosis around the hell that would break loose if he became the Prime Minister.

And then their worst fears came true. Not only did Narendra Modi become the Prime Minister, he also got a majority in parliament on his own. The cabal that had so doggedly fought to keep this from happening slowly came to realize why this was even worse than they had feared. Because suddenly the gravy train came to a grinding halt. Government patronage in the form of junkets abroad and exclusive access to corridors of powers, allowing wheeling and dealing journalists to play power brokers, suddenly dried up.

The resulting backlash was in form of a concerted malicious media campaign to show the government in a bad light in any which way. So a stone thrown by a drunk miscreant became a communal attack on a religious institution. Stray, stupid utterances by unknown nobodies became indicators of the government and ruling party’s evil designs. The narrative of rising ‘Intolerance’ in the country was actively promoted. Deprivation made some so depraved that they were even willing to go along with the narrative of Pakistan against that of their own country, possibly forgetting the difference between opposing the government and opposing the nation. Some of them continued in the mistaken belief that their role was not reporting information but ‘shaping public opinion’.

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The backlash to the backlash was on social media, particularly on Twitter. The same people who had reposed their faith in the leadership of the prime minister questioned started posing counter questions to the journalists, tearing holes into the narrative they sought to build. These journalists reacted by dismissing those questioning them variously as ‘Sanghis’, ‘Internet Hindus’, ‘Bhakts’ and ‘trolls’. Instead of engaging in a dialogue and justifying their argument, they even threatened those who questioned them and their narrative. Possibly because the narrative itself was indefensible, being built on half-truths, conjectures and heresy.  The tone, tenor, and even the language used by some of these so called journalists would give even the most abusive of trolls a run for their money.

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There has even been an underhand attempt to try and stifle the freedom of expression on social media, ironically by the very people who are supposed to be the guardians of free speech.

The outcome of all this is that today, media has fallen below politicians, bureaucrats, police and judiciary as a profession in the eyes of the people. The following two polls are an illustration of this.

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Mainstream media is already facing a crisis of survival because of the shift in the way people consume news and information, relying more and more on crowd-sourcing online rather than conventional sources. While most media players are adapting to this change in form, they also need to take into account the threat to the credibility of the profession as a whole primarily because of the actions of a few desperate individuals who’re unable to stomach their own fall from the pedestal they had placed themselves on. Though unfair, it’s common for the whole herd being labelled because of a few black sheep. It’s time for the rest of the herd – those who continue to do their job honestly and in an unbiased manner – to disown the black sheep and cast them aside.

Jaane mat do yaaron – change or perish.

Intermediary Caste unrest: Is the nation sitting on a powder keg?

Jai prakash Ojha
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Intermediary Caste unrest: Is the nation sitting on a powder keg?

The silent Maratha protests in Maharashtra demanding reservation and repeal of Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC/ST Act) is unprecedented because it has brought together the Maratha groups that were till now widely regarded as too heterogeneous & diverse to forge any unity of purpose. The underlying motive is not the repeal of SC/ST Act; the alleged incident of rape and then subsequent burning of the girl belonging to the Maratha community by some Dalit boys was just the trigger needed for ignition.

Politics, the cooperative societies and the sugar industry have been largely dominated by the community in the state and Dalit politics is hardly in a stage to offer strong challenge to it. When we talk of the SC/ST Act, it is worth keeping in mind that out of 45000 such cases in the previous year, the conviction rate was less than 10 percent. So, to say, SC/ST Act is being misused to a large extent, is simply exaggerated.

The root cause of the Maratha discontentment is no access to reservation in public jobs & educational institutions. Disconnect with higher education & global process and agrarian distress have led to worsening of their socio-economic clout. The fact that the Maratha protests have kept distance from OBCs and dalits makes it pretty clear that they nurse some grudge towards the groups that are beneficiaries of reservation.

Let’s get out of Maharashtra and notice such mass uprisings & reservation demands in states like Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan recently. The Patels, Jats, Gujjars and Kapus have been relatively affluent and dominant communities in agricultural hinterlands; they have enjoyed political power. All of a sudden, why they want reservation? Like the Marathas, they lack connect with global forces & higher education. Agriculture has deteriorated leaving public employment as the only viable option for the youths. When they see erstwhile marginalized groups doing better than them economically, their frustration multiplies.

The implementation of Mandal Commission report has legitimised the claims of dominant agricultural communities to reservation. It has widened the claims since reservation is now no longer confined to specific communities that had suffered historical atrocities. Reservation has become less about deprivation and more about political resource. All the communities think they can get reservation benefits if they have electoral numbers and strong community leaders. Since there is a ceiling of 50 percent imposed by the apex judiciary, the state governments can’t provide benefits to the demanding communities without curtailing the benefits of reserved communities.

This offers a Hobson choice for them. They are caught between the devil and the deep sea. The nation stands on the cusp of caste wars and it is high time, reservation policy is reviewed taking into account the changing socio-economic ground realities. Jats, Kapus, Marathas and Patels are feeling the pinch because there is a wide intra community socio-economic gap also.

The same applies to OBCs and Dalits. Only a small percentage has benefitted from reservation and the majority is still deprived. The reservation benefits have not evenly dispersed and have created layers within the OBCs/Dalits. Reservation boundary should have been process enabling groups to move within and move out based on socio-economic indicators but has any government thought about it? The status quo continues. No one wants to bell the cat.

Often one gets the lame excuse for inaction that reservation benefits can only be provided to those classes who are socially and educationally backward and economic criteria is simply unconstitutional. But then, how class became caste? Reasons for backwardness may not be caste alone but others also. The backwardness may stem from lack of education, lack of economic opportunities, lack of awareness and gender discrimination. Handicapped persons, transgender and displaced rootless people may owe their backwardness to factors other than caste. OBC reservation has a creamy layer which does not fall within the ambit of reservation; this layer is based on income which is an economic criteria.

Moreover, Mandal Commission while preparing the OBC list took 11 criteria into account – 4 were social, 4 were economic and 3 were educational. Economic yardsticks were always there and it would be naive to resist their introduction. Rather land possession should also be factored in economic yardsticks to strengthen the cause. Economic liberty is the very foundation of human emancipation and empowerment. If you want to empower a community, increase its economic choices & independence, education & health will see improvement and so will be the social standing.

Will the nation move away from the caste centric orientation of reservation and adopt the economic criteria and deprivation index? I doubt this will happen anytime soon. The judiciary, the civil society and sections of media may be nudging the political class to reservation review but our leaders seem too reticent and apprehensive of bringing the reservation genie out from the corked bottle. Don’t forget most of them are community leaders and adherents to vote bank politics. Social justice is akin to community justice. But then, portends are ominous.

More than ending backwardness and deprivation, the OBC reservation has acted as a political resource for the OBCs and the intermediate castes are annoyed, feeling cheated. The poor sections of the upper castes are also feeling victimized. Reservation benefits to upper OBCs whose socio-economic conditions are at par or even better than upper castes/intermediate castes in several states have led to intense heart burning. The unwillingness of the better off among reserved classes to abdicate reservation benefits in favour of their own less fortunate brethren, leave alone other social groups, has further muddied the waters.

In the coming days, there may be some sort of realignment of social forces as the upper castes & intermediate castes may come together for their cause. The options before the policy makers have constricted. With 50 percent of the population below 25 years and dwindling employment avenues, disconnect of the majority from globalization & education required for private sector entry and revival of identity politics based on caste & culture, the reservation politics may lead to more fractures in an already fragile social structure.

The importance of being Sushma Swaraj

Gaurav Sansanwal
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The importance of being Sushma Swaraj

This will be hard to believe today, but there was a time when Narendra Modi was a near-nobody in national politics. Way back in those times, a ‘Chintan Baithak‘ was organised in Shimla, post-2009 loss. It ended with the announcement that L.K. Advani will make way for the next generation. Sushma Swaraj, and Arun Jaitley were chosen as the new Leaders of Opposition. Both of them lacked the mass base that Modi can today boast about, but once ‘chosen’, they tirelessly gave voice to the anti-Congress , anti-Left perspective that was so badly needed in the country.

I strongly believe that the Anna movement was an important page in the history of BJP. The movement was a wake-up call. It made the party realise the importance of transforming itself from a ‘cadre-based’ to ‘mass-based’ party, and from an ‘ideology-driven’ party, to an ‘individual-driven’ party. The failure of traditional Left in India can be attributed to the failure in having successfully transformed, along the same lines. From introducing ‘membership by missed call’, to the search for a truly mass leader, a lot changed. Anna movement’s biggest success was making the masses realise the importance of leveraging their collective strength. It made politics ‘interesting’ again. It introduced a new generation to politics- a generation that BJP was eager to tap into its own party.

Modi’s sudden elevation in BJP was nothing short of magical. It was a carefully orchestrated ‘mission’. Nitin Gadkari got discredited due to leaked files (charges which turned out to be false later). Soon after becoming the President (almost overnight, following Gadkari’s fall), Rajnath Singh appointed Modi as the PM candidate, and Amit Shah as the incharge of UP. For the elections, Arun Jaitley was given his favourite seat, so was Rajnath himself. How they orchestrated this ‘mission’, will be a subject of history writing in the years, and decades to come. But the fact remains that while all of this was happening, there was someone who ‘allowed’ Modi to rise. She may not have had the mass base to win as big as him, but she had enough political positioning, to deny him one, by involving him in a prolonged internal feud of succession. She could have revolted, but she instead placated the ones who were revolting for her. She was the first one to rush to Advani ‘s residence, when he shook the nation by momentarily resigning from the party he not only founded, but built- brick by brick, and made it the national force that it eventually turned out to be. Mrs. Swaraj went to Goa, where Modi’s name was announced as the campaign committee chief. She gave him her stamp of approval, soon enough.

Sushma Swaraj was no Modi fangirl, something that looks like a criteria, to rise in this “new” BJP. But she understood the jolt that the party, and the country would have faced, had she acted as irresponsibly as the likes of Advani. So, the de-facto, ‘chosen’ PM-in waiting (who until a decade back was the prime challenger to the Gandhis) stepped aside, and made way for Modi. This was probably because she understood that while she may be the ‘chosen’ one, Modi was the one the cadres, wanted to ‘elect’.

During General Elections, reports came that she was fighting a lone battle for her own seat. Only insiders can tell if this was true, but what no one can deny is that she was not a part of the ‘core’ team. Arun Jaitley turned out to be everything that the fictional Frank Underwood initially wanted to be (that is, be the one who sends his man to the White House, and act as his Deputy). Rajnath Singh made himself available to Modi, when he needed someone like him the most, and this gave a fresh life to his dying political career. As for Mrs. Sushma, she quietly campaigned, and earned herself the External Affairs portfolio. As External Affairs Minister, she has been eclipsed by Modi completely- to the extent that he decides the high-profile officials of her Ministry. Yet, there has been no visible sign of resentment. I do not suggest that Modi has wronged her; for this was unavoidable. As PM, his stature is higher, and deserves a central position in India’s diplomacy. Even so, given the egos involved, I cannot imagine Modi giving this kind of leeway to his internal competitors (of the same age).

Today, BJP has changed. “Modi Mantra”, and “Modi for India” booklets can be seen in the hands of all National Executive members. Two men from a single state (Gujarat), have, in a short period of 3-4 years, established their rule over the now-country’s largest political party.

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It was a proud moment, to see her become India’s voice, at the UN General Assembly. The whole country was looking forward to the speech, and she did a fine job with it. She gave it hard to Nawaz Sharif, and in a language that he can very well understand. Had Atal Bihari Vajpayee been healthy today, he would have surely seen a bit of himself in her, for he too gave some of these fiery Hindi speeches, at the United Nations.

Many will argue that the Bharatiya Janata Party has evolved, and transformed for good. Maybe it has. But even so, the journey is one memorable story- one that deserves to be told, again and again. For lovers of Indian politics like me, the “old” BJP’s transformation will remain one of the most fascinating subjects of study. And so, this is to the woman, who is the last of the crop of leaders, who really believed in “Nation first, Party second, Individual last”.

Well done, Ms. Swaraj. The country stands behind you. As for BJP, only Lord Ram can predict what lies ahead, once Modi retires. That will be yet another important page in BJP’s history.

Rafale deal: Is it really an ‘exorbitant deal’ as claimed by ‘experts’

Gaurav
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Rafale deal: Is it really an ‘exorbitant deal’ as claimed by ‘experts’

Last week, the Union cabinet cleared the long-awaited purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation. With this Rs 58000 crore deal, the nearly two-decade-long Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) saga finally comes to an end. All 36 planes will be delivered to India in a span of 66 months.

The deal was inked after negotiations that lasted close to 18 months, with the Indian side finally bringing down the price by approximately Rs 2460 crores, according to Defence Ministry sources. Even after this, we saw some memes on social media claiming that this was a very bad deal financially:

A sample of the memes floating around
A sample of the memes floating around

Even defence “experts” like Saikat Datta and Ajai Shukla raised their doubts. Saikat writes (emphasis added):

Some have claimed that the Indian government managed to bring the price down significantly to about Rs 58,000 crore. But different figures have been provided by the defence minister. The original price for 126 aircraft was pegged at Rs 90,000 crore, he said in an interview to Doordarshan on April 13, 2015. He revised this figure to Rs 1.3 lakh crore in a subsequent interview to PTI. How this figure was escalated by the defence minister has not been explained. However, if the earlier figure of Rs 90,000 crore is correct then the 36 aircraft are nearly double the cost of the original deal to buy 126 of them.

Ajai Shukla wrote in his first blog, parroted an identical argument, as if both he and Saikat were fed by the same source  (emphasis added):

Speaking to Doordarshan on April 13, 2015, Parrikar had revealed Rafale’s bid for 126 fighters, stating: “When you talk of 126 [Rafale] aircraft, it becomes a purchase of about Rs 90,000 crore”, i.e. Rs 715 crore per fighter after adding all costs. Now Parrikar would be buying 36 Rafale fighters for Euro 7.8 billion (Rs 58,000 crore), which is over Rs 1,600 crore per aircraft — more than double the earlier price

So is the latest Rafale deal really a bad one? Not really, considering that the UPA’s Rafale Deal and the latest deal are incomparable as far as the details are concerned, hence comparing the costs of the two without factoring in the differences is basically intellectual dishonesty.

The original deal for the Rafale was indeed pegged at around Rs 90,000 crore during the UPA era sometime in 2012. But from there till now when the deal was actually finalised, many terms and conditions have changed. India has managed to squeeze in many add-ons into the new deal.

1. Dassault has agreed to make India-specific modifications to the planes, allowing the integration of Israeli helmet-mounted displays. The aircraft will be customised in line with the requirements of the IAF which include radar warning receiver, Doppler beam radar, infrared search and track among others.

2. The deal includes the supply of Meteor, an air to air missile, and Storm Shadow (also known as SCALP), an air-launched cruise missile with a range of over 560 km, with the Rafales. These additions mean the IAF can hit targets inside both Pakistan and Tibet while still staying within India’s own territorial boundary.

3. The deal is said to include a provision for a complete transfer of technology, including for the Thales RBE2-AA radar and software source code, spare parts and maintenance. The French have agreed to supply spares for a period of seven years at initial cost.

4. In addition, the French are also guaranteeing performance-based logistics support, which means that 75 per cent of the fleet will have to be airworthy at any given time. Till three years ago, only about 48 per cent of the Sukhoi fleet was able to fly at any given time, because of poor maintenance.

5. The deal provides for free training of 9 IAF personnel, including three pilots. The IAF will also get a guarantee for an additional 60 hours for the trainer version of Rafale fighters, and a concession to keep the weapons storage in France for an additional six months without any charge (in case the Indian infrastructure is not ready for storing the weapons).

6. The deal comes with a 50% offset clause which means that Indian companies, big and small, will get businesses worth over €3 billion. One main point of the offset was that 74% of it has to be imported from India. This means a lot of business and job opportunities in India, people familiar with the matter said.

7. The deal price was calculated on actual cost (price as on today) plus European inflation indices. In order to further reduce costs, the MoD has capped the European Inflation Indices to maximum 3.5 per cent a year. Thus, if inflation indices go down, India will have to pay less. Even if it goes up India will not pay more than 3.5 per cent increase. By negotiating the inflation at actual indices, but limited to 3.5 per cent, in comparison to 4 per cent or more in earlier deals, we are said to save Rs 4,000-14,000 crore over the deal

8. In the original proposal, the first batch of 18 planes were to be manufactured in France, and the next 108 were to be manufactured in India. Later, as negotiations began, it was discovered that the cost would go up substantially (in fact to the tune of Rs 150 crore per plane) since the cost of labour man hours in India were 2.7 times higher than in France. In contrast, the new Rafale deal is for purchase of 36 aircraft in ready to fly condition meaning the planes would be made in France, eliminating the above price escalation.

Thus, in the original UPA Rafale deal, as the graphic above shows, the price for a Rafale jet itself, just the aircraft, as fixed in 2012 odd was approximately Rs 629 crores per aircraft. This is excluding the estimated price increase of approximately Rs 150 crores per aircraft due to difference in labour rates, as explained

In the latest Rafale Deal which has been finalised, the “plain vanilla price” (of just the aircraft, excluding above add-ons) is about Rs 712 crores per aircraft as per the Economic Times and about Rs 687 crores as per PTI.

Ajai Shukla, in his first blog, claimed that the new price was “over Rs 1,600 crore per aircraft”. In the same blog, he then deducted some amount for all the add-ons and arrived at “price of each at over Rs 1,000 crore” per aircraft, Finally, in his second blog he conceded that the bare-bones price of each aircraft would be around Rs 686 crores per aircraft:

ajaishukla rafale
Rapid cost de-escalation?

So this defence “expert” Ajai Shukla has pegged 3 different prices per aircraft over the span of 2 blogs over 2 days. What caused this change of facts? In the second blog he claimed to have talked to MoD Officials. So are we to conclude, the assertions in the first blog were largely ill-informed “facts” which were not verified?

Saikat Datta too had made similar claims:  “the 36 aircraft are nearly double the cost of the original deal to buy 126 of them”. While Ajai Shukla at least mentioned some of the add-ons which were obtained, which explained the change in cost, Saikat Datta was completely silent on all these aspects, even though they were in public domain. Being a journalist on the defence beat, one would expect him to surely know about these. In fact other journalists had a faint idea about the add-ons even back in May 2015. Certainly strange that Saikat Datta completely failed to mention them and in fact even claimed “How this figure was escalated by the defence minister has not been explained”.

Irrespective of above ramblings by “experts” the point is this: The price of just the aircraft, has risen from about Rs 629 crores in 2012 to about Rs 685 crores in 2016 which is a paltry CAGR of 2.16%, and can be easily attributed to inflation and currency fluctuation. Only a fool would expect the price to be constant over 4 years.

In totality, the Rafale deal seems to be a good proposition. Of course just 36 aircraft will not suffice and India will soon have to start negotiations for further procurement, but this indeed is a good deal to close. In the mean-time, it is advisable to take unverified opinions with a truckload of salt, especially after revelations of the existence of “Agusta Patrakars”, journalists who were on the payroll of defence companies during the Agusta-Westland scam.

How the ‘intellectual mafia’ works every time there is terrorist attack

Prashant Jha
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How the ‘intellectual mafia’ works every time there is terrorist attack

After carefully following the discourse in the mainstream media and social media and especially the comments of those who set the agenda and affect the mindset of people, I am shocked, yet not surprised, to note how some people function in India and how their action is not in the interest of the country, people, and our army. I am using the phrase “Intellectual Mafia” to describe these people. They work in a group though it will appear as if they are working as individuals.

People like Barkha Dutt, Shekhar Gupta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Karan Thapar and many other mushroomed “intellectuals” and their minions who are sympathetic to the Indian version of the Left (which believes in: hate India, hate nationalists, hate Indian culture and of course, hate oppressive Indian army), function in two stages every time there is a terror attack. I followed their discourse just after the Uri attack and these are the observations:

Stage 1: Just after the terrorist attack, they will show that they are in sync with the larger consensus of the country, which is to punish those who carried out the attack. See tweets of Shekhar, Barkha, and also debates just after the attack:


Note the topic of debate by Dutt just after the attack. This will change as we move to stage 2:


Stage 2: As the days pass, people tend to forget or rather get involved with their own work and life, and this is when the intellectual mafia subtly start changing the narrative. Many minions will keep quiet during stage 1, as their opinion would invite severe criticism. Now Barkha, through her debate and others through articles and tweets will start talking about how we should show restraint and not hurt Pakistan. It is now when the minions will come out of their holes and start voicing their opinion in support of narrative being set by the likes of Barkha.

Now such minions will find themselves invited as guests on many TV shows. During stage 1, you will hardly find people in debates who will suggest restraint, because the media house was simply pandering to the national mood. In stage 2, someone like Jyoti Malhotra will now appear as an expert and talk about restraint and how a particular way of hurting Pakistan is not good. It is also the time when confused souls, like Rahul Kanwal, will follow the agenda of Barkha.

Taking the agenda forward, Barkha through her show tried to bring down the idea of teaching Pakistan a lesson by breaking of Indus Water Treaty. Of course she invited the kind of people who will toe her own line of thought. WSJ columnist Sadanand Dhume confronted her and pointed out how she had carefully chosen her guests:


We also had a columnist suggest the use of pen instead of a sword. I fail to understand why geniuses like herself don’t relocate to border areas in the Valley. For their safety, we should give them a bag full of pens of all shades and varieties and for the shield, we should give them books written by Arundhati Roy, or a report prepared by Amnesty International. We can even set up a fund for these geniuses to buy pens and books for their ultimate service to the nation at the border.


In my opinion, this is how it works: These so called experts and opinion makers wait for few days and see if the Government is going for direct action. If it does not happen and it is unlikely it will happen in next few days, they will take down all the other ideas which may hurt Pakistan by saying this is not a correct way. We should have gone for direct action.

Seen-on-TV Jyoti Malhotra, in her article in Indian express, asks Modi to start talking to Nawaz again. After countless attacks and when it is clear that Pakistan supports terrorism and unrest in India, how come this “expert” comes up with this fantastic idea? It is India’s tragedy that such pathetic losers with no sense of reality are treated as experts. Here is the confused soul Rahul Kanwal who invited her in his debate on Indus Water Treaty. No prize for guessing whether she supported breaking down of a treaty or keeping it intact.

The behaviour of our pseudo-liberals is not surprising. During the pan India discussion about JNU incident on 9th February 2016, it was clear that these people supported those who chant “Bharat tere tukde honge”. Of course, they used Freedom of Speech argument but it will be foolish in our part to not miss the message and their mindset in supporting such a statement.

Finally, I would like to apologise to the martyrs of Uri attack and all other attacks on behalf of all citizens of India that we allow intellectual mafias in our land.


I hope one day we will see India where the likes of Barkha, Rajdeep, and Co are not setting the agenda. India must have wasted countless attempts at trying to please these so-called experts on such matters of foreign policy, without realising that their agenda was not in the best interest of the nation. Sooner the masks fall off such people, sooner Indians realise that they are being fed propaganda in the name of unbiased opinions.

What happens in Kairana stays in Kairana – How the media turned the truth into a lie

Abhishek Banerjee
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What happens in Kairana stays in Kairana – How the media turned the truth into a lie

Earlier in the summer of this year, a renowned writer of military-themed fiction tweeted thus:

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So true. Someone has to stop people from making exaggerated claims like Malda once being a part of India. And someone really needs to stop crazy Hindu males from making claims about the existence of some fabricated place called “Kairana”, where Hindu families used to be allowed to stay.

Oh wait, those things will be tweeted by the Shekhar Guptas of a future generation, perhaps 50 years from now.

For now, this Shekhar Gupta is saying that nothing happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana. Hopefully, that villager type BJP MP called Hukum Singh has learned a valuable lesson about the importance of verifying facts, preferably by studying the standards set by The Indian Express.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw this story yesterday.

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Now since I do not happen to be a published author with information about secret movements of Indian Army units, I felt it was necessary to verify what has really been said and what hasn’t. This journey took me to the website of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), where I found this report:

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(http://nhrc.nic.in/dispArchive.asp?fno=24109)

Let’s the NHRC explain in its own words what triggered their enquiry:

“The Commission received a complaint from Miss Monika Arora, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and convener of an NGO stating that families of a particular religion are leaving Kairana area of Western UP due to fear of criminals. It had been alleged that a woman belonging to Kashyap caste was abducted, gang-raped and killed, yet no action was taken by the police against the offenders.”

I am getting ready to read about how “senior BJP voices” lent credence to all this kind of “complete fabrication”, aren’t you? Let’s keep reading the NHRC release:

“It was found to be correct that the victim Smt. Guddi @ Surendri (Kashyap family), as mentioned in the complaint, was kidnapped on 4.4.2016 and was subsequently murdered by Kurban, Mohsin and others.”

Wait, what? How can that be? Doesn’t the NHRC know that senior media voices have already lent credence to the fabrication theory? Oh and for the sake of Indian secularism, I do hope that the real name of Mr Kurban is Krishna and the real name of Mr Mohsin is Mahesh.

What else is in the report?

“The matter was reported to the police of PS Kairana on 5/4/2016 by Sh. Sangat, husband of the victim Smt. Guddi @ Surendri, but the police neither registered an FIR in this regard nor started to search for Smt. Guddi @ Surendri the same day i.e. on 5.4.2016.”

Come on UP police. You have been acting as if this woman wasn’t killed by Gau Rakshaks. Perhaps the local infrastructure in Kairana is incapable of handling high profile visits from India’s Chief Minister, Shri Arvind Kejriwal. Or maybe it’s just that India’s intellectuals don’t have any awards left to return.

Here is point number 12. from the NHRC release:

“At least 24 witnesses stated that the youths of the specific majority community (Muslims) in Kairana town pass lewd/taunting remarks against the females of the specific minority community in Kairana town. Due to this, females of the specific minority community (Hindus) in Kairana town avoid going outside frequently. However, they could not gather the courage to report the matter to the police for the legal action.”

Ok, ok, this kind of compromise solution where Hindu women cannot get outside their homes and cannot talk to police is not ideal. But, have you considered that Hindu women being forced to stay indoors actually keeps men of the peaceful community from having to murder them? Please read the AIMPLB report on triple talaq for more on this line of reasoning. You may also like to consult eminent feminist Ms Flavia Agnes. She is a renowned expert at finding the “positives for women” in situations such as these.

Here is point 15 from the  NHRC release:

“The police record reveals that both Sh. Shiv Charan and Sh. Rajender (two businessmen) were threatened to pay protection/extortion money by the notorious gangster Sh. Mukeem Kala. Similarly, four other prominent businessmen of Kairana Market shown in the list issued by the Hon’ble MP Kairana at Sl.No. 2,3,5, & 17 have made the same allegations.”

So, the businessmen in the list issued by the “Hon’ble MP Kairana” admitted they were being threatened by gangster Sh. Mukeem Kala. But why was the NHRC wasting its time on a list that has already been rejected by honourable members of the media?

Here is point 16 from the NHRC release:

“The notorious dreaded gang leader Sh. Mukim Kala had committed at least 47 cases of Robbery/Murder/ Dacoity/Extortion/Violation of Arms Act during the span of just 05 years from 2010 to 2015, in the States of UP, Haryana, Uttarakhand involving the amount of crores of rupees and robbing of Govt. Arms/Ammunition.”

Hmmm… seems all that Mr. Mukim Kala is missing is a guard of honour with 400 SUVs. He needs to expand his activities slightly further east to obtain that distinction.

Here is point 18:

“In 2013, the post-rehabilitation scenario resulting in the resettlement of about 25/30 thousand members of Muslims Community in Kairana Town from district Muzaffarnagar, UP, the demography of Kairana town has changed in favour of the Muslim Community becoming the more dominating and majority community. Most of the witnesses examined and victims feel that the rehabilitation in 2013 has permanently changed the social situation in Kairana town and has led to further deterioration of law and order situation.”

And the all-important point no. 19 :

“Most of the witnesses stated that many families migrated due to threats pertaining to increase in crime and deterioration of Law and Order situation.”

End of story. Yes, Hukum Singh was right. But more importantly, the truth became a lie.

That bitter taste in our mouth is the price we pay for having allowed the left wing to monopolize the media space. This has turned into a standard operating procedure for the secular brigade each time they are faced with obvious wrongdoing of their own. They start a crazy rumour about the story being “fabricated” and fan it all across the public discourse with the help of eager media surrogates. The right-wing ends up responding to the crazy conspiracy theory and then charges fly back and forth. In this din, the original story gets muddled and is forgotten.

This is what happened in JNU and this is what happened in Kairana too. In JNU they said the videos were fake and in Kairana they said the list was fake. The right wing ended up responding to the accusations and the story got muddled. The truth in both cases emerged months later, but by then the left had succeeded in its purpose. The story had been forgotten and no one cared any more.

What to make of the report that 20 terrorists were killed by special forces across LoC

Gaurav
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What to make of the report that 20 terrorists were killed by special forces across LoC

Indians across political affiliations, regions and backgrounds were asking for only one thing after the ghastly Uri terror attack: That India must hit back. Sure they differed on the nature of the retaliation, but no one wanted the Indian army to sit back and let the enemy gloat.

And then late last night, we got the news that at least 20 terrorists had been neutralised in a daring cross-LoC operation by the Indian Army in response to the Uri attack. The story was broken by a web magazine named The Quint. The report said:

Two units of the elite 2 Paras comprising 18-20 soldiers flew across the LoC in the Uri sector in military helicopters and carried out an operation that killed at least 20 suspected terrorists across three terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Total casualties, including those injured, could be as high as 200, sources said.

As soon as this news broke out, social media began debating whether it was true. Questions were raised as to how such a big news was not broken by any of the usual mainstream media suspects. So what could be the truth?

Quint on its part has stuck to the report. The Quint Editorial Director fully backed the report. In the original piece, Quint had mentioned that military sources revealed this information to them, which was further confirmed with two other independent sources. Today, an update to the story says:

In light of the reactions to this article, The Quint decided to reconfirm the information from its sources. We stand by our story.

Going by general media standards, it is rare to see a media house openly declare that they have confirmed a story from multiple sources. Quint also pointed to some circumstantial evidence. Pakistan’s national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had cancelled flights to northern Pakistani cities due to “air space restrictions”. The PIA called off flights to Gilgit and Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

No reason  was given for the closure of air space but officials said that Pakistani warplanes might be in the air to keep vigil due to Indo-Pak tensions after the Uri attack. Were they Pakistani warplanes or did they know that Indian ops were on?

Quint also chose to highlight the Defence Minister’s statement:

“Won’t go into details of what India can do, but sometimes knee-jerk reaction is required.”

Surely the Defence Minister cannot reveal details of covert ops, so was this just a hint of the operations being carried out?

The reaction on social media was mixed. Some users who had tweeted indications of such action 24 hours before the story broke, claimed vindication. Yet some other dismissed this report as untrue and based on a WhatsApp rumour.

National Security Analyst Nitin Gokhale said he had no information about such an operation:


Journalist Shiv Aroor who has been on the defence beat also trashed the report as a Whatsapp rumour, saying that the army vehemently denies it:


On the other hand a defence correspondent Sumann Sharma fully backed the Quint report:


She claimed that the report was “fully checked” and that troops had been flown back to safety as well. She claimed that a denial from the army was obvious since it was a covert operation.

The entire episode was reminiscent of the cross-border strike in Myanmar last year, where details of the event were shrouded in secrecy. While media reports and sources claimed it was a cross-border attack, the army had stated that the operations were at two locations along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur and Nagaland. It was only later that Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that it was a cross-border operation. One report mentioned that many such operations had been conducted in the past, but “Only a few of these operations have been acknowledged so far”.

The reason for this is easy to understand. Firstly, no nation would like to openly admit that they violated the sovereignty of another nation by intruding into their territory. In Kashmir, crossing the LoC would mean defying the Simla Agreement of 1972, which said that both sides must respect the Line of Control. Any such transgression would allow Pakistan to cry victim. Secondly, revealing details of such operations can endanger the men involved in the mission. Hence secrecy could be key.

Coming back to the current case, it is indeed difficult to say either way. It is understandable that the army would not like to confirm covert operations, especially during or soon after the operations take place. It is highly possible that once they came to know that news had been leaked, they began leaking news to deny the existence of such an operation in order to secure troops and maintain the covert nature of the operation.

On the other hand it is also possible that the entire thing never happened. Indian media has been earlier found cooking up stories. But in this case, the media house Quint categorically states the number of sources it has confirmed it from, plus the circumstantial evidence. Generally when a media house gets it wrong, these two factors are missing.

All said and done, at this moment all we can do is wait. Wait for the army or any official source to confirm any such news. We may get a Myanmar-esque confirmation that the operations were within Indian territory and not PoK. Or we may not even get any confirmation of the incident anytime soon, since it was a covert operation. Or we may get some news once the UNGA meet ends. And it may even so happen that this attack is never confirmed, owing to the Simla Agreement issue. At the moment, we must just trust our army to do what is needed, “at a time and place of their choosing“.

Kejriwal – the making of an insecure leader – a personal experience

ravipokharna
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Kejriwal – the making of an insecure leader – a personal experience

Last week was quite an eventful one. I had received a criminal defamation notice for damaging Arvind Kejriwal’s reputation as a ‘World Renowned Leader’. I giggled after remembering what I thought of him as a leader. The notice was apparently for a tweet I had put on 20th Aug 2016. It had said

‘Kejriwal had 11.5M followers till few days back, now 8.7M! TOI says twitter suspended 2.4L accnts 4 promoting terror!’

Twitterati seemed to have found this association meaningful. The tweet got 800 retweets, 470 likes & of-course dozens of abuses from self proclaimed Kejriwal supporters.

I had learnt during my management days that insecure leaders dislike alternate voices and are likely to crush such people using force to muzzle their voice. A simple search on linkedin threw some more information.

What does an insecure leader look like?

  1. They surround themselves with people they can control.
  2. They misinterpret other people’s motives to fit their story.
  3. They look at those who work for them as employees, not their team.
  4. They consider anyone “disloyal” who disagrees with them.
  5. They mishandle conflict

Few leadership experts further share : –

The root cause of insecurity is a lack of character development. Insecure leaders never develop people. They replace them. ~ John C. Maxwell

A quick look at Kejriwal’s actions of last few years shows a theoretically perfect match. I need not repeat his daily rants of ‘he not being able to do his work because of someone else’ or ‘the unceremonious ousters of those in party who were more capable or smarter than him’. His new core team consists of those sycophants who would just echo everything he says.

The insecure leader got threatened by the tweet & with a purpose to intimidate, a legal notice of criminal defamation was sent to me which i received on 7th Sep

Pt 6 of the notice said

Your tweet is a direct attack on Mr Arvind Kejriwal who alongside of being the National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party, is also the Chief Minister of Delhi. Mr Arvind Kejriwal is a world renowned political leader and public rights activist who holds very high repute & public standing not only in India but across the world. By attacking Mr Arvind Kejriwal using fabricated and malicious content you are not only damaging his untarnished image but also hurting sentiments of millions of voters and supporters.

Pt 9 had this warning

I on behalf of and for my client will initiate legal proceedings including but not limited to pursuing a criminal defamation case against you. Further, you will be held liable for any monetary and legal damages which my client seeks on behalf of his organization and it’s office bearers. Please stand informed, that your liability and exposure under such legal action would be considerable.

If one doesn’t consider the insecurity angle for this ‘world renowned leader’, it is still hard to believe that he is the same leader who contested the defamation law in supreme court as being against freedom of expression would get rattled from a tweet by an ordinary person.

My reply may have further rattled the gang, if the use of choicest of words by them is any indicator. The reply went viral. It was retweeted more than 2600 times and got covered by few online portals including IndiaTtoday, Catch News, OpIndia, Shankhnaad etc. Kejriwal’s IT team unleashed their most abusive of trolls on me. Next three days there were regular attempts to hack my twitter account.

Kejriwal’s calling Shekhar Gupta a ‘Dalal’, LG Jung to be BJP agent, PM Modi a Psychopath & Coward, using phrases like ArnabModiKaKuttaHai would not utterly surprise someone who has spent some time with him and knows him significantly well.

Being Insecure isn’t Kejriwal’s only problem. He is utterly unimaginative & perhaps suffers from low self confidence out of this. I confidently put this up, as learnt during a random meeting with Mr. Kejriwal few years back. The surrounding was calm, and he was in his true self. It was in Aug 2012 during a railway travel in Bhopal Shatabdi from Delhi to Jhansi. Although it was after the Anna protest but no one seemed to have noticed or recognized him in the train. He was sitting with his entire row lying vacant. I recognized him but since no one else was paying attention so I went & verified with TTE. His name was mentioned as ‘A.Kejriwal’. I quickly went & requested him for the seat next to him, after all  he was an emerging leader and the youth had started looking up to him.

It was 7am and for the next three hours I got an opportunity to know him as a person. Within ten minutes into discussion he flashed his blackberry mobile to show me the kind of response the movement was getting from youth across the country. The intensity of his enthusiasm was visible. In the same breathe he also put forth his concern. He said these youth have to be kept engaged otherwise they will again hook to some other movement/ person. Much of the time afterwards was spent bouncing off ideas which would keep youth engaged. He was in his true self, in rage but with no concrete idea or thought to work out issues that the country is dealing with.

At Jhansi railway station there were 15-20 people waiting for him with banners & drums. He went in haste but left me in thoughts. I was deeply shocked at his thought process. His only focus during the entire discussion was to keep youth engaged so that they stay in tune or in control. Nowhere was he interested in utilizing their energies for some constructive work or nation building or anything positive. That was nowhere in the agenda. The entire agenda was very selfish and self centred. I prayed he never gets a position where youth have to look up to him for direction otherwise he will just dis-orient them for his personal gains. I was disheartened by this meeting. It was a second coincidence that our return was together and separated by few seats only. Since many people had come to see him off, after the train started many passengers wanted to meet & get clicked with him. I was otherwise also not interested in continuing any further discussion. The initial meeting was enough for me to form an opinion about him.

Almost four years after that travel journey I see the horror unfolding especially on social media. He is singularly responsible for pulling down the level of discourse. His consistent and shameless use of cuss words to incite youngsters for his political gains has permanently dented the power of this medium for any constructive use in participative democracy.

However, with the unfolding of events in last month one can atleast take some sigh of relief that Kejriwal is finally getting exposed. Finally a section of media as well as public are asking for his accountability. Finally his tongue is getting trimmed.

Wars have Failed us, so has ‘Aman ki Asha’, but we still have an option

Gaurav Sansanwal
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Wars have Failed us, so has ‘Aman ki Asha’, but we still have an option

The idea of a sovereign Pakistan was based upon a hate-filled two-nation theory. The idea was realised by successfully executing a mass cleansing programme, called ‘Direct Action Day’. Even before the boundary lines could be drawn, Pakistan infiltrated into the independent kingdom of Kashmir. India rushed to Kashmir’s defence, when invited by Maharaja Hari Singh. Seven decades later, it is still the same story. They continue to infiltrate, and we continue to defend. A sum total of seven major terror attacks have been conducted against the Indian Armed Forces, in the last one year. This calls for introspection; for our policy vis-à-vis Pakistan, lacks coherence. The government has to stop flirting with the various possibilities that exist, and show some resolve. In simple words, it must act, keeping in mind a long-term plan.

When I say India must act, I do not suggest that we go for a full-scale direct war with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. We have fought (and won) many of them. And Pakistan must remember, that were it to engage in any sort of territorial adventurism, India will treat it no less than an invitation to re-draw the territorial map of Pakistan. But the point is, a war (especially when one is the aggressor) cannot lead to a sustainable solution. Barring the satisfaction of having stood for Bangladesh’s freedom, there is not much that India has achieved. This is also because the ‘Indian’ advantage gained in the Bangladesh war (1971) was heavily compromised in the Shimla Agreement. Further, given the realities of today’s world (politics, economy, diplomacy), there is very little that India stands to gain from a full-scale direct confrontation. Given our aspirations, we cannot afford to be caught up with the economic and diplomatic consequences of a full-scale conflict.

We must, however, remember that if wars have failed, so have the attempts at peaceful cooperation. India-Pakistan relationship is a bit like business cycles, in the sense that it exhibits a predictable pattern. When we fight, we suspend all relations. Then, we get back to the ‘table’, with the utopian dream (Aman ki Asha), that all of our conflicts can be resolved by hugs, and handshakes.

But even before plausible ideas can be discussed, we are forced to walk away, the moment India’s integrity is challenged once again. At some point, we have to ask ourselves, some very uncomfortable questions. Given all that India has set out to achieve, can we afford to drain our time, energy, and resources on restoring our relations with one failed state? Let us take a few examples. We granted Pakistan, the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tag, with the hope that trade, and commerce will usher in normalcy. Till date, Pakistan has not returned the favour. It has categorically stated that it has no plans of doing that, anytime soon. India invited Pakistan to investigate the Pathankot attack, hoping that it would yield something that sharing dossiers (on 26/11 Mumbai attacks) didn’t. But all in vain. From the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), to a seat on the UN Security Council table, Pakistan opposes every move that India makes, to realise its true potential. Sartaj Aziz openly takes pride in the fact that Nawaz Sharif wrote to 17 countries, to prevent India from getting the NSG membership. For him, all I have, is Vajpayee’s warning- एक नहीं, दो नहीं, करो बीसों समझौते, पर स्वतंत्र भारत का मस्तक नहीं झुकेगा |

This is not it. Some of Pakistan’s agents also work in Kashmir. They meet the Pakistan High Commissioner, but refuse to engage with the democratic leaders of their ‘home’ nation. Pakistan continues to sponsor them. On 5th February, each year, the state of Pakistan observes Kashmir Solidarity Day, as a national holiday.

It will be preposterous to assume that every Pakistani is an enemy of India. But facts prove that the Pakistani establishment is one, and should be treated as one. The ‘state’ openly allows the ‘non-state’ actors to do as they please. It is, therefore, complicit in the campaign to break India into a thousand pieces. And anyone who operates with a design of that sort, deserves just one ‘status’- that of an enemy. This is a fact that we should make it clear to the world by-and large, as loud and clear as we can.

Given that we are a responsible power, we will deal with Pakistan responsibly. Here are a few points, that could become a part of our Pakistan doctrine:

  1. Open support to the freedom struggles of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and Balochistan.
  2. Use of all available intelligence assets, to aid and support the achievement of the stated objective.
  3. Directing that the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan, officially invite the pro- Balochistan leaders, for ‘meet and greet’, till the time his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi does not stop doing the same with Kashmiri ‘leaders’.
  4. Re-assessing our economic, political, and diplomatic relations with each and every country, that knowingly or unknowingly, becomes a part of Pakistan’s anti-India designs.
  5. Reciprocity should be the norm on economic issues. ‘Most Favoured Nation’ tag should be revoked. That India will never be the first to blink the eye, on such concessions, should be made clear.
  6. Pakistan should not be invited to collect evidence related to terror attacks, till the time there is no visible progress on punishing the offenders of the previous ones.
  7. A strategic alliance with all major military, and economic powers, including but not limited to the United States, should be pursued more aggressively, to isolate Pakistan.
  8. The idea of joint control, and administration of ‘India-administered Kashmir’ should be dropped from the Indian diplomatic lexicon.
  9. Intensifying efforts to drum up required support for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and use the occasion to segregate the rest of the world into terrorism-loving, and peace-loving nation-states.
  10. Pakistan Army positions that aid, and facilitate the infiltration of fidayeen groups, through the Line of Control (LoC), should be strategically targeted by the Indian Armed Forces, in a disciplined manner – to send the right message.

India has the capacity to absorb, and endure losses. But this is not enough. To be great, we have to show that we also have the courage to inflict punishment, in the most disciplined of all ways, should the need arise for the same. Ending this piece, by borrowing the following lines from Billy Joel:

We Didn’t Start the Fire;
No, We Didn’t Light it;
But We (Will Try) to Fight it.

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