We hope the hubris of Bhartiya Janata Party leadership related to Pakistan on Kashmir would be finally broken with the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Starting from Narendra Modi’s 56 inch broad chest narrative during the election campaign when he was seeking the Prime Minister’s position to misleading the nation by claiming that demonetisation and later dilution of Article 370 would end terrorism in Kashmir and more lately statements of Rajnath Singh, S. Jaishankar and Yogi Adityanath claiming that only unresolved issue in Kashmir is the reclamation of its portion occupied by Pakistan, it is quite clear that the BJP leadership was living in a fool’s paradise. They deceived themselves as well as the nation.
The 22 April attack betrays the hollow claims about normalcy and peace in J&K as a result of BJP policies. In fact, all they have done is like an ostrich avoided dealing with the problem of Kashmir. The Prime Minister has probably visited every nation on earth but deliberately avoided Manipur in India and made an unscheduled stop in Lahore in 2015 on his way back from Afghanistan to attend a family function of Nawaz Sharif. Diplomatic relations have been in cold storage since BJP came to power after some visible progress in relations between the two countries during the time of Manmohan Singh as PM.
The knee jerk reaction to Pahalgam massacre has been suspension of Indus Water Treaty, suspension of diplomatic relations, closure of Attari border, cancellation of visas given to Pakistani nationals, etc. Pakistani government has responded similarly. This is quite the opposite of what any visionary statesman would have done. You don’t put fuel in fire. You try to douse it. Moreover, nobody has bothered to think about what will happen to the water of rivers if one stops them from going into Pakistan. They’ll flood our own lands. And what will happen if China were to take the same posture tomorrow and decides to stop the water of rivers originating in the Himalayas and coming into India?
We have not witnessed this strong reaction from Government of India after our 20 soldiers were killed in Galwan in 2020, nor have we suspended any relations with China. On the contrary, import-export deficit with China has doubled since Narendra Modi government has come to power. Donald Trump has been foolish enough to make noise about trade war. China has made us surrender in trade silently. Today we are so dependent on China that the government doesn’t openly admit that China is occupying 4,000 sq. km. of our land. No BJP leader talks about reclaiming this land.
In spite of all the posturing by the BJP government, war is not an option given the stockpile of nuclear weapons in possession of both countries. Any war between India and Pakistan in which nuclear weapons will be used will result in mutual destruction. The sooner the short sighted BJP leadership will realise that there can be no solution to Kashmir problem without dialogue with Pakistan the better it’ll be for the people of the region. Of course, it’ll have to give up the temptation of mobilisation of its supporters within India for the purpose of winning elections. BJP has to now choose between the interest of the nation and its people and the exploitation of Kashmir issue for political gains.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Get the latest CounterCurrents updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah should resign taking moral responsibility for the failure of intelligence and security apparatus in Kashmir and pave way for a new government which is willing to take sensible steps to solve the problem of Kashmir by talking to Pakistan and ensure peace and stability in the region.
Sandeep Pandey, General Secretary, Socialist Party (India) E-mail id: [email protected]
Shahid Saleem, Member, National Committee, Socialist Party (India) E-mail id: [email protected]
