Tahir Mehmood
THOSE were the times of Gandhi and Nehru when India was known and praised for its leadership in the world’s arena of moral politics, nonviolence and international peace. Though they were also political animals, and prudent practitioner of Chanakya’s political philosophy of expediency, deceit and dominance, yet being wise and equipped with higher intellect, Gandhi and Nehru refrained from any hate or jingoistic talk.
But today’s India led by RSS/ BJP has not only brought shame to proverbial secular India world over. India under Modi is at war with itself, with its neighbors, and even doesn’t shy of stinging others in far off foreign lands. Is this sheer madness, arrogance, ignorance or domestic politics at worst, the world is observing with caution and the history will judge mercilessly. The latest addition to this hate-muddle has been added by none other but the India Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi.
On November 17, speaking on ‘Chanakya Defence Dialogue’ he has called Operation Sindoor, ‘just a trailer’ and that the actual movie is yet to be witnessed by the world. Going by his logic, if two nuclear powers firing missiles at each other, engaged in lethal aerial battles, and armed forces fully operationalized, was just a trailer, the logic says that the movie would surely contain full scale nuclear attacks. He proudly boasted to the audience: “If Pakistan gives a chance, we will teach it how to behave responsibly with a neighboring nation.” Indian Army Chief’s verbal assaults can neither be ignored, nor responded to in the same coin, as the cost would be very heavy, and would have to be paid by millions of peaceful citizens living in India and Pakistan. However, it is important to analyze them from the peace perspective and normalcy among the two countries.
When a militant philosophy and organization is given a driving seat to lead the country, demonstration of arrogance, dominance and hate towards others becomes a norm than exception. This is so frequently observed in today’s India led by RSS where no one is spared. India under Narendra Modi is at war with itself, all its neighbors and the world over wherever it could reach to hit and hide. The Indian citizens are also not safe from extremists Hindus, and they not only target people of other religions, but they cruelly victimize particularly the scheduled caste Hindus. The Kashmiris are made to suffer through the state and societal violence, Sikhs are suspected and targeted, Harijans are dehumanized at social and societal level, and in the eastern states, Mizos and Nagas are militarily suppressed for demanding their freedom.
What India Army Chief said about Operation Sindoor; the recent war with Pakistan in which India was badly mauled and humiliated, not only arrogance of power, but also comes out from the ignorance of the fact that what would be outcome if and ever ‘full movie’ is released. There is an urgent and fundamental need for Indian leadership to check their spree of arrogance fueled by ignorance from the pragmatic lens of Pakistan’s capability, response and standpoint. Pakistani leadership in unison, both political and military, have always stood firm and resilient to any aggression against Pakistan; but they have also never shied to speak for regional peace, harmony, and progress.
With particular reference to India, Pakistan has time and again warned that it would be sheer folly to put two nuclear nations in a war and then not expecting catastrophic outcomes. Pakistan is determined to give stringent response to any attack on its land, seas and space. The recent May conflict has clearly vindicated that escalation ladder between the two nuclear armed countries would not follow a conventional, sequential and incremental path, rather in a tit-for-tat scenario, a missile would be met with higher range and lethality, airpower will not be spared for a long-drawn battle but the response would be quick, fierce and deadly. And, in any fatal state of war-ambiguity and wrong estimation, nuclear holocaust would be instinctive adhering to ethos of survival than triumph.
Presently, Indian leadership might be feeling intoxicated by newly found and practiced Hindutva religious fervor, hateful bigotry and vandalism, but this they must not expect to prevail in some vacuum. Pakistani nation and its armed forces would also fight back for their religion, identity and land. Islam and Pakistan stand for peace, but war against the two would be met with much upscale ferocity and intensity. It is hoped that Indian leadership in their dream to teach Pakistan ‘how to behave’ don’t push Pakistan to show them a movie whose only ‘trailer’ was shown to India on May 10, 2025.
One can give benefit of doubt to India that this all jingoism is a political façade executed by Narendra Modi and BJP, but sometimes one becomes slaves to his own words. India under BJP has deeply cultivated repression and injustice against its own citizens, and any retaliation by a dissident group can never be overruled. The minority religious and ethnic entities when are made to suffer perpetual violence in the hands of Indian state and RSS-driven Hindu militant groups, never to forget that violence begets violence and hate breeds hate. Indian leadership under BJP have customized themselves to blame Pakistan for any ill happening inside India, and becoming slave to their own words and notions of ‘new normal’, one can expect them to commit yet another folly and make the two nuclear nations hostage to a devastating nuclear war. Pakistan is very clear about its response, and the resolved is fully matched by the capability.
In the light of above, it would be wise for Indians not to reject this face of their domestic politics. What India under Narendra Modi is endeavoring to establish is bound to fail, and it is now upon sane Indian citizens to rid themselves from such a leadership which is heading for their final doom. Only madness can fiddle with nuclear triggers, but such madness should never be permitted. India is at a crossroad, and it is expected that Indians themselves would rise and politically overthrow BJP hate politics. It is fundamental to peace inside India, and also for its neighbors.
—The writer is an International Relations analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]
