UNDER the Government of Bhatia Junta Party (BJP), India is facing serious challenges at three level; a) domestically, opposition Congress Party and Indian masses are criticizing BJP Government for ill-fated ‘Operation Sindoor’ where Pakistani Military badly defeated Indian Military by punching above its weight and height, b) regionally, India almost lost its domination and hold over the South Asian states as well as Southeast Asian States, c) globally, India lost its strategic partners like United States and Europe where it is facing non-cooperation and deliberate denunciation.
This all has not happened over night, but took years and years. In last two and half decades India was unprecedentedly supported and reinforced by West under U.S which made New Delhi as its strategic ally and partner.
Upon attaining this partnership, India started consolidating its gain at regional level for attaining control over the regional states of South and Southeast states as a regional hegemon. This needed a strong nationalist narrative at domestic level which BJP leadership developed in the form Hindutvaideology once Modi was Chief Minister of Gujrat. Through this narrative (Hindutva), BJP won the 2014 election and consolidated its gain in entire Indian Union. A strong Indian nationalism was expounded and practiced by BJP Government under NarindraModi and his kitchen Cabinet. As a result of this Hindu nationalistic narrative BJP won three consecutive elections; 2014, 2019 and 2024. Nevertheless, BJP Government under Modi excluded the opposition parties, the minorities and even Dalits. BJP Government passed acts like Citizenship Amendment Act-2019 which was meant to discriminate Muslims and Christians and accommodate Hindus. In Manipur State, Christian were killed and humiliated by BJP, Indian Army and RSS mobs. In East Punjab and Haryana, Sikhs were humiliated and segregated and Muslims were targeted all over the India. Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was relegated into two union territories and its special status was revoked.
At regional level, Pakistan was only country which challenged Indian hegemony. Despite many false flag operations, India failed to subdue Pakistan, thus thought of Pahalgam Attack, yet another false flag operation. In the garb of this false flag operation India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ to overwhelm and subdue Pakistan and prove its political and strategic domination for becoming a major power. To the bad luck of India, Pakistan gave a befitting response and India lost its fake glory and high dreams of becoming a regional hegemon and major power. Upon this humiliating defeat, Indian strategic partners got annoyed with New Delhi and decided to stop its undue military, political and economic assistance. Rather, Pakistan became a favorite of the western world, as a victorious military power. Regional states of South and Southeast Asia also started shifting their priorities at strategic, political and economic levels. The failure Operation Sindoor encouraged the Indian opposition parties to question the fake achievements of BJP Government under Modi. Among many domestic issues, LokSabha Election-2024 is being seriously questioned by Congress leadership. Leader of Opposition in LokSabha, MrRahul Gandhi has accused Modi and his close aids for massive rigging in 2024 Elections. Mr Gandhi said, “In the previous elections, we had defended the Constitution, which grants the right to one vote. The BJP attacked this right in the last polls by undermining India’s institutions. After the LokSabha elections, the Maharashtra polls were held. In the General Elections, our alliance won, but four months later, the BJP won in Maharashtra.
This surprising result led us to investigate, and we found that one crore new voters had voted in those elections. Wherever these new voters appeared, the BJP won.” Congress leadership had the documentary evidence that, “Election Commission of India and the BJP have committed theft of votes.” The truth is that, all Indian institutions including Judiciary, police, election commission and its security forces have been manipulated and tainted by BJP Government in last one decade under the narrative of Hindutva. This has tarnished the Indian so-called mask of largest democracy and secularism. Upon providing the documentary evidences by Congress leadership about the stolen elections of Karnataka, Indian Election Commissionshut its website.” Indian Election Commission has also closed the election related websites of; Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Bihar. In collaboration of EC, the BJP Government is planning misuse state machinery, targeted crackdown on opposition parties, interference in the electoral process and manipulation of voter rolls in the upcoming Bihar Elections. Besides, BJP is weaponzingthe institutions, the judiciary, and the media to suppress dissent and rig the democratic process.As per Rahual Gandhi, BJP used five methods to rig the elections; duplicate voter entries, bogus and fake addresses, mass voters at single addresses, tamperedand missing photos and misuse of Form 6. In the entire process, EC is not merely negligent but complicit. Sequel to ‘Operation Sindoor’ there has been a sharp decline of Modi’s popularity in entire India and elsewhere in the world. The Indian masses have raised serious questions about the conduct and failure of Operation Sindoor. Indian leadership especially PM Modi and Amit Shah have not been able to answer the fundamental questions raised by Indian opposition, its masses. The fabricated stories of Modi, his generals and now the false claims of Indian Air Chief have further eroded the public trust over Indian military and political leadership. The roles of Indian security forces, its election commission and Supreme Court are also being criticized and questioned by Indian masses and its intellectuals. In reality, this is the cracking of Indian democratic veneer under Modi regime.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
