Surgical strikes and thereafter

Amit Kushari (IAS Retd)
The whole nation was waiting for the surgical strikes and when it actually happened on 29th September, the whole nation was relieved that Pakistan’s mischievous adventures across the LOC, sending armed terrorists to harm the Indian army had at last been retaliated. The Congress was naturally left a bit embarrassed because they realised belatedly that they too ought to have taken the same steps. Some of the Congress leaders along with some opposition leaders tried to give credit to the Indian army because they wouldn’t like to give credit to Mr. Modi, their political adversary. But their hollowness was quite apparent to the whole of India. Every body knows that although our army officers and jawans are very valiant and efficient, they are not an independent authority to take action, and unless there  is a clear direction from the PMO they cannot act.
Therefore, Mr. Modi had undoubtedly done something which his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh failed to do and therefore deserves all the credit. Shri Chidambaram tried to say meekly, “We also did the same thing on a smaller scale in 2008 and 2013”, but there are no takers for such statements. If he had been courageous enough to do it why did he not announce it at that time when we were seething in rage for lack of retaliation? Was he afraid of a nuclear attack? A person who is timid and afraid of the enemy can never be a good king. The Hindu shastras say, “Veer bhogya vasundhara” which means….the fruits and wealth of this world can be enjoyed only by the brave. The UPA may have had many good plus points compared to NDA but in bravery and initiative the NDA has surpassed them.
They could feel the pulse of the people which UPA could not. When the Pak terrorists beheaded some of our jawans and took away the heads with them and played videographed football in Mirpur, every Indian wanted India to retaliate openly and forcefully. Had they done so, some more people would have voted for the Congress and their tally could have gone up from 44 to 74 and the BJP tally could have come down from 282 to 252. True, the Congress could have still not come to power, but BJP would not have got clear majority in the Lok Sabha. BJP would have been more controlled in that case and would not have been bold enough to go on imposing taxes on the people, financially harming the middle class in every possible way, enhancing railway fares merrily “on an experimental basis”.
Before the surgical strikes, BJP was steadily going down in the eyes of the public. In a master stroke Mr. Modi has improved the fortunes of BJP overnight , at least in UP and Uttarakhand where elections are likely very soon. A fortnight back my idea was that in UP, BJP would get less than 120 seats. Now it seems they may cross 180, and the probable next Chief Minister, Miss Mayawati, may have a tough time reaching the half way mark unless she takes the help of Congress which could get 30+ seats. Certainly the credit for this goes to Mr. Modi. Punjab is , however, a different story.The Akali Dal will get no credit for the surgical strikes and I doubt whether the Akali+ combine can get even 40 seats. The Aam Aadmi party is likely to form the government in Punjab. If they fall short, surely the Congress will help them out. We may expect to have a Deputy Chief Minister from Congress in Punjab.
The BJP has shown extreme vindictiveness towards AAP in Delhi and this is going to harm the image of BJP every where. Even in Gujarat BJP is likely to suffer at the hands of AAP and the Congress.  Since Delhi does not have full statehood and is at a relative disadvantage with the Police Department being with the BJP Government at the Centre, BJP has fully exploited the situation and lodged criminal cases against half of the AAP MLAs. They have launched a psychological war against Mr. Kejriwal by calling him a Pakistani hero. True, Mr. Kejriwal had asked for some proof of the surgical strikes and that was a mistake, but it is unthinkable that a Haryanvi baniya like Kejriwal can be insulted by calling him a Pakistan sympathiser. We usually reserve that title for Indian Muslims, don’t we? My muslim friends , please forgive me for this off the cuff statement.
After the surgical strikes there was a welcome surge of patriotic feelings in India. However, there was a sudden surge of Hindu communalism also. Suddenly PM Modi  was idolised as Lord Ram, Nawaz Sharif was portrayed as Ravana, Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal were portrayed as Meghnad and Kumbh Karan (Ravana’s son and brother). In Bengal the Mahishasura who was killed by Goddess Durga was portrayed as a bearded Muslim in a skull cap, with ISIS written on it. Such developments are not good for communal harmony in the country. In my day to day interactions with the Hindus in real life as well as in the social media, I am astonished beyond limits at the sudden communalisation of the Hindu mind. How could this happen in just 5 or 6 years? Perhaps the uncontrolled terrorist incidents throughout the world has hardened the Hindu mind throughout the country and this is really frightening. Earlier the Hindus were  more docile and tolerant towards others. Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, vegetarian Hindus are more intolerant and aggressive in their beliefs than the non vegetarian Hindus. I cannot solve this strange mystery.
So far, by the grace of Almighty, Pakistan has not retaliated strongly against the surgical strikes. I hope they will be reasonable enough not to start a war against India. At the same time I also hope that we will be able to amicably sort out our internal Kashmir problem by talking to all the Kashmiri leaders with an open heart.
(The author is former Financial Commissioner, J&K  Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
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