Modi is losing the ‘war’ narrative that BJP-RSS is whipping up

While the RSS has maintained a radio silence in this regard, the common people are beginning to question the timing of the attacks

Photo Courtesy: Social Media
Photo Courtesy: Social Media
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Sujata Anandan

For all that I am a consistent critic of Narendra Modi, I am highly surprised at his lack of good political sense. Considering he seems to be a political animal, I would have thought he would have weighed the pros and cons of the Pulwama terrorist attack two weeks ago and immediately resigned from office, owning responsibility as head of government for the intelligence failure that led to the attack.

The 2019 election would have been over in an instant, for no Prime Minister has ever resigned for a terrorist attack in this or any other country - not even President George Bush after 9/11. But while Bush had nearly half his term to go then, what had Modi to lose? His government is already a lame duck at the end of its term, standing as we are at the mouth of the general elections.

The last session of Parliament was done and dusted before the Pulwama attack. There were no more policy announcements to be made and he was already in campaign mode. He could have continued with his electioneering as he has been doing since, but could have played the victim and martyr (which he so loves to without reason) to the hilt, this time with more legitimate grounds.

Instead on the day of the Pulwama attack, Modi was shooting for a commercial film at the Jim Corbett Park in Uttarakhand, on the day Indian Air Force planes struck Pakistan he was launching a mobile app, and on the day Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in Pakistan’s captivity, he was video conferencing with BJP booth workers and - this I find difficult to believe even of Modi – he was insensitively punning on the word 'pilot’.

“The pilot project is through, the rest has to come,” he said, hinting that there could be more attacks on Pakistan even before Wing Commander Varthaman was safely back in the country.

All of these have not only made him look desperate about the coming elections, but also helped the opposition parties - which came out looking more compassionate and less self-centred by their restraint and refusal to politicise the potential conflict. The PM’s words and behaviour has also angered the armed forces, for being used as pawns in the next elections. They would have a very heavy price to pay if the Wing Commander had not been returned to India, with minimum fuss that Pakistan did.

But, that is so far as domestic affairs go. Internationally, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan seemed to have walked away with the moral high ground. If Modi had better political instincts (and not just electoral ones), he would not have refused to speak to Khan when the latter called to inform him that his government would be releasing Wing Commander Varthaman the next day “in the interest of peace.”

It might well be true that Pakistan Army was under pressure from both the United States and Saudi Arabia to de-escalate the tensions between the two nations by releasing the Indian pilot.

But looking at it purely from the BJP’s point of view – and it is here I really begin to doubt his instinct - did Modi not wish to seize the advantage and take some credit for a role in the Wing Commander's release? The optics could have been so good! Instead there was not a word on the combat pilot until after Pakistan had almost handed him over and that too only to claim that the Wing Commander was a south Indian (as if we did not already know!) while he was campaigning in Kanyakumari.

But what might really become cringeworthy now is Pakistan’s decision to go to the United Nations with a complaint about India's own ‘terrorist’ activity - eco-terrorism that is. Apparently, all that 12 of our fastest combat jets hit in Balakot were some pine trees and not the 300-600 people that many television channels have claimed, quoting highly informed government officials.

In these days of satellite imagery, such claims are difficult to defend and, indeed, several reports by international news agencies coming straight from Balakot do suggest that only one villager was injured in the bombings but several trees destroyed on a remote mountain top. What then was the purpose of the strikes? The entire episode would have been funny if it were not so tragic from the point of view of the Indian Air Force. Didn’t they have access to satellite imaging too? And if the intention only was just to let Pakistan know what we could really be capable of by bombing empty spaces and no destruction of human lives, then why did we not claim as such instead of making ourselves look ridiculous by pretending to have destroyed the camps and killed hundreds?

There is one other point I wish to emphasise. In the aftermath of 26/11, when it was clear Pakistani terrorists had mounted an attack on Mumbai, Modi had ridiculed then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for his restraint and advised him to go for Pakistan’s jugular.

However, that patience and restraint earned India not just some brownie points internationally but real credit for its policy of deterrence and search of peaceful solutions. It is because of that restraint and the exposè by Dr Singh’s government of Pakistan’s official commendation of terrorism that that the Modi government has been able to take such a combative stand against Pakistan without inviting international approbation today. In other words, Modi is spending the credit earned by Dr Singh’s pacifism in the face of intense provocation by Pakistan. Had we reacted in the manner Modi had advised in 2008, we would have been not just outcast then but lost the case against terrorism that Modi is making today.

Finally, why I believe the BJP is losing the narrative on war is not just because of Modi, but also because of the ridicule being poured on the RSS for its earlier claim that they are better than the Army and can win a war with Pakistan in three days.

While the RSS has maintained a radio silence in this regard, the common people are beginning to question the timing of the attacks - not just that it has come suspiciously close to the elections, but that it happened while the families of the Pulwama martyrs had not yet done with their mourning. Add to it Karnataka BJP leader BS Yedyurappa’s claim of a war set to win them the elections and the picture of political chicanery is complete.

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