ANIRBAN GANGULY
Ever since its founding Pakistan has been relentlessly pursuing the goal of bleeding India through a thousand cuts. This blind and irrational and chimera prone attitude has led to tensions in the region. In its quest to try to destabilize India, Pakistan has gone into a spree of sponsoring terrorism and allowing itself to turn into rogue and terrorist state. As BJP president Amit Shah pointed out “Pakistan has been constantly trying to destabilize India by sponsoring terrorism and supporting terrorist organizations.” He was right when he said, “India has been fighting relentlessly against terror and now the war is in a decisive stage” and that “the martyrdom of our brave martyrs will not go in vain at any cost and the government is moving towards the right direction.” Prime Minister Modi assured the nation that those behind this “despicable attack will not go unpunished.”
However, for the Indian communists the only solution for the Kashmir issue is to capitulate before separatism, to castigate our forces and to call for their withdrawal from strategic positions – in short they will only accept a solution, which makes India step back in a recalcitrant spirit. However, such a thing is not be, at least not under a Prime Minister for whom the entire driving vision is “India First.”
Some in India – who habitually rejoice whenever our soldiers are martyred and who sponsor and support cadres who dance at the death of our soldiers are naturally rejoicing. They were aghast when Prime Minister Modi took up the cause of the people of Baluchistan and PoK and our northern areas. They see no human rights where they ought to see but make noises on human rights when terrorists are apprehended or liquidated by our forces. In short, they speak and stand for rights of terrorists and not citizens of India. Interestingly much editorial space was allotted in India – especially by so-called reputed academic journals, to derisively discuss PM Modi’s expression of solidarity with the people of Baluchistan.
These journals, their editorial directors, and a section of the political class conjure a false bogey of high morality but have nothing to say when Pakistan and its sponsored terrorists enter into India and carry out strikes against her forces. Interestingly Indian communists rushed to gate crash into the houses of separatists with the hope of playing the lute of reason for them, little realizing that they were playing into the hands of those who wish to see India disintegrate. One only wishes that they displayed a similar passion, a similar solidarity for our armed forces and for Prime Minister Modi who has genuinely and with great earnestness, tried to work on the Kashmir issue.
However, for the Indian communists the only solution for the Kashmir issue is to capitulate before separatism, to castigate our forces and to call for their withdrawal from strategic positions – in short they will only accept a solution, which makes India step back in a recalcitrant spirit. However, such a thing is not be, at least not under a Prime Minister for whom the entire driving vision is “India First.”
Right from the day he took oath Prime Minister Modi has reached out to each neighbor of India and has reiterated his vision of seeing the region develop as a shared zone of prosperity. His gestures have been largely reciprocated and have struck a chord in India’s neighbourhood and far beyond. Even towards Pakistan, Prime Minister Modi expressed a genuine desire to work issues out and after a patient and sustained period when Pakistan persisted in continuing to remain entrenched in its old mindset, he did not hesitate to evolve a strong position and articulate it as well. Today Pakistan stands isolated in the comity of nations. All those criticizing Prime Minister Modi today have strangely kept silent for nearly seventy years standing on a false moral attitude that has always jettisoned India’s position and her national interest.
The reclamation of the spirit of “India First” is a long and arduous task and journey. It is only now under Prime Minister Modi that the journey has finally and irrevocably started. It is bound to be a challenging journey. Pathankot and Uri are expressions of the kind of opposition that will gradually crop up to either delay or arrest the process of reclaiming the faith, the belief in the spirit of “India First.” The aspiration amongst us all must be to resist and conquer such opposition.
The only way is to pour our full might, our conviction and our inmost strength in upholding the vision of “India First” and in believing that it will ultimately triumph.
(The author is writer and columnist)