Congress, wilting under pressure, is really strange
Courtesy:- Salahuddin Haider
Friday, August 16, 2013 - THAT the Indian Congress party would appear so weak and incapable to resist pressure, is indeed surprising. A party which had remained in control of the world’s biggest democracy for 37 successive years, and is back in the saddle again, would wilt easily before extremists like Shiv Saina, or the BJP, was least expected, and surely does not augur well for the Indians themselves.
Kashmir LOC was a minor issue, almost a non-event, but was blown out of all proportions mainly by the media in the neighbouring country. Sentiments were whipped up, a bus service, introduced to serve the cause of peace, was stopped twice, while coming from Amritsar to Lahore, and on itsway back home.
Extremists, in their bid to corner the ruling party in impending elections, raised anti-Pakistanslogans, burnt Pakistan flags. But its effect could have evaporated quickly, for, such incidents do not require great skills to control. The Congress tried to display resilience. A K Anthony, the defence minister dismissed the LOC incident as terrorists’ action, and foreign minister Salman Khurshid saw little impact on the talks scheduled between the two countries, but both of them surrendered rather meekly before political opponents, withdrawing their earlier remarks somewhat in intriguing manner.
Their inability to hold ground which forced analysts to think whether the Indian Congress continues to suffer from the “Sonia phobia” or whether its leadership showed a tendency to be a tool in the hands of extremists. Sonia, the Italian born widow of Rajeev heads the Congress party, but is she really in control is a question that is being now commonly asked.
She was the strongest candidate for premiership after her husband’s violent death, but was advised to stay away from power play, lest she too, with her children, falls victim to the designs of those opposed to the Nehru Dynasty. True politicians can ill-afford to ignore popular sentiments, but in this case, a handful of people had tried to exploit an ordinary incident to embarrass the government on the eve of an impending elections.
There was no mass agitation. Yet the Indian media, always in the forefront to hold Pakistan responsible for even their own follies, saw in it a golden opportunity to be the key players in a drama which was not only ill-timed but was also poorly scripted. The leadership in India , controlling considerable following in the masses, and having comfortable majority in Lok Sabha, displayed utter immaturity in dealing with the situation. It could have very well faced the opposition and conveyed to the masses that it was fully equipped and capable to come to grips with an issue which had totally and unnecessarily been flared up. Even if the argument that the party in power had failed to control the economic melt down at home—the rupee sliding downwards from Rs 52/53 to 61 in par value with US dollars, and Gross Domestic Product indices declining from 8 to 6 or 6.5 percent, are to be accepted, the country’s administration could have easily countered it by citing global recession as the reason, and promising fresh initiatives to recover from the mess, offering new ideas.
China too has been in problem lately, but its leadership has shown the ability to deal with the situation. In the West Germany has shown recovery from the slowing down of economy. France and England though could not produce that significant progress, but their government had been at work round the clock to help their people breath a sigh of relief. India newspapers and TVchannels, apart from having powerful influence in their respective areas, also represent differentviewpoints, and would not like to be outdone by their competitors. Fair enough.
Perfectly within the norms of the trade rules in vogue since long. But journalism is a responsible profession. It has tremendous duty towards the nation and must play its principle role to guide the people to sanity, ask them to remain calm and peaceful in given situations. Whipping up war hysteria is against the fundamentals of a profession respected by the people the world over. The Indian media, completely ignored that basic lesson and got engaged in an exercise which does not augur well for peace in the region and peace in the world. Compared to that, those at the helm in Pakistan, political parties, the media and the parliament showed enormous restraint.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who spearheaded the campaign for peace in the subcontinent met with tremendous success in inviting the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vapyee to Lahore, and then creating an atmosphere of goodwill that drove Vajpayee to write beautiful sentences on Minar-e-Pakistan. Musharraf was very foolish as army chief to launch an adventure in Kargil that upset the apple cart. It was Nawaz Sharif again, who utilized his goodwill and personal ties with President Clinton to be in Washington on a national holiday of July 4, and sought his help in securing an honourable settlement of a crisis which was clearly foresee from the start. Musharraf, or any other army chief, must remember that political leadership is the sole guardian of the country. No war can ever be fought without its approval.
The basic lesson that mightiest of armies can be defeated, but no nation can ever defeated, was whimsically overlooked by General Musharraf in 1999. Nawaz was kept in the dark till the last moment, and yet he considered it his national duty to salvage the honour and dignity of his country’s army, which he did quite successfully. Currently, the Pakistan foreign ministry, the party in power, and the media, have shown remarkable restraint, and refrained from doing anything that may help to worsen the situation. Indian army chiefs, and their defence minister have been adopting threatening postures. Do they forget that Pakistan is today a different country.
Divisive tendencies are a problem for us, but not when country’s borders are threatened. Unity will be there, and above all, Pakistan, despite being a nuclear power, has avoided doing anything silly, neither does it wish to engage in such a stupid exercise. Hopefully, the Indians will realize that they are on the wrong track and would review their position to allow the dialogue to resume at secretary’s, and also at the prime ministers’ level on the sidelines of the UN General Assemblynext month. No point in inflaming the situation. It won’t serve any purpose, surely not the objective to have a peaceful world.
Friday, August 16, 2013 - THAT the Indian Congress party would appear so weak and incapable to resist pressure, is indeed surprising. A party which had remained in control of the world’s biggest democracy for 37 successive years, and is back in the saddle again, would wilt easily before extremists like Shiv Saina, or the BJP, was least expected, and surely does not augur well for the Indians themselves.
Kashmir LOC was a minor issue, almost a non-event, but was blown out of all proportions mainly by the media in the neighbouring country. Sentiments were whipped up, a bus service, introduced to serve the cause of peace, was stopped twice, while coming from Amritsar to Lahore, and on itsway back home.
Extremists, in their bid to corner the ruling party in impending elections, raised anti-Pakistanslogans, burnt Pakistan flags. But its effect could have evaporated quickly, for, such incidents do not require great skills to control. The Congress tried to display resilience. A K Anthony, the defence minister dismissed the LOC incident as terrorists’ action, and foreign minister Salman Khurshid saw little impact on the talks scheduled between the two countries, but both of them surrendered rather meekly before political opponents, withdrawing their earlier remarks somewhat in intriguing manner.
Their inability to hold ground which forced analysts to think whether the Indian Congress continues to suffer from the “Sonia phobia” or whether its leadership showed a tendency to be a tool in the hands of extremists. Sonia, the Italian born widow of Rajeev heads the Congress party, but is she really in control is a question that is being now commonly asked.
She was the strongest candidate for premiership after her husband’s violent death, but was advised to stay away from power play, lest she too, with her children, falls victim to the designs of those opposed to the Nehru Dynasty. True politicians can ill-afford to ignore popular sentiments, but in this case, a handful of people had tried to exploit an ordinary incident to embarrass the government on the eve of an impending elections.
There was no mass agitation. Yet the Indian media, always in the forefront to hold Pakistan responsible for even their own follies, saw in it a golden opportunity to be the key players in a drama which was not only ill-timed but was also poorly scripted. The leadership in India , controlling considerable following in the masses, and having comfortable majority in Lok Sabha, displayed utter immaturity in dealing with the situation. It could have very well faced the opposition and conveyed to the masses that it was fully equipped and capable to come to grips with an issue which had totally and unnecessarily been flared up. Even if the argument that the party in power had failed to control the economic melt down at home—the rupee sliding downwards from Rs 52/53 to 61 in par value with US dollars, and Gross Domestic Product indices declining from 8 to 6 or 6.5 percent, are to be accepted, the country’s administration could have easily countered it by citing global recession as the reason, and promising fresh initiatives to recover from the mess, offering new ideas.
China too has been in problem lately, but its leadership has shown the ability to deal with the situation. In the West Germany has shown recovery from the slowing down of economy. France and England though could not produce that significant progress, but their government had been at work round the clock to help their people breath a sigh of relief. India newspapers and TVchannels, apart from having powerful influence in their respective areas, also represent differentviewpoints, and would not like to be outdone by their competitors. Fair enough.
Perfectly within the norms of the trade rules in vogue since long. But journalism is a responsible profession. It has tremendous duty towards the nation and must play its principle role to guide the people to sanity, ask them to remain calm and peaceful in given situations. Whipping up war hysteria is against the fundamentals of a profession respected by the people the world over. The Indian media, completely ignored that basic lesson and got engaged in an exercise which does not augur well for peace in the region and peace in the world. Compared to that, those at the helm in Pakistan, political parties, the media and the parliament showed enormous restraint.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who spearheaded the campaign for peace in the subcontinent met with tremendous success in inviting the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vapyee to Lahore, and then creating an atmosphere of goodwill that drove Vajpayee to write beautiful sentences on Minar-e-Pakistan. Musharraf was very foolish as army chief to launch an adventure in Kargil that upset the apple cart. It was Nawaz Sharif again, who utilized his goodwill and personal ties with President Clinton to be in Washington on a national holiday of July 4, and sought his help in securing an honourable settlement of a crisis which was clearly foresee from the start. Musharraf, or any other army chief, must remember that political leadership is the sole guardian of the country. No war can ever be fought without its approval.
The basic lesson that mightiest of armies can be defeated, but no nation can ever defeated, was whimsically overlooked by General Musharraf in 1999. Nawaz was kept in the dark till the last moment, and yet he considered it his national duty to salvage the honour and dignity of his country’s army, which he did quite successfully. Currently, the Pakistan foreign ministry, the party in power, and the media, have shown remarkable restraint, and refrained from doing anything that may help to worsen the situation. Indian army chiefs, and their defence minister have been adopting threatening postures. Do they forget that Pakistan is today a different country.
Divisive tendencies are a problem for us, but not when country’s borders are threatened. Unity will be there, and above all, Pakistan, despite being a nuclear power, has avoided doing anything silly, neither does it wish to engage in such a stupid exercise. Hopefully, the Indians will realize that they are on the wrong track and would review their position to allow the dialogue to resume at secretary’s, and also at the prime ministers’ level on the sidelines of the UN General Assemblynext month. No point in inflaming the situation. It won’t serve any purpose, surely not the objective to have a peaceful world.
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