When the prime minister of India stood side by side with President Bush and emphatically stated that ?we, the civilized world, will fight terrorism together?, I had turned to a friend and said that soon, India would become another target for international terrorist activity. In the non-Western world, Bush is seen to be indulging in politics of a different kind of terrorism ? blanket bombings, military interventions into bona fide states that live by their own constitutions, et al ? and not the kind of a leader, and therefore a state, that they would want to align with politically. Commercial partnerships, yes, political alliance, no. Civilized world! Was it civilized to venture into Vietnam in an effort to kill communism and in the process, millions of innocent people for an ideology different from that of the United States of America? And was it civilized to be friends with Osama and Saddam and then, in an effort to ?get them?, perpetrate mass killings in Afghanistan and Iraq? The list of atrocities is never ending. Is Guantanamo Bay civilized?
Our recent break from being an Asian giant with a political position of our own, based on our sense of integrity, has set India back in a fast changing world. To partner the US when the moon of the latter has begun to wane, is a trifle odd. It speaks of a lack of political understanding of this country?s many cultural dimensions, its special needs. The Indian Muslim has always belonged, been an Indian and is not a militant Islamist. Because of these unnatural political alignments, leading to ghastly, horrific and bloody events, the Muslim in India will run scared, terrified of the radical Hindu groups that are bound to use this opportunity to target them and undermine the pluralist strength of the country. This is the outcome of a simplistic alliance, and the beginning of an assault on India.
True lies
When doing our deals with the US, we should have offered to play the role of ?mediator between that country and its worldwide ?enemies??, instead of becoming their lap dog looking for economic crumbs. We have had, over the past decades, perfectly good relations with many countries in west Asia. Why are we now destroying that international legacy?
Where was the US when Kashmir was reeling under terrorism? It was the protector of Pakistan, of a military dictatorship, as it has been to many tin-pot dictatorships across South America and the world. India thought it had succeeded in winning over the US, without stopping to think that America did the switch for its own reasons alone. I shall not go into this because it would require many tomes to elaborate.
The simple truth is that everything around us smacks of India fast becoming a soft, and vulnerable state. The counter-arguments, unfortunately, suggest a ?soft? intellectual and limited political assessment of our fast changing world. We have taken the easy option of following the ?economic leader?. We have to wait and see how our government handles the demand for Indian troops to join the new millennium ?allied forces? when the US decides to invade another country in the near future. Scary and disruptive for the fabric of India.
The July 11 blasts along the suburban rail tracks in Mumbai sent this country into deep depression. It was tragic for hundreds of families and their friends. The image of the home minister reading his ambiguous and weak statement from a slip of paper was an embarrassment. The ordinary people of Mumbai made real and true statements on television with deep care and understanding, putting the home minister to shame. Last week another minister shamed us, and a month earlier, yet another had indulged in and triggered the most grisly retaliation. Is it not time for a cabinet reshuffle?
