Daily Times

The statement by Narendra Modi, the leader of the right-wing political party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and candidate for the next premier of India, attacking Pakistan for bringing back Dawood Ibrahim, added fuel to the fire to already deteriorated Pak-India relations. The timing of Modi’s statement on the eve of the Lok Sabha election in India was quite understandable when the voting was in process in Gujarat, the province where Modi was holding the portfolio of chief minister. However, Modi should have kept in mind the consequences of such a statement. If he is becoming the next prime minister of India, such a statement does not suit him even if made it only for gaining the sympathy of the Hindu community for votes. This is perhaps a selective communal approach by Modi whereby he passes adverse remarks against Muslims. Modi’s track record shows that he is a hardliner and is against the Muslim community — the dreadful 2002 Gujarat riots are attributed to him. Though he has not been convicted by a court of law, people still accuse him. The selective communal approach that he is using could become disastrous.

In this global world, when both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers, the statement of an attack on a nuclear power really seems rash. The sensitivity of the matter can be gauged from the swift reaction of Pakistan. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan immediately rebutted Modi’s statement, terming it irresponsible and shameful. Chaudhry said, “Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region should not be taken as its weakness. The leadership, people and particularly armed forces are capable of responding to threats from India.” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam also rebutted Modi’s statement. In a television interview she said, “Narendra Modi has no realisation of the ground reality and his statements are extremely irresponsible. Our borders have army deployed with security worth billions of rupees; no one should even dare think about aggression.”

Although Modi’s statement sparked criticism in the subcontinent and across the world, if one closely analyses it will be seen that Pak-India relations remained fairly even when the BJP was in government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the 10th prime minister of India. During his tenure from 1998 to 2004, Pakistan’s relations were considerably better with India with the exception of the Kargil war incident. It may have been due to the personality of Vajpayee or to the brilliant diplomacy of his foreign affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, that relations with Pakistan improved during his tenure. A number of initiatives were taken to normalise Pak-India bilateral relations. The Lahore Declaration was signed, trade relations were enhanced and the peace process was started during his (Vajpayee’s) term as prime minister of India. Vajpayee was quite sensible, competent and rational while Modi may not be.

Modi’s communal approach is likely to weaken the BJP’s chances of gaining a majority as the election is continuing and will end on May 12, 2014. In politics, a communal approach never works in the right direction; one can recall the order of Operation Blue Star in June 1984 by the then Indian prime minister, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi. Analysts say it was purely carried out on a communal basis to divide Hindus and Sikhs. And that was also a selective communal approach by Indira Gandhi, which did not work. For Indira it may have been a success of the government, but a lot of blood was shed, hundreds of people were killed and later, after her assassination, her son, Rajiv Gandhi, faced problems.

India is very much prone to communal violence. During only the last two years, due to provocative speeches by political leaders of both leading political parties of India, the BJP and Congress, communal violence in the country has risen. The Indian Express quoting data by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of India reported, “The year before the Lok Sabha elections, 2013, saw communal rioting incidents in the country jumping by nearly 25 percent, with Uttar Pradesh, which witnessed major religious clashes in Muzaffarnagar, being the worst affected with 247 incidents compared to 118 in 2012. States such as UP, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar saw a steady rise in communal violence during the rule of UPA-2. Gujarat recorded 68 cases of communal tension in 2013 in which 10 people died and 57 incidents in 2012 in which five people died. Karnataka recorded 73 cases in 2013 and 69 in 2012.”

A selective approach is always violated as was violated in the case of Indira; the implications are grave for the person, for the community and for the state. The killing of more than 30 Muslims in Assam is another alarming example of a selective communal approach. Contrary to this, if elected, Modi could prove himself to be one of the best prime ministers of India just as Vajpayee played very good strokes of diplomacy. I wish to see him do so. Considering the regional and global situation, it will not be easy for Modi to remain hostile towards Muslims and pass aggressive remarks against Pakistan. Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and little mistakes can bring catastrophe. Already we have been saved from a disaster during the Kargil war, a unique war fought between two nuclear powers without nuclear weapons.

The writer works as a Media and Public Relations Officer with NAB. He tweets @irfanchaudhri and can be reached at irfanchaudhri@gmail.com

Note: The views presented in the article are the writer’s own and do not represent his organisation