For all those hoping to see matured Pak-India relations enter a new chapter of normalisation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unfounded accusation must have come as a great shock.
While the ruling BJP is known to always pull out the anti-Pakistan card whenever it sniffs trouble, a lower turnout and an overall lack of momentum prompted Mr Modi to use some bizarre connection between what a single former federal minister might have posted on social media and what a sovereign country wished to impose upon another sovereign country. In a blatant attempt to change tack and fire up the Hindutva mentality, he not only seems overwhelmingly interested in maligning the opposition party but is ready to cross all boundaries by laying down bizarre allegations in the people’s court.
Referring to Muslims, India’s second-largest population group as “infiltrators” who have “more children,” he has, for the umpteenth time, made it clear to the rest of the world that he only wishes to head the saffron part of the Indian identity. Minority groups better remain pushed against the wall, more concerned with their survival than buying into the prosperity dream!
Vileness continued as he moved on to link this to the election plan of his political rival Congress, which was said to seek the redistribution of Hindu wealth among Muslims. The broader dimension of the cuckoo theory posited that Pakistan too was involved in this mega design as it was an age-old partner of Congress, pinning hopes on a “weak government in India, not a strong one.” The entire saga is too much to digest for anyone with the ability to reason.
Just because the BJP wishes to see its committed voter on the ground does not give it a hallway pass to throw whatsoever dirty punch it wishes in any direction it deems necessary.
Notwithstanding the dire implications for the bilateral partnership, Mr Modi’s word vomit would spell unbearable ordeals for Indian Muslims, who live in a state of constant fear and uncertainty. Hasn’t he done enough damage already? *