“[S]ome men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn;” this memorable remark – made by Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth – rings true in a world where national leaders are growing increasingly ultra-nationalist. Here is an instance, finally, where no one can be happy to see life imitating art. To ensure peace for everyone, the world needs rational people to oversee the matters of states and governments.
One does not need to go very far to look for rising ultra-nationalism and manifestation of “small men occupying big offices” who are willing to watch the world burn, as long as it serves their vested interests. For Pakistan, this is happening in its immediate neighborhood. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s is the perfect case of a political leader pushing the world closer to catastrophe, every single day. Mr Modi diverges slightly from Alfred Pennyworth’s definition though. He is, in fact, looking for something logical – another term as India’s prime minister. He is willing do anything to ensure that his Bharatiya Jannata Party wins the general elections. To this end, he is willing to sacrifice lives and create societal discord and intolerance.
The amount of gas-lighting that Indian public is being subjected to is unprecedented. They are asked to believe things that never happened. In 2016, the Modi government claimed to have made a surgical strike against Pakistan following a terrorist attack in Uri. It claimed that it had air-dropped troops on territory held by Pakistan and conducted ground assaults. A BBC report showed that nothing of this sort had happened. The most India had managed was a ceasefire violation across the Line of Control. The only beneficiary of this – other than Mr Modi – was Bollywood, which earned a hefty amount of money by making a movie perpetuating the fiction. This raised Mr Modi’s popularity temporarily.
Showing aggression towards Pakistan is seen as the trump card in Indian electoral politics. Anti-Pakistan rhetoric sells on the campaign trail. Modi is making sure he beats all his predecessors in exploiting this trend
Many of Mr Modi’s policies were being questioned by the masses. While he maintained that India was one of the fastest-growing economies, social inequities continued to widen as the government’s policies failed to create the promised jobs. Demonetization – a brainchild of Mr Modi’s – had a far-reaching detrimental impact on the livelihoods of the common man. Three years on, it continues to affect the economy as goals set by his government are not met. The intervention is being taught as a cautionary case study in numerous international business schools.
The allegations of corruption surrounding the Rafale jet deal with France have added to the woes of the Modi government. It is alleged that Mr Modi and his colleagues altered the deal to acquire fewer jets for three times the originally agreed price. The audacity with which they accused the opposition of baseless propaganda was truly remarkable.
Meanwhile, growing communal tensions, fomented by BJP’s parent body – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -continue to result in grave human rights violations against religious minorities, particularly Muslims. Violence in Indian-Held Kashmir has soared. The senseless violence has fuelled the Kashmiri freedom struggle and resulted in men, women, and children fighting against Indian forces’ tyranny in the Valley. One manifestation of this may have been the Pulwama attack. The attacker has been found to be a Kashmiri boy, radicalized as a result of humiliation faced at the hands of Indian forces. The Indian public was once agin told that Pakistan had a role in the attack.
The Pulwama incident provided Mr Modi with the perfect opportunity to divert global and domestic attention from his government’s failures by accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism. Showing aggression towards Pakistan is the trump card in Indian electoral politics. Anti-Pakistan rhetoric sells on the campaign trail. Modi is trying to beat all his predecessors in exploiting this trend. India’s nuclear weapons, it was said, were not meant for Diwali fireworks. India, it was said, had readied 12 missiles directed towards Pakistan and had the Pakistan not returned the captured Indian pilot, it would have been a catastrophic night. These statements were merely a means to cover up the humiliation that India faced after it was proved that its so-called surgical strike was a farce and that Pakistan had captured one of its pilots after his fighter jet was downed.
Mr Modi has risked catastrophe to ensure that when the time comes he can cash in on an aggressive posture towards Pakistan to win an election. In his bid to come out victorious, he has refused to engage in any kind of dialogue with Pakistan. His only goal appears to be winning the upcoming elections.
It is in the hands of the Indian people to find their own Batman to save not only their country but the whole region from the madness of PM Modi and his ilk. They have to remember what Joker says about madness: “like gravity… all it takes is a little push”. For the sake of regional peace, the Indian voters have to deny Mr Modi another electoral victory.
The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for International Strategic Studies, Islamabad