|
“Angry Modi spews vitriol against Pakistan”
Bangladeshi PM gifts Modi picture of 1971 Pakistani surrender
Bangladeshi PM gifts Modi picture of 1971 Pakistani surrender
In an attempt to rub salt over Pakistan’s wounds, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gifted Indian Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi a historic picture of Pakistan’s surrender to the Indian armed forces in 1971.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks yesterday in Dhaka, Bangladesh provoked a response from the Pakistani government today. Reportedly, the Indian PM had placed blame on Pakistan for stoking terrorism and causing a nuisance for India. Today, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina added insult to injury when she presented Modi with a picture of the the 1971 war surrender.
In the 1971 war, Niazi surrendered his forces of almost 93,000 men to the Indian Armed Forces and the Mukti Bahini guerrilla armed resistance force. He stated that he had acted on the orders of the West Pakistan Military High Command under General Yahya Khan.
Modi had also paid homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his recent trip to India by visiting Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
Curtsey:ARYNEWS
Modi, Hasina exchange 1971 memories
PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives the Bangladesh Liberation War Award on behalf of former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee in Dhaka on Sunday. At left is Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
TOPICS
diplomacy
India-Bangladesh
Besides restoring and opening vital connectivity for more productive relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Dhaka, seen as historic, brought back memories of the 1971 war of liberation.
When the people of the then East Pakistan were fighting the Pakistan Army, India stood with its eastern neighbour in its quest for Independence.
During Mr. Modi’s trip, he and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina exchanged significant articles that are a throwback to 1971. Mr. Modi presented Ms. Hasina a memento depicting the helm of INS Vikrant, the Indian naval ship which played a major role in the war. He handed over an audio recording of the historic speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, at Brigade Maidan in Kolkata on February 6, 1972, and a set of DVDs of parliamentary debates and a transcript of the Land Boundary Agreement.
Ms. Hasina gave Mr. Modi a photograph of the signing of the historic instrument of surrender of the 93,000 Pakistani military men to the India-Bangladesh Joint Command in Dhaka on December16, 1971. She handed over a map of the Indian Special Economic Zone in Bangladesh and a replica of the 1,320-MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal.
INS Vikrant played the most crucial part in shortening the war, cutting off the reinforcements sent from the then West Pakistan to the East.
Mr. Modi received the Bangladesh Liberation War Award on behalf of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Curtsey:www.thehundue.com June 8, 2015
Modi in Bangladesh: PM pays homage to martyrs of 1971 war
Dhaka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began his historic two-day visit to Bangladesh by paying homage to the martyrs of the 1971 War of Liberation in which India had helped.
PM Narendra Modi. PTI
He also visited the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum dedicated to Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
As soon as he arrived in Dhaka on the visit, Modi drove straight to 'Jatiyo Smriti Shoudho' (National Martyrs' Memorial) from airport to pay homage to the thousands who laid down their lives fighting for freedom from Pakistan.
Army bugle played the last post as Modi stood in solemn silence for some time in front of the memorial located in Savar, about 35 km north-west of Dhaka.
As part of the military ritual, the Bangladesh flag was hoisted and lowered to the half mast as the Indian premier offered wreaths at the altar.
The Indian premier planted a sapling at the memorial premises and signed the visitors’ book there.
"Beginning the visit by paying homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War of 1971," he tweeted.
Bangladeshi media describes PM Narendra Modi's visit as 'historic'
"Foundation Stone for Jatiyo Smriti Shoudho was laid by Bangabandhu himself. Design was chosen from various entries obtained in a competition," Modi added in another tweet.
He noted that the memorial consists of 7 distinct triangles indicating 7 stages of the national movement of Bangladesh that led to its Independence.
"Memorial gives impression of rising from the ashes like a phoenix. It symbolises courage & determination of people," the Indian Prime Minister said.
Curtsey: PTI Jun 6, 2015
Modi receives Bangladesh Award of Liberation War Honour for Vajpayee
Modi receives Bangladesh Liberation War Honour for ex-India PM Vajpayee
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the Award of Liberation War Honour in Bangladesh on behalf of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
President Md Abdul Hamid handed the award over to Modi at Bangabhaban in Dhaka on Sunday.
Vajpayee played an active role as the chief of Bharatiya Jana Sangha in Bangladesh’s Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.
In an editorial published in the ‘Organiser’, he had welcomed the proclamation of Bangladesh’s independence by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He had urged the Indian government to acknowledge the then Bangladesh government and help the freedom fighters.
BJS staged a mass Satyagraha from Aug 1 to 11 in 1971 and demonstrated in front of the Indian Parliament on Aug 12, demanding government’s support for Bangladesh’s independence.
The citation for Vajpayee said the people of Bangladesh will never forget his role in Bangladesh’s independence and India-Bangladesh relationship.
Modi said he had been in the BJS Satyagrha in 1971 as a volunteer.
“I was one of the crores of Indians who dreamed of an independent Bangladesh,” he said.
During the award ceremony, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said 'it would be great to have Vajpayee in our midst'.
She also took the opportunity to describe Modi as 'Vajpayee's able successor and a great friend of Bangladesh as Vajpayee.'
"In 1971, when the entire Bangladesh, under the leadership of Bangabandhu, waged the War of Liberation against the occupation forces, we were fortunate to have India beside us.
"The whole of Indian nation stood by their brothers and sisters across the border. As a politician, Shri Vajpayee’s unstinting support to Bangladesh played an important role in mobilising support for our cause in the Indian political circuit."
President Hamid’s Military Secretary Major General Abul Hossain and Secretary to the President’s Office Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam welcomed him at the porch of the president’s house at 12:40pm.
President Hamid greeted Modi with flowers. They had a meeting at the Credential Hall later.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina entered the Bangabhaban afterwards.
After the Awami League-led coalition had assumed power, it decided to honour Bangladesh’s foreign friends for their contribution in the Liberation War.
Late prime minister of India Indira Gandhi was given the prestigious Independence Award.
Her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi received the award on Jul 25, 2012.
Modi came to Dhaka on Saturday, for the first time after he had been elected the prime minister
Curtsey:www.bdnews24.com Published: 2015-06-07
Bangladesh: Narendra Modi receives Award of Liberation War Honour on behalf of Vajpayee
Dhaka: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on Sunday conferred Award of Bangladesh Liberation War Honour for his "active role" in the country's independence struggle and consolidating India's friendship with the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI
Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid handed over the award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a glittering ceremony at Bangabhaban, the President's house, which was attended by Premier Sheikh Hasina and top officials of her government.
"This day is a matter of great pride for all Indians that a great leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee is being honoured. He dedicated his entire life to the service of the country and he fought for the rights of the common man and from a political point of view he was our inspiration for political workers like myself," Modi said after receiving the award.
Modi said that when muktijodhas (freedom fighters) of Bangladesh were shedding blood, Indians too were fighting side-by-side with them and in a way helped realise the dream of Bangladesh.
He said he was one of the young volunteers who came to Delhi to participate in a Satyagraha launched by Jana Sangh to support Bangladeshi freedom fighters in 1971. He also recalled Vajpayee's speech in Parliament on 6 December, 1971 in which he had asked government to recognise Bangladesh as a nation.
"If Atalji's health permitted and he was present right now, this occasion would be very different," Modi said. The citation of the Award hailed Vajpayee as a "highly respected political leader" and recognised his "active role" in support of the liberation war of Bangladesh. It said that as President of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and a member of the Lok Sabha Vajpayee took various steps towards that end.
"In an editorial column of the 'Organiser' Vajpayee welcomed Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's historic declaration of Bangladesh's independence and called upon the government of India to recognise the government of Bangladesh and provide necessary assistance to the freedom fighters," the citation said.
It also recognised Jana Sangh's role in pressing the demand for Indian government's "expedited support" to the liberation war.
"Jana Sangh held a Jana Satyagraha during 1-11 August and their volunteers organised a huge rally in front of the Indian Parliament House on 12 August 1971," the citation said.
It mentioned Vajpayee's "firm stand at National and international levels for the cause of Bangladesh and its striving people".
"The people of Bangladesh would always remember the significant contributions made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee towards supporting the cause of Bangladesh's liberation war and consolidating friendship between Bangladesh and India," it added.
In her speech at the award ceremony, Prime Minister Hasina said Vajpayee's activities had a "significant contribution" in the struggle for liberation of Bangladesh.
She took the opportunity to describe Modi as "Vajpayee's able successor and a great friend of Bangladesh as Vajpayee."
A Bharat Ratna Awardee, 90-year-old Vajpayee could not be present at the ceremony due to poor health.
Hasina also acknowledged India's assistance in Bangladesh's freedom struggle and recalled that "Indians had given shelter to people of Bangladesh" at that time.
Curtsey: PTI Jun 7, 2015
Modi in Bangladesh:
PM pays homage to martyrs of 1971 war
Dhaka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began his historic two-day visit to Bangladesh by paying homage to the martyrs of the 1971 War of Liberation in which India had helped.
PM Narendra Modi. PTI
He also visited the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum dedicated to Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
As soon as he arrived in Dhaka on the visit, Modi drove straight to 'Jatiyo Smriti Shoudho' (National Martyrs' Memorial) from airport to pay homage to the thousands who laid down their lives fighting for freedom from Pakistan.
Army bugle played the last post as Modi stood in solemn silence for some time in front of the memorial located in Savar, about 35 km north-west of Dhaka.
As part of the military ritual, the Bangladesh flag was hoisted and lowered to the half mast as the Indian premier offered wreaths at the altar.
The Indian premier planted a sapling at the memorial premises and signed the visitors’ book there.
"Beginning the visit by paying homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War of 1971," he tweeted.
Bangladeshi media describes PM Narendra Modi's visit as 'historic'
"Foundation Stone for Jatiyo Smriti Shoudho was laid by Bangabandhu himself. Design was chosen from various entries obtained in a competition," Modi added in another tweet.
He noted that the memorial consists of 7 distinct triangles indicating 7 stages of the national movement of Bangladesh that led to its Independence.
"Memorial gives impression of rising from the ashes like a phoenix. It symbolises courage & determination of people," the Indian Prime Minister said.
Curtsey: PTI Jun 6, 2015
Land boundary deal done, PM Modi talks Teesta, development in Bangladesh
Jayanth Jacob,
| 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the President of Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina at Bangabhavan in Dhaka. (PTI Photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched water, land and a four-decade-old legacy to pep up India’s ties with Bangladesh on Sunday, saying the two neighbours have been “paas-paas” for long but would move “saath-saath” or together from now on.
He walked the extra mile to address Dhaka’s anxiety over the sharing of river water, buoyant after Saturday’s historic land agreement that will allow thousands living near the border to choose their nationality following decades of stateless limbo.
“I am of the view that birds, air and water … these three do not need to have visas at all,” he said, giving his verdict on a dispute over the Teesta water-sharing pact that has been embroiled in a political tug of war.
He told a packed house of over 2,200 people at the Bangabandhu International Convention Center that the land deal was “an agreement to join hearts” and “no less significant than the fall of the Berlin Wall”.
“People think that we are 'paas-paas' but now the world will have to accept that we are not just 'paas-paas' but 'saath-saath' as well,” he said, summoning his trademark eloquence to sum up the friendship between the two countries at a Dhaka University programme before concluding his two-day visit. The Prime Minister returned to India on Sunday evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bangladesh's former PM Begum Khaleda Zia during a meeting in Dhaka.(PTI Photo)
Bonhomie was the recurring refrain as he reached out to former premier Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and several opposition leaders —not known to harbor friendly thoughts about India in the past — on Sunday afternoon. Modi played a willing partner in the economic growth of Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations in the world, and revived the legacy of the 1971 liberation war in which India helped the nation gain independence from Pakistan.
“The sun rises first in Bangladesh and then in India; Bangladesh’s progress will reflect on India,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs puja at Ramkarishna Mission in Dhaka. (PTI Photo)
He received the Bangladesh Liberation War honour to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying he was particularly happy that a “mukti jodha” or freedom fighter, President Abdul Hamid, presented the award.
He revealed that his first exposure to politics was a satyagraha in Delhi launched by the Jana Sangh to support Bangladeshi freedom fighters in 1971.
“When we think of Bangladesh we feel very proud of the fact that even our Jawans have given their blood for this nation”, Modi said.
Modi began his day with a visit to the Dhakeshwari temple and the Ramakrishna Mission at Gopibagh.
Though Teesta was off the table, Modi tried to address the issue as Bangladesh shares 54 rivers with India. Fittingly, water and waterways together found mention 13 times in the joint statement.
The statement titled “Notum Projonmo-Nayi Disha” lists out a host of measures in helping Bangladesh in its development, including meeting the neighbour’s power generation of 24,000MW by 2021, civil nuclear cooperation for training purposes, and connectivity.
Curtsey: www.hindustantimes.com Jun 08, 2015
Angry Modi spews vitriol against Pakistan
By Reuters / Web Desk
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at Madison Square Garden in New York, during his visit to the United States, September 28, 2014. PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday Pakistan has been taught a “befitting lesson” with the Indian Army “shutting their mouth,” Times of Indiareported.
Modi’s statement comes after a lull in fighting between India and Pakistan after days of heavy shelling and gun battles across the border.
“Pakistan has got a befitting lesson. They will not dare to repeat it again. Our jawans have shut their mouth,” he said addressing an election rally in Maharashtra.
Modi also slammed Congress for targeting him over his government’s response to Pakistan’s aggression.
“Congress is busy issuing statements over what is happening on the Pakistan border. This is not the time for empty boli‘ (talk) by them, but for goli (bullet) by our jawans,” he said.
Modi upped the rhetoric saying India’s soldiers had “responded to the aggression with courage,” and described Pakistan as “the enemy”.
On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that war with India was not an option, but that Pakistan would respond with “full force” to any attempt to challenge its sovereignty.
Nawaz added, “It is shared responsibility of the leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation.”
Earlier today, Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, said, India will respond to Pakistan appropriately and it is in Pakistan’s hands to de-escalate the border conflict.
Akbaruddin’s statement comes a day after Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley warned Pakistan that it would be made to pay an ‘unaffordable’ price if the clashes continued.
Jaitley claimed that Pakistan was responsible for the surge in violence along the Line of Control and working boundary. “If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,” Jaitley told journalists in New Delhi.
“Pakistan should stop this unprovoked firing and shelling if it wants peace on the border.”
India’s defence minister added that his country had a “duty to defend its people”, as he accused Pakistan of trying to “precipitate tension where none exists.” Border Security Force (BSF) sources claimed Pakistani Rangers targeted 50 border outposts and 35 hamlets overnight along the 192-km boundary.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam has called upon India to allow the United Nations military observer group to visit the Line of Control to investigate the recent ceasefire violations.
The escalation has triggered an exodus, with 20,000 people moving to safe areas from border villages.
DAWN.COM Published: October 10, 2014
The rise and rise of Narendra Modi
BY BASHARAT HUSSAIN QIZILBASH
Ominous for Pakistan and Muslims in India
A few weeks ago, the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) elected Narendra Modi as the chief of its election campaign for the May/June 2014 general elections. Should the BJP win, he would be the prime minister of India. His rise is not a good omen for the Muslims of India in general and Pakistan in particular. There are reasons for this pessimism.
Although the prime ministerial position has its own priorities and considerations, yet he is expected to rule India the way he has governed the province of Gujarat for the last so many years. Under him, the economic development of Gujarat is touted as a role model for the rest of India. He is looked upon as a ‘visionary’ and an ‘efficient administrator’ who does not tolerate nonsense and knows ‘how to get things done’. His economic and industrial achievements may be laudable. However, one should not forget the horrendous treatment meted out to the Muslim minority during the Gujarat riots under his watch.
The rioting that continued from 28 February to July 2000 engulfed twenty out of twenty-five districts of the province including 151 towns and 991 villages, caused demolition of 230 mosques and shrines, death of 2000 people, displacement of more than one hundred thousand and an economic loss of almost Indian Rs110 billion, according to an estimate of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The reaction of Modi and his fellow ruling BJP politicians to this Hindu carnage against the Muslims is quite indicative of their inner thought processes. Modi termed the riots as a ‘spontaneous reaction’ to the burning of a coach of the ‘Sabermati Express’ at the train station in Godhra about two days earlier that was carrying workers/members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in which about 58 people died notwithstanding the fact that it remains disputed whether the fire was caused from inside or outside the compartment. Instead of allowing the law to identify the culprits of this dastardly act which took away precious and innocent lives, the VHP secretary general Pravin Togadia instigated the Hindus by stating, “Hindu society will avenge the Godhra killings. Muslims should accept that Hindus are not wearing bangles.” The BJP politicians also blamed the Muslims for the tragedy.
Modi’s ‘Newtonian logic’ to the subsequent Hindu attacks on the Muslims with the argument that ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ was a blatant lie in the light of a research conducted by Ward Berenschot for his book “Riot politics: Hindu-Muslim violence and the Indian state”, for which he stayed in Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat for fifteen months to collect first hand evidence. The fact of the matter is that most of the anti-Muslim riots were planned and executed by leaders and members of the Hindu-nationalist organisations such as the BJP, the VHP, the RSS and the Bajrang Dal often in collaboration with the local ‘goondas’ and with the complicity of police. This revelation is corroborated by a series of secretly videotaped interviews conducted by the Indian investigative magazine ‘Tehelka’ in which the perpetrators of violence exposed the hideous hand of the state and the politicians: “It was [Chief Minister Modi] who gave all signals in favour of Hindus… if the ruler is hard, then things can start happening.” How deeply the Modi government connived in the death of Muslims and the destruction of their livelihoods can be imagined from the fact that the Hindu rioters often carried the voters’ lists and sales tax details of those Muslims which were to be targeted.
One wonders how secular India can produce such communalist-minded and militant leaders. Isn’t Gujarat the birthplace of ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi, who spent his whole life preaching the gospel of non-violence? Despite Gandhi’s message of peace and love towards all humans, Gujarat has remained a ‘laboratory of Hindutva’ ideology, which claims that India belongs to Hindus only and looks upon Muslims as outsiders, who, if they wish to live in India must submit to the diktat of the Hindu majority. So, the Indian Muslims have two stark choices: either to get out of India or live as second class citizens. The ‘Hindutva’ as a political ideology was first propagated by the RSS in 1925 and over the decades its call for the revival of Hinduism has gained wide currency to the extent that now it boasts of a whole ‘family’ of violent Hindu-nationalist organisations, which combine together are called the ‘Sangh Parivar’ – all committed to turn India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ i.e. a society and a polity based solely on Hindu values.
It is a systematically organised ‘family’ in which the RSS works as the ‘social wing’ (running more than 5000 schools, hospitals and charity institutions); the VHP acts as the ‘religious wing’ to promote Hinduism inside and outside India; the BJP represents its political face whereas its youth force is groomed by Bajrang Dal. This growth of the ‘Sangh Pariwar’ has been phenomenal in the last quarter of a century because from a meager tally of four parliamentary seats in 1980, the BJP first won the general elections in 1996 and afterwards ruled the country from 1998 to 2004. Due to the two lackluster electoral terms of the Congress party marred by rampant corruption, dormant leadership and indecisive management, the BJP is well poised to hold the reins of the country, once again next year under the swashbuckling Narendra Modi.
Communal riots are not new to India. They date back to the pre-British times. However, what is quite intriguing is that the increase in their number and intensity coincide with the rise of Hindu-nationalists with the BJP at the forefront. Scholars offer different explanations in this regard. One can be the economic competition such as the Jabalpur riots after partition between the Hindu and the Muslim manufacturers of ‘beeri’ (cigarettes). The other can be that the riots serve as a political strategy of the politicians whereby mobs are mobilised through inflammatory speeches, organisation of religious processions, distribution of money, etc. The third is the division of society on religious basis. Although all religions preach peace and harmony, the mere fact that one group of people has a different outlook of and about life divides peoples into ‘us’ and ‘them’ i.e. Hindus and Muslims, respectively. Those who advocated communal harmony such as Emperor Akbar through his policy of Sulh-e-Kul’, the Bhakti Movement and the Sufi syncretism are either ignored, overlooked or totally forgotten whereas those who caused or nurtured divisiveness or hatred in the society are often revered and idolised.
In this way, ‘them’ (Muslims) becomes the ‘other’ and thus its violation, desecration and persecution becomes acceptable. The injured self-esteem of the ‘us’ (Hindus) as a result of the subjugation at the hands of ‘them’ (Muslims) in the past centuries is being recovered by repeatedly inflicting violence on the ‘other’ because the very act of violence is looked upon as a mean to establish ‘superiority’ over those who were once considered ‘superior’ (Muslims) in the past. And if violence can be committed against the bodies of the women of the ‘other’ (Muslims) then not only it shames ‘their’ men but is viewed as a proof of ‘maleness’ of the perpetrators (Hindus). The Gujarat violence is an undeniable testimony of how the ‘other’ can be named, shamed and killed in the name of ‘pride’ and ‘honour’. Berenschot has brought on record how whole families were electrocuted; people were burned alive; women were gang raped; fetuses were ripped out of women’s bellies; metal rods and pins were inserted into their private parts and they were burned alive after being covered in wax. Even kids were not spared as the one who had begged for water was forced to drink kerosene oil and then a match was thrown into his mouth which exploded his head. ‘Violence for the Sangh Parivar,’ writes Tanika Sarkar “is both source and proof of maleness.”
And Modi has worked as a ‘pracharak’ (organiser) of this Sangh Parivar, precisely of the RSS. This is his track record in Gujarat; one wonders how differently will he rule the whole of India? His party has a tendency to engineer communal violence to win the Hindu votes and an analysis of riots throughout India indicates a trend that they “occur significantly more often in the six months before or after elections.” It will be interesting to see how this correlation between riots and the BJP works in the upcoming elections. As his party’s ‘Hindutva’ ideology brands the Muslims as ‘violent’, ‘criminal’ and a ‘threat’ to Hindus; not only the Indian Muslims but the Pakistanis as well will anxiously watch how the election drama unfolds the fate of Narendra Modi.
writer is an academic and journalist. He can be reached at qizilbash2000@yahoo.com
Curtsey: www.pakistantoday.com JULY 8, 2013
Comment: Narendra Modi will be bad for Pakistan – and India
By Sanjay Kumar
In this photograph taken on April 9, 2014, Chief Minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi (C) is showered with flower petals during his roadshow in Vadodara, some 110 kms from Ahmedabad, prior to filing his nomination papers for the forthcoming elections. PHOTO: AFP
KABUL:
What kind of relationship would India have with Pakistan if Narendra Modi assumes office come May? Would he be a threat to its western neighbour? Will his presence at the helm revive fresh fears in the region?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not assuage any fears as it released its manifesto few days ago. The 52-page document included a possible revision of India’s No First Strike policy, an old doctrine that states that India would not be the first one to use atomic weapons in any armed conflict.
Modi is a controversial Hindu right-wing hardliner who cares little for minorities, particularly Muslims.
As victims suffered and perished the Gujarat Chief Minister’s political graph soared with each election. After effectively neutering Gujarati Muslims as a voting bloc, whatever and wherever he is today is due to what happened twelve years ago.
Modi was also a flag-bearer in the early 1990s when a Hindu mob in Ayodhya, led by BJP stalwarts like LK Advani, demolished a 16th century mosque commissioned by the Mughal emperor Babar.
Liberal and pluralistic India nurtures a deep-seated concern about such a politician. Pakistan also cannot remain immune.
The very fact that the Modi-inspired manifesto talks of a revision of India’s nuclear doctrine implies a natural escalation of tension with Pakistan. It also implies an escalation of divisive rhetoric and war-mongering under the guise of economic integrity and engagement. It was the Hindu right-wing government under Atal Behari Vajpayee that decided to test its nuclear weapons in 1998, an ominous beginning to South Asia’s nuclear age.
Despite some major obstacles, both sides have made efforts to normalize the long-suffering relationship over the past decade. The focus has shifted from military buildup to trade. Pakistan seeks to expand its economic engagement with India, which New Delhi also realizes is important. India also understands that it cannot prosper without taking its neighbour along.
Modi’s presence threatens to upset this path; it dampens the developing spirit of camaraderie between the two nations.
The leader’s recent attacks on Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the upstart Aam Aadmi party, as a Pakistani agent is indicative of his hostility not just for Pakistan, but for those in India who are even slightly perceived to be pro-Pakistan.
This rhetoric is reflective of a medieval mindset; it is aimed at shaming Pakistan and those who wish to engage with it.
The BJP manifesto also talks about revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status as an autonomous state. Any attempt to tamper with Kashmir will have an immediate counter-reaction in Pakistan, which views the territory as its own. If this happens Delhi’s relationship with Islamabad will naturally atrophy.
Such attempts will have a destabilizing effect on Pakistan. Any attempt to question the status quo in Kashmir and reverse the nuclear doctrine will have a strong reaction. It will give a new life and energy to the forces which have thrived on animosity between the two South Asian neighbours.
The combination of reactionary policies in the Hindu right-wing’s manifesto with the anti-Muslim image of Modi is putting South Asia on a very dangerous path.
He is a challenge to the conscience of South Asia.
Sanjay Kumar is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is currently covering elections in Afghanistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2014.
How Narendra Modi Takes Pride In Killing Muslims?
http://video.dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/mustwatch/22574/How-Narendra-Modi-takes-pride-in-killing-Muslims?-#.VXjuF_lViko
|
