The Hindu : Communalism in the time of war

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 11, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Communalism in the time of war
By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 10. Every war has two political fronts - external and internal. If you lose it at home, you lose it all. Thanks to the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, India has positioned itself to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in its confrontation with Pakistan. Amid the biggest military mobilisation since Independence, the extremists of the Bharatiya Janata Party are egging the nation to poke itself in the eye.

Just when the international context seemed so propitious to deal with security threats that had bled India for more than a decade, the Sangh Parivar has opened old wounds within the nation. Even India's worst adversaries would not have expected that its sorest internal spot would be cleaved open so brutally at such a sensitive moment.

If there was just one way to undermine all the Indian diplomatic gains in recent years and months, it was to stoke up the flames of communal passions within the nation. And that precisely is what the extremists of the ruling party have done - unleashing the carnage in Gujarat and forcing the question of building the temple in Ayodhya.

Where does that leave the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee? Can he stare down the lunatics on his party's fringe? By getting the Sankaracharya of Kanchi to intervene, Mr. Vajpayee has bought himself some time. It is a tenuous reprieve, however. If he is not prepared to act decisively in favour of national unity and confront the Hindu extremists, Mr. Vajpayee's political record could soon be in shreds.

* * *

Exactly six months after September 11, that so radically transformed the security environment of the subcontinent, the U.S. President, George W. Bush, will be making a major speech on Monday on the next steps in the war against terrorism. American media reports suggest that Mr. Bush will extend the war against the Al-Qaeda into even those countries that are not seeking American military help to fight terrorism. If Mr. Bush proclaims that he will not let the Al-Qaeda regroup anywhere in the world, the first place he should be looking to prevent it from happening should be Pakistan.

* * *

Meanwhile, the U.S. is already deeply involved in the counter-terrorist operations in the Philippines. This is the first time since it retreated from Vietnam in 1975 that the U.S. troops are fighting in Asia. The U.S. is also reportedly considering anti Al-Qaeda operations in Indonesia; but there apparently is considerable resistance from the Indonesian military.

Closer home, the U.S. is apparently considering military assistance to help Nepal deal with the Maoist insurgency. This could include military advisers and training. Besides establishing military presence in Central Asia and Pakistan, the U.S. is getting involved in anti-terror operations in Georgia in the Caucasus and Yemen in the Persian Gulf. In the Horn of Africa, the U.S. Navy is patrolling the shores of Somalia to prevent the Al-Qaeda forces from getting there. Meanwhile, all the indications are that the U.S. is also preparing to force a ``regime-change'' in Iraq - or more simply put, oust Saddam Hussein.

An unprecedented situation is emerging in and around India's neighbourhood as part of America's continuing war against terrorism. The Indian security establishment needs to gear itself to get the best out of the extraordinary developments unfolding in the region. But that will depend a lot on bringing the explosive domestic situation under firm control.

* * *

In the first important consolidation of the National Security Council established three years ago, its secretariat will now report to Brajesh Mishra in the Prime Minister's Office. Until now the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has been reporting to the Cabinet Secretary.

Mr. Mishra was given two hats - that of the Principal Secretary to the PM and National Security Adviser- in order to ensure that the new NSC system worked. Moving the NSCS to the PMO might help strengthen the office of the NSA and impart some momentum to the NSC structures, experts say. The head of the NSCS, Satish Chandra, who recently retired from the Foreign Service, has been asked to stay on for two more years and named a deputy to the NSA.

Experts add that the next step is to strengthen the staff structure of the NSCS and devise effective procedures. Since the NSCS has also inherited the function of assessing and coordinating intelligence from its predecessor, Joint Intelligence Committee, it might make sense to have another deputy to the National Security Adviser to deal with that particular job.

* * *

Indian and Chinese officials met here earlier this month and completed the process of exchanging maps in the middle- sector of the Line of Actual Control on their long and contested border. The next meeting of the Expert Group is scheduled for the middle of the year and will take up the more difficult Western sector. The exercise is about delineating the LAC on the ground, which will help implement measures to make it peaceful. The clarification of the LAC is without prejudice to the divergent positions on the boundary dispute itself.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

Trade power

Woes of a visitor

An opportunity missed

Reversing distorted perspectives

Communalism in the time of war