Tagline: Attacking one’s political opponents on foreign soil is not the right strategy

“Rahul can never attain Modi’s lofty standards of expressing thoughts that the speaker himself does not believe in. Every politician has his strengths and weaknesses. Rahul, for instance, appears to be a more sincere individual than Modi, who is fired up by an extremist ideology. He should utilise that quality to convince the electorate of his own worth. Attacking his opponents in a foreign land is not the right strategy, even if Pitroda advocates it.”

Many foreign dignitaries visit New Delhi for discussions with our national leaders. Some even meet leaders of Opposition parties. There has never been an instance of these dignitaries denigrating their political opponents. Agreed that there are many reasons to criticise our Prime Minister, especially for his doublespeak, but those battles are to be fought by Indians in India. Foreigners should not be embroiled in our internal problems. Rahul can never attain Modi’s lofty standards of expressing thoughts that the speaker himself does not believe in.

Rahul is fast becoming a real threat to PM Modi. The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have given him and the Congress, the principal Opposition party, a quantum leap. The Congress has doubled its strength in the Lower House. The BJP lost many seats in its stronghold of Uttar Pradesh. Wonder of wonders, it even lost the Faizabad seat in Ayodhya despite Modi taking on the role of the Shankaracharyas while inaugurating the Ram Mandir!

A more mature politician would have planned to capitalise on that mini-victory to dislodge Modi next time around. There was a feeling that Rahul was doing just that when he led the attacks on the government’s policies in the Lok Sabha, pointing to the hate and divisiveness being spread with the sole purpose of capturing political power.

And then he flies to the US and addresses select audiences targeted by his friend and confidant Pitroda, speaks against Modi and thus spoils his own copybook.

In contrast, Modi, the suave politician that he is, wowed a huge gathering of desis gathered in New York’s Times Square and recovered lost ground abroad. India’s huge and growing markets are attracting the US and various European powers. For that alone, our country’s Prime Minister is much sought after in foreign lands.

Modi is a shrewd and calculating politician. He is an orator ‘par excellence’. In New York, he did not say anything he had not stated earlier in our own land. But what he spoke was delivered with such conviction and verve that he made an indelible impression on his audience.

In my city of Mumbai, I have heard Balasaheb Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena, speak on at least a dozen occasions. He kept his audience mesmerised. Modi does that too. But Modi does not employ humour to attract the attention of his listeners. He is too serious for that. Thackeray would intersperse his speeches with shafts of humour that even a person whose mother tongue was not Marathi would chuckle all the way home.

Rahul can never attain Modi’s lofty standards of expressing thoughts that the speaker himself does not believe in. Every politician has his strengths and weaknesses. Rahul, for instance, appears to be a more sincere individual than Modi, who is fired up by an extremist ideology. He should utilise that quality to convince the electorate of his own worth. Attacking his opponents in a foreign land is not the right strategy, even if Pitroda advocates it.

Modi and his trusted aide, Amit Shah, addressed election rallies in the Kashmir valley recently. Modi stated that his government, which has been solely in charge of Jammu & Kashmir since the state was relegated to the status of a Union Territory in 2019, has got rid of terrorism there. Yet, every week, there are reports of terror attacks. Who are we to believe? Every week, civilians and martyred soldiers are buried or cremated.

Shah warned the voters of the Valley that if the Congress or the National Conference, led by the Abdullahs, was voted to power, terrorism in all its vile manifestations would return to the region. Modi and Shah are obviously convinced that guns and bullets would end terrorism. That is not the lesson that Ireland or Spain, and closer to home, Punjab, have learnt from their encounters with the menace. All standard books on terrorism will tell you that whereas the brainwashed terrorists have to be dealt with an iron hand, terrorism as such can only be eliminated if the community from which the terrorists belong turns against them.

In short, there is a clear distinction between terrorists and terrorism. The former can be eliminated, but when they are captured or killed, young recruits are certain to replace them. The cause is such an emotional one that getting rid of known terrorists is not the final answer.

In Punjab, terrorism ended only after Jat Sikh farmers started giving information about the presence of terrorists in their villages, information that they were reluctant to part with earlier during the conflict. In Punjab, as in Ireland, captured or killed terrorists were soon replaced by other young recruits. The farmers started helping the government only when life became unbearable for them. Nothing can be solved by the gun alone. The people have to be won over. There is no alternative to that time-tested solution.

The scrapping of Article 370 and degrading the state to a UT are factors that will work against getting the people to collaborate with the government. Modi and Shah will have to reconcile themselves to sorting out those obstacles before they can boast of putting an end to terrorism in J&K.
(The author is a former governor and a highly decorated Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.)