Zarvan
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(Mani Shankar Aiyar is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha)
The BJP government in its first foreign policy outing disgraced itself today in the Rajya Sabha debate on Palestine. It showed itself to be communal, biased, and careless of the country's vital interests.
Sushma Swaraj claimed that her foreign policy was not founded in religion, but the first speaker on her side, Anil Madhavan Dave, had already revealed the communal angle by invoking "namaz" and "jannat" in a debate on Palestine, adding that he had a Muslim friend who desisted from saying his namaz when Dave told him that the mosque which he was preparing to enter was a "vivadhit dhancha" (the old Babri Masjid terminology). What a comical definition of a "good Muslim"!
Worse was the assertion outside the House by the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Venkaiah Naidu, who declared to the media that for the Opposition this was "an issue of the minorities" (Economic Times, 16 July 2014). This was of a piece with Jaswant Singh's ridiculous assertion when he was Foreign Minister that India had held back from according full diplomatic recognition to Israel only because the Congress was "appeasing" the Muslims. Sushma's protestations notwithstanding, Dave was only echoing the views of his seniors and, more generally, the Sangh Parivar that controls the BJP like a puppet on a string.
It is because of this communal line that the BJP is so utterly biased in its treatment of Israel's current invasion of Palestine. They equate Israel's blistering bombing of the Gaza strip with the rocket attacks of Hamas. The Israeli blitz has already claimed nearly 500 innocent lives thus far, including women, children and the aged. Thousands more have been seriously injured, few with any hope of surviving as Gaza just does not have enough hospitals, medicines or doctors to attend to all of them. Thousands more have been rendered homeless. Hospitals have not been spared; nor have schools; not even old-age homes. Yet, the BJP blatantly equates the aggressor with the victim, forgetting that Israel has both the most sophisticated arsenal and the nuclear bomb, while Palestine does not have, and is not permitted to have, an army, an air force or a navy. Gaza's port is blockaded; its air strip closed down. It has no way out of the siege other than underground tunnels. To get at these, the Israelis are mercilessly killing and maiming the innocents who live over-ground. The BJP is blinded to all this by sheer bias and prejudice.
Leave alone poor Sushma, take Modi himself. His three-sentence statement on Israel-Palestine at the BRICS summit is a classic of obfuscation. He begins by expressing "concern" over the on-going "conflict". Concern? What about condemnation? Moreover, how can there be equal concern over the victim whose casualties run to thousands, and an aggressor who is behaving like a school bully because he knows there can be no equivalent retaliation from the Palestinians?
He then goes on to say, "We support a negotiated solution". What he fails to mention is that negotiations cannot be restarted until Israel stops its massacre of unarmed, innocent Palestinians. He also fails to recognize that it was not the Palestinians but the Israelis who broke off the negotiations last year just as they seemed about to succeed. Why? Because Hamas, which had been democratically elected by the people of Gaza, had decided to bury their differences with Al-Fatah and the two together were presenting a joint front to the Israelis. In a classic case of divide and rule, the Israelis objected to the two factions coming together and insisted that it is only when they split apart that Israel would return to the negotiating table. How can Modi talk of "negotiations" without recognizing who is responsible for sabotaging them?
Modi's final sentence was that if a negotiated solution were found, this would "inspire hope and confidence round the world". Of course, it would. But who is responsible for stalling negotiations? Should they not cease fire, accept the delegation the Palestinians send to the talks and thus "inspire hope and confidence". Certainly, Modi inspires no hope nor confidence. We have been nakedly revealed to the world as a country with no conviction in our foreign policy, no principles, no long-term vision, and with nothing to contribute to world peace.
One can only recall in growing despair, Jawaharlal Nehru's wise counsel to Parliament when it first discussed the Palestine issue on 4 December 1947, just after Palestine was partitioned. Referring to our independent and principled stand against the partitioning of Palestine, he said, "Inevitably that means...we have to plough a lonely furrow in the United Nations or in international conferences of this type." And went on to add: "Nonetheless, that is the only honourable and right position by which we shall ultimately gain national and international prestige."
Modi forgot that lesson at Fortaleza. He meekly went along with paragraph 38 of the BRICS Declaration which neither condemns Israel nor calls for a cease-fire. We are back at November 1947 when other powers tried to make us change our mind. They succeeded with several weaker powers but failed with us. Eventually, it was India that gained the international prestige that went with our founding and leading the Movement of Nonaligned Countries (NAM). Nehru's prophecy was fulfilled. We did gain the "national and international prestige" that is now being betrayed by Modi and his government. Alas, alas, alas!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Mani-Talk: 'Concern' Over Gaza Conflict? PM Modi, Learn From Nehru - NDTV
@Aeronaut @Oscar @Fulcrum15 @Aether @Slav Defence @nair
The BJP government in its first foreign policy outing disgraced itself today in the Rajya Sabha debate on Palestine. It showed itself to be communal, biased, and careless of the country's vital interests.
Sushma Swaraj claimed that her foreign policy was not founded in religion, but the first speaker on her side, Anil Madhavan Dave, had already revealed the communal angle by invoking "namaz" and "jannat" in a debate on Palestine, adding that he had a Muslim friend who desisted from saying his namaz when Dave told him that the mosque which he was preparing to enter was a "vivadhit dhancha" (the old Babri Masjid terminology). What a comical definition of a "good Muslim"!
Worse was the assertion outside the House by the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Venkaiah Naidu, who declared to the media that for the Opposition this was "an issue of the minorities" (Economic Times, 16 July 2014). This was of a piece with Jaswant Singh's ridiculous assertion when he was Foreign Minister that India had held back from according full diplomatic recognition to Israel only because the Congress was "appeasing" the Muslims. Sushma's protestations notwithstanding, Dave was only echoing the views of his seniors and, more generally, the Sangh Parivar that controls the BJP like a puppet on a string.
It is because of this communal line that the BJP is so utterly biased in its treatment of Israel's current invasion of Palestine. They equate Israel's blistering bombing of the Gaza strip with the rocket attacks of Hamas. The Israeli blitz has already claimed nearly 500 innocent lives thus far, including women, children and the aged. Thousands more have been seriously injured, few with any hope of surviving as Gaza just does not have enough hospitals, medicines or doctors to attend to all of them. Thousands more have been rendered homeless. Hospitals have not been spared; nor have schools; not even old-age homes. Yet, the BJP blatantly equates the aggressor with the victim, forgetting that Israel has both the most sophisticated arsenal and the nuclear bomb, while Palestine does not have, and is not permitted to have, an army, an air force or a navy. Gaza's port is blockaded; its air strip closed down. It has no way out of the siege other than underground tunnels. To get at these, the Israelis are mercilessly killing and maiming the innocents who live over-ground. The BJP is blinded to all this by sheer bias and prejudice.
Leave alone poor Sushma, take Modi himself. His three-sentence statement on Israel-Palestine at the BRICS summit is a classic of obfuscation. He begins by expressing "concern" over the on-going "conflict". Concern? What about condemnation? Moreover, how can there be equal concern over the victim whose casualties run to thousands, and an aggressor who is behaving like a school bully because he knows there can be no equivalent retaliation from the Palestinians?
He then goes on to say, "We support a negotiated solution". What he fails to mention is that negotiations cannot be restarted until Israel stops its massacre of unarmed, innocent Palestinians. He also fails to recognize that it was not the Palestinians but the Israelis who broke off the negotiations last year just as they seemed about to succeed. Why? Because Hamas, which had been democratically elected by the people of Gaza, had decided to bury their differences with Al-Fatah and the two together were presenting a joint front to the Israelis. In a classic case of divide and rule, the Israelis objected to the two factions coming together and insisted that it is only when they split apart that Israel would return to the negotiating table. How can Modi talk of "negotiations" without recognizing who is responsible for sabotaging them?
Modi's final sentence was that if a negotiated solution were found, this would "inspire hope and confidence round the world". Of course, it would. But who is responsible for stalling negotiations? Should they not cease fire, accept the delegation the Palestinians send to the talks and thus "inspire hope and confidence". Certainly, Modi inspires no hope nor confidence. We have been nakedly revealed to the world as a country with no conviction in our foreign policy, no principles, no long-term vision, and with nothing to contribute to world peace.
One can only recall in growing despair, Jawaharlal Nehru's wise counsel to Parliament when it first discussed the Palestine issue on 4 December 1947, just after Palestine was partitioned. Referring to our independent and principled stand against the partitioning of Palestine, he said, "Inevitably that means...we have to plough a lonely furrow in the United Nations or in international conferences of this type." And went on to add: "Nonetheless, that is the only honourable and right position by which we shall ultimately gain national and international prestige."
Modi forgot that lesson at Fortaleza. He meekly went along with paragraph 38 of the BRICS Declaration which neither condemns Israel nor calls for a cease-fire. We are back at November 1947 when other powers tried to make us change our mind. They succeeded with several weaker powers but failed with us. Eventually, it was India that gained the international prestige that went with our founding and leading the Movement of Nonaligned Countries (NAM). Nehru's prophecy was fulfilled. We did gain the "national and international prestige" that is now being betrayed by Modi and his government. Alas, alas, alas!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Mani-Talk: 'Concern' Over Gaza Conflict? PM Modi, Learn From Nehru - NDTV
@Aeronaut @Oscar @Fulcrum15 @Aether @Slav Defence @nair
His brain farts are legendary! And this is what happens when he releases one.....
