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When Narendra ‘Nero’ Modi Drummed as Kashmir Burned
Rajeev Sharma
July 11, 2016, 7:02 pm
At a time when the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Centre are faced by the most serious internal security challenge in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned a percussionist, beating away drums in Tanzania.
Modi may yet lose the battle of perception at home despite benefiting India strategically and politically by his just-concluded Africa visit. But playing drums in distant Tanzania while Kashmir is on the boil – reminiscent of the violence of the 90s – can have potentially dangerous consequences, especially when the PDP-BJP government in J&K is on the back foot. The imageries have got terribly mixed up.
Centre’s Delayed Response
It took three days for the Centre to react to the violent fallout of the targeted killing of the young Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani. For the all the tough talking by Home Minister Rajnath Singh – ‘India will give a befitting reply to Pakistani firing on the Line of Control’ – he failed to rise to the occasion once trouble began in Srinagar, Pulwama and other parts of the Valley.
This ominous silence on Rajnath’s part, especially when his party is a partner in the J&K government, suggests that the Centre was not prepared to deal with the violent reaction after Wani was neutralised. It stood paralysed in the face of popular unrest.
But the question that assumes significance is whether the prime minister was in touch with the national security leadership back home when situation across Kashmir began slipping from control as violence spiralled. For three days, the situation drifted out of control of Delhi and the state government, with the J&K police’s action to quell the unrest coming a cropper.
The Quint: ‘Say No to Guns’, Junaid Qureshi’s Appeal to Kashmiri Youth
Preempting Criticism by Opposition
Surprisingly, the prime minister took a belated decision to send back his National Security Adviser Ajit Doval from Kenya to Delhi to take command of the worsening situation. Doval, who has had years of experience dealing with incendiary situations like the one that J&K experienced over the last three days, could only limply express confidence that solutions would be found to defuse the crisis in the sensitive state where terrorist strikes have seen an upward trend over the past three months.
Doval was back in Delhi in time to attend a meeting headed by Rajnath to assess the security and political situation in J&K. The meeting, which should have taken place on Saturday when Kashmiris fell in police firing, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other security officials. There was, however, no indication that the Unified Command in Srinagar had been assembled to take stock of the emerging situation and implement a coherent strategy to assume control of the streets.
Rajnath hastened to take recourse to dialogue with the Congress and Omar Abdullah’s National Conference, in an attempt to preempt any Opposition move to target the government. The Opposition has gone along with the government, but it is a matter of time when it will haul the Modi government over the coals on its Kashmir policy.
Snapshot
Click here to collapse
Lapses in Dealing with Crisis
Security personnel guard a deserted street as curfew is imposed in different parts of the city following the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, Srinagar, 9 July, 2016. (Photo: PTI)
It’s All About Public Perception
The PM’s Africa tour has been very useful for larger national interests as he played catch-up with China whose robust presence in the continent for decades has made it a formidable power. Though India is nowhere close to China’s hands-on and pro-active involvement with the 55-nation African continent, Modi’s Africa visit has been very useful in demonstrating that India cares for the continent.
Throughout his Africa trip he was kept updated about the Kashmir situation. He was told bluntly how the intelligence tap was running dry and how Pakistan was exploiting the situation to the hilt. This was not the right time to play drums. The twin issues of drying up of intelligence and how the violent demonstrators managed to get firearms came up in a big way in Rajnath’s meeting.
In politics, the single most important factor is public perception. A policy or a move must not only be executed with precision but must also be seen to be right in public perception. Beating drums on a foreign visit may be good in terms of foreign policy but it acquires completely different overtones if this imagery is transposed in a domestic situation.
In public perception this may trigger uncharitable comparisons with a man called Nero.
(The writer, an independent journalist and strategic affairs analyst, tweets at@kishkindha)
http://www.thequint.com/kashmir-aft...n-narendra-nero-modi-drummed-as-kashmir-burnt
Rajeev Sharma
July 11, 2016, 7:02 pm
At a time when the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Centre are faced by the most serious internal security challenge in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned a percussionist, beating away drums in Tanzania.
Modi may yet lose the battle of perception at home despite benefiting India strategically and politically by his just-concluded Africa visit. But playing drums in distant Tanzania while Kashmir is on the boil – reminiscent of the violence of the 90s – can have potentially dangerous consequences, especially when the PDP-BJP government in J&K is on the back foot. The imageries have got terribly mixed up.
Centre’s Delayed Response
It took three days for the Centre to react to the violent fallout of the targeted killing of the young Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Burhan Wani. For the all the tough talking by Home Minister Rajnath Singh – ‘India will give a befitting reply to Pakistani firing on the Line of Control’ – he failed to rise to the occasion once trouble began in Srinagar, Pulwama and other parts of the Valley.
This ominous silence on Rajnath’s part, especially when his party is a partner in the J&K government, suggests that the Centre was not prepared to deal with the violent reaction after Wani was neutralised. It stood paralysed in the face of popular unrest.
But the question that assumes significance is whether the prime minister was in touch with the national security leadership back home when situation across Kashmir began slipping from control as violence spiralled. For three days, the situation drifted out of control of Delhi and the state government, with the J&K police’s action to quell the unrest coming a cropper.
The Quint: ‘Say No to Guns’, Junaid Qureshi’s Appeal to Kashmiri Youth
Preempting Criticism by Opposition
Surprisingly, the prime minister took a belated decision to send back his National Security Adviser Ajit Doval from Kenya to Delhi to take command of the worsening situation. Doval, who has had years of experience dealing with incendiary situations like the one that J&K experienced over the last three days, could only limply express confidence that solutions would be found to defuse the crisis in the sensitive state where terrorist strikes have seen an upward trend over the past three months.
Doval was back in Delhi in time to attend a meeting headed by Rajnath to assess the security and political situation in J&K. The meeting, which should have taken place on Saturday when Kashmiris fell in police firing, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other security officials. There was, however, no indication that the Unified Command in Srinagar had been assembled to take stock of the emerging situation and implement a coherent strategy to assume control of the streets.
Rajnath hastened to take recourse to dialogue with the Congress and Omar Abdullah’s National Conference, in an attempt to preempt any Opposition move to target the government. The Opposition has gone along with the government, but it is a matter of time when it will haul the Modi government over the coals on its Kashmir policy.
Snapshot
Click here to collapse
Lapses in Dealing with Crisis
- Centre’s response on the turmoil in J&K was delayed as the state police continued to deal with aftermath of Burhan’s killing for almost three days.
- Another folly of the Centre lay in sending National Security Adviser Ajit Doval from Kenya to Delhi only on 11 July after the situation worsened.
- Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s attempts to reach out to Omar Abdullah and Sonia Gandhi were meant to pre-empt criticism from the Opposition.
- Violence in Kashmir also displays lack of intelligence in gauging the ability of the demonstrators to procure firearms.
- Questions being raised whether the prime minister was in touch with national security leadership as the situation spiralled out of control.
Security personnel guard a deserted street as curfew is imposed in different parts of the city following the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, Srinagar, 9 July, 2016. (Photo: PTI)
It’s All About Public Perception
The PM’s Africa tour has been very useful for larger national interests as he played catch-up with China whose robust presence in the continent for decades has made it a formidable power. Though India is nowhere close to China’s hands-on and pro-active involvement with the 55-nation African continent, Modi’s Africa visit has been very useful in demonstrating that India cares for the continent.
Throughout his Africa trip he was kept updated about the Kashmir situation. He was told bluntly how the intelligence tap was running dry and how Pakistan was exploiting the situation to the hilt. This was not the right time to play drums. The twin issues of drying up of intelligence and how the violent demonstrators managed to get firearms came up in a big way in Rajnath’s meeting.
In politics, the single most important factor is public perception. A policy or a move must not only be executed with precision but must also be seen to be right in public perception. Beating drums on a foreign visit may be good in terms of foreign policy but it acquires completely different overtones if this imagery is transposed in a domestic situation.
In public perception this may trigger uncharitable comparisons with a man called Nero.
(The writer, an independent journalist and strategic affairs analyst, tweets at@kishkindha)
http://www.thequint.com/kashmir-aft...n-narendra-nero-modi-drummed-as-kashmir-burnt
