Riding on nationalism

KV Prasad in New Delhi

There is a common thread between three decisions of the government — one each in February and March this year, and the one taken in 2016 — the intention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveying an undiluted message of being a ‘strong and decisive leader’.

In the case of Uri surgical strikes and Balakot airstrikes against terrorists operating with impunity from across the border, the message was to their harbours in Pakistan. The latest space mission in which India demonstrated its capability to take down a satellite in low-earth orbit was for the world to decipher its strategic significance.

Expectations of people about retaliatory strikes kept soaring. This is because while the party was in the opposition it had promised to avenge terror strikes in the country with severe retribution. The appetite was whetted by boastful statement of a senior BJP leader to severe 10 heads for the loss of one Indian solider.

As the military operation inside PoK on terrorist launch by elite military troops in response to Uri began fading from public memory, a movie by the same name re-ignited the ‘josh’. And then, came the ghastly Pulwama terror attack on Feburary 14. India struck back within 12 days with the IAF jets pounding training sites of Jaish-e-Mohammed. The outfit had claimed it caused the deadly strike which had killed 40 CRPF security personnel.

The option of carrying out a military strike on terror targets inside Pakistan was  present even after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. However, counsel to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his security czars resulted in a doctrine of “strategic restraint”. 

Yet, it was clear even then that were  another terror strike to occur, there will be pressure on the government to take recourse to stronger action. The point was underscored by former National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon in his book Choices.

That military option came much later, when India chose to exercise a calibrated approach after the Dinanagar attack in 2016. However, New Delhi allowing Pakistani investigators, including those from the Inter Services Intelligence, had little effect. 

Retribution after Uri, and later Pulwama, bore a strong trademark response. Balakot assumed greater significance since India crossed the Line of Control without formal declaration of war by dispatching military planes deep inside Pakistan. Undoubtedly, in the home stretch to the Lok Sabha, this single ‘non-military act’ changed the narrative for the ruling coalition.

There are two sets of views, with the young who constitute a major chunk of the 800-odd million voters perceived to have endorsed the action interpreting it as a lesson that India taught to Pakistan not to mess around. 

Reports from various parts of the country do resonate with such sentiments  what PM Modi did measure up to the claims of being a bold leader, who does not shy away from landing punches on an unfriendly neighbouring country.

The opposition’s attempt to tie down the ruling coalition government to its performance during the past five years on the issues of jobs, distress in economy,   demonetisation, growing chasm in the society and latent religious disharmony appear to be getting brushed aside in the crucible of nationalism and chest-thumping pride. Political leaders on either side of the divide do sense that the surge of nationalism is overshadowing everything else. Yet, those in the opposition are of the view that as time passes, this jingoistic tendency would ebb away, and it will be back to basic issues. Voters do not necessarily share their innermost thoughts except for those who prefer to identify themselves in the tents of political parties of different hues. There is a sizeable chunk of voters occupying the middle ground, and the ones who can make or mar prospects.

Modi is clearly pitching himself as a political personality under whose leadership the country can be reassured of being in safe hands. He’s coming across as the one who  takes the decision required at an appropriate time with telling effect. There are counter views from a cross-section of society, including those who are or did serve the country in various fields, including the armed forces but the sentiment of nationalism tends to override.

The last occasion such a sentiment came into play was after the 1999 Kargil War when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was voted back to power on it. He got the sympathy of having lost the vote on the floor of Parliament by just one vote, truncating the tenure of his coalition government after 13 months.

Adding strength to India’s strategic sinews and this narrative is the Anti-Satellite Missile test of March 27. No wonder, Modi is underscored at a rally a day later that his government demonstrated it can protect the nation on land, in air and  space.