The Big Story: Them fighting words

Temperatures seemed to have cooled down on the military stand-off in Doklam after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the BRICS summit last week. Then came fighting words from the Indian army chief, Bipin Rawat, who said a “two front war” with Pakistan and China could not be ruled out and that the eastern neighbour was “salami slicing” its way into Indian territory. Rawat’s remarks stirred a normally taciturn Chinese government into making a statement. China’s foreign minister said ties had been “damaged” but not “derailed” by Doklam, while his ministry noted that sections of the Indian press had found Rawat’s remarks shocking. This has become a pattern in recent months: India’s military leadership drowning out the civilian leadership with belligerence, taking control of the narrative when political sensitivity and moderation were needed the most.

The damage is already evident in Kashmir, where the government kept silent while Rawat spoke, not just on military operations, but on how to deal with civilian protestors. In February, he warned that stone-pelting crowds rushing towards gunfights that those protecting “terrorists” would be treated as “terrorists” themselves. A few months later came the horrifying spectacle of a civilian being tied to an army jeep and used as a human shield. The army quickly turned this into a celebratory image, with Rawat giving the officer responsible a commendation even before the inquiry could be completed. The political establishment took his cue, and Arun Jaitley, who was defence minister at the time, said the army was free to take decisions in Jammu and Kashmir. If anyone was left in any doubt on how the Valley would be treated, Rawat said he was wished that civilians were actually attacking the forces with weapons, so that he could give them a fitting reply. As observers noted, this might have been the first time in Independent India that the army was “asking its citizens to fear the force”. By the time Modi spoke of “embracing” Kashmir on Independence Day, it seemed to be too little too late. After months of belligerence, an embittered Valley was not convinced.

In Doklam, where the two armies are preparing to disengage, the detente is hard won. For weeks, talks had seemed a distant prospect, as China insisted that Indian troops withdraw first. All that could be heard was bombast in the state-run Chinese press, which was taken to be the view of the government itself. Now, even the Chinese government has chosen to speak out instead of letting the papers do the talking. In India, Modi must now decide on the way forward. With both China and Pakistan, is it going to be a game of generals baying for war, with canned applause from a jingoistic press, or a pragmatic dialogue between political leaders? Who is in charge here?

The Big Scroll

After the “human shield” crisis broke in May, Saikat Datta asked why the prime minister had not spoken, but the army chief had, on how to handle protests in Kashmir.

Earlier, Ajai Sahni felt Rawat’s remarks about fighting fire with fire were merely a statement of the obvious.

Punditry

  1. In the Indian Express, Arun Kumar argues there’s been a lot of pain but no visible gain from demonetisation.
  2. In the Hindu, Pulapre Balakrishnan writes that the power of the JAM (the trio of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) schemes to work a social revolution is limited.
  3. An editorial in Livemint cautions against the ambitious river linking project.

Giggles

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