Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before coming to office, used to speak in the sharpest tones about the supposed pusillanimity shown by his predecessor in dealing with China and Pakistan, and appeared specially sharp on this count in the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign. He was projecting himself as a so-called “strong” leader. This was in line with the ethos of the RSS and BJP, and also with that of the expectations of his followers. But speaking at a BJP meeting in Kozhikode on Saturday, a week after the terrorist attack at the Army base at Uri in Kashmir, the PM appeared to be signalling his cohorts to cool down on hyper-nationalism. After the Uri assault, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had said: “For a tooth, the whole jaw.” After security sector consultations, and probably also after taking soundings from the world community, the PM attacked Pakistan politically at Kozhikode but did not brandish the military stuff. He said instead he was ready to wage a thousand-year war with Pakistan, but one against poverty!
The fallout of this among his admirers can only be said to be uncertain at this stage. There was much cheering at the mention of a “thousand-year war” — the phrase once uttered by late Pakistani leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto — but it petered out the moment the PM closed his line of thought with the mention of poverty and unemployment. It was hard to escape a sense of anti-climax among the BJP cadre. But seen nationally, the PM has taken a rational view of things. Every significant terrorist incident should not trigger a debate on war. Terrorism can be contained by tightening our own defences. America has shown this by foiling several attempts after the attacks of September 11, 2001. But in the past year alone, we have permitted one incident after another in locations linked to the armed forces — Udhampur, then Pathankot and now Uri.
Infiltration in Kashmir has risen 200 per cent. In any case, a well worked-out response mechanism to terrorism inflicted by Pakistan may be well worth crafting. In his Kerala speech, the PM warned the attackers that India would not forget Uri. It must be seen if this is a preface of things to come. If India believes it can tighten the screws on Pakistan by taking stringent economic measures, such as cancelling “most favoured nation” status in trade and by declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism, it should push these energetically in international forums and initiate actions suo motu in these directions rather than wait for a response from leading powers. Our response to Uri so far has been cluttered and loud. Mr Modi has brought some sanity to it in Kozhikode.
