Rajnath’s blistering attack on flawed anti-terror & foreign policy of Congress

jeetne ke baad baazi hartey rahe
..........For every battle we won, they (Congress) seemed to turn these into defeats) - thus spoke Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha on July 31, 2015.

Rajnath Singh is known both to his admirers and detractors as a hardcore ‘Thakur’ neta from the most populous cow-belt state. Someone who can make a right synthesis of typical North Indian rustic style and modern times sophistication, Rajnath is known for measuring his steps and words carefully.

The manner in which he backed Narendra Modi in 2013 to declare him party’s PM-nominee against the wishes of veteran L K Advani and his camp showed the hardcore political creature in him. I have often compared this with Chetan Chohan kind of supportive role to batting legend Sunil Gavaskar. Thus when Rajnath made optimum use of the pandemonium created by Congress members in Lok Sabha on July 31, 2015 when he was making a statement on the Gurdaspur terror attack, BJP watchers knew the Home Minister was working to a plan. The plan was to puncture Congress on its various claims.

Wily Thakur Neta: Knows where it pinches Congress most

While in his prepared speech Rajnath linked Gurdaspur attack to Pakistan, in his impromptu and extempore observations, the former BJP chief made a more focused political point. In fact, his rhetoric punctuated with poetic lines made blistering attack on the Congress policy on both anti-terror strategies and mainly the foreign policy pursued by Congress regimes over the years. The sharp arsenals from Rajnath Singh clearly left Congress upset and bewildered.

The fact that Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge roared in Lok Sabha later protesting Rajnath’s impromptu observations only speak of the embarrassment they have been subjected to.

Some of Rajnath’s oneliners pointed out Congress follies vis-à-vis China 1962 war, Sharm-el Sheikh fiasco and Indo-Pak statements at Havana NAM Summit during Dr Manmohan Singh regime.

At Sharm-el-Sheikh the agreement sough to give recognition to India’s supposed hands in Baluchistan. Even an embarrassed Dr Manmohan Singh later called it a bad draft.

Much to the chagrin of Congress camp, Rajnath readout four poetic lines to strengthen his argument on Congress’s flawed policies and suggested that such policy often turned India’s achievements into failures.

"Chin chheen desh ka gulab le gaya

Tashkent mein desh ka lal so gaya 

yeh sulah ki shakal ko sawar-te-rahe

jeetne ke baad baazi hartey rahe

(China has taken away a key part of motherland,

In Tashkent we lost a great son of India;

They kept on embracing the pretensions of friendship

For every battle we won, they (Congress) seemed to turn these into defeats.)

But the most hard hitting attack came when he blasted the erstwhile Congress regime for coining the term ‘Hindu terrorism’ and said this had weakened India’s fight against terrorism. Rajnath also did not forget to mention that none other than Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed had complimented the then Home Minister for inventing the phrase ‘Hindu terrorism’. One may agree or disagree with Rajnath Singh but sincere studies reveal that the foreign policy of world’s largest democracy has been generally non-committal, passive and mostly guided by short term and emotive agendas – those lacked tactical visions.

One may agree or disagree with Rajnath Singh but sincere studies reveal that the foreign policy of world’s largest democracy has been generally non-committal, passive and mostly guided by short term and emotive agendas – those lacked tactical visions.

Thus, the foreign policy framework was clouded by certain preconceived notions. The use of force and assertiveness was thus seen as a ‘failure’ of diplomacy. The foreign policy makers in India – albeit Congressmen - have often misread the non-alignment as a cocktail of anti-alignment, anti-Americanism and third world solidarity. Nehruvian doctrine hardly saw the foreign policy from the primary objective of ‘national interest’. 

At the global space, the mantra in diplomacy and strategic dealings in the new century has been economic consideration and mutual benefits wherein the ideology hardly mattered. But thanks to Congress prism, in the past, the foreign policy framed by New Delhi remained factored by what Russia or the United States thought.

A drastic change to this was heralded in 1998 by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. The nuclear tests and subsequent Indo-US dealings by Jaswant Singh displayed an assertive touch taking either Moscow or Washington by surprise.

Time to ponder

However, Rajnath Singh and his party will do well to remember that India remained a mute spectator when Bangladesh Rifles attacked BSF soldiers and insulted India’s nationhood when the bodies of the slain soldiers were tied on a bamboo sticks as if they were animal carcasses. Unfortunately, for Rajnath,  this gory episode happened during the Vajpayee regime. Was it a hangover of the Nehruvian foreign policy?

(ends)