India: the shining diamond

Much of South Asia is in conflict and makes an unstable region. We have Afghanistan. We have Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. And Myanmar is not far off.

And right in the middle of these failed states, stands the lone crusader. India has the difficult task of being in this dangerous region and provide governance, voice to people, industrialize fast enough to put at least some of the West behind, lead research, have an open society and developed financial markets… It is a stiff climb and India has been doing all of it (albeit in slightly diluted forms). It is under attack all the time – from within and outside.

Vast majority of Hindus don't thank its government for an act that changed their lives for ever – for the better: Nehru's Hindu reform bill of the late 50s. Probably an equally vast proportion among the Muslims would like to tear the government down if such a thing was done to them. Tribal in central India flirt with Maoist thugs, in rejection of government rule.
India is under attack from outside. Maoists from Nepal, terrorists from Pakistan, Bangladesh, LTTE.

Yet, India's virtues enable it to stand in this turbulent subcontinent. We hate our politicians. But thank God, we don't have anything worse. Their casualness is appalling. But politics being profession, they are quick to retract/amend, they read people's mood. And without a doubt, there is a 'wake-up call' kind of electricity at our power centres. India will respond as one – I have every hope.

Mumbai Attacks

We need a catastrophe to hit us before any consensus is built at the national level. Until then we don’t move. In so many years we could not modernize our police force by giving them better compensation, training, working conditions and staffing. Our men fought bravely, but they neither had the assessment of what they were up against, nor were they equipped. It turns out the killers had superior weaponry.

We need to ask ourselves: if an organization funded by charity and Pakistan agencies could muster such killer equipments, why do the police of this vast and powerful nation not have the best?

But a bigger question needs answering. Our foreign minister says that war with Pakistan is not an option. May be he is right. May be we need to first strengthen ourselves internally. But then would that be enough? We can not afford to do what US did in retaliation to the WTC strikes. Do we want to hit specific targets in Pakistan without waging a war? Can we afford not weakening the Pakistan Army? A war will cost huge deficits and inflation. What will be the cost of letting Pakistan go scot-free?

In any case, verbal threats to Pakistan by either India or the US would not yield anything. India will have to act alone for its interests. Despite the new found political consensus on national security, do we have any firm plan of action? Will there be a public backlash if nothing is done by the government? Unlikely. We have a long history of taking things lying down. And then we are mowed over. We call it tolerance.