Contrary to the war hysteria that has overtaken media and the rank and file of Sangh Parivar following the killing of 19 soldiers in a fidayeen attack at an Army camp in Uri, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted a rational approach towards the evolving situation. His speech at the BJP convention at Kozhikode went against the dominant mood in the country and turned the discourse away from the military confrontation with Pakistan. Modi talked of the war but a war against poverty, and asked Pakistan to join this war and show if it can win it. But aside from talking about war, the PM used some very harsh language against the western neighbour. He said even though both the countries had got freedom at the same time, India now exported software and Pakistan terrorism. He also said that India will not forget Uri attack and will take steps to completely isolate Pakistan. Ever since, Modi has made some more statements, all of them marked by a show of show of restraint. In fact, at another speech, he called on BJP to adopt Muslims.
If anything, Modi's conduct over the past week has presented him in a new light. It has, once again, shown him capable of outgrowing his ideological straitjacket and refusing to follow the predictable political trajectory that one takes for granted for a leader bred in RSS nursery. He has it in him to spring surprises much like his impromptu visit to Lahore on December 25 to greet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.
True, Modi's return to strategic restraint may be more an outcome of the necessity than statesmanship, but it hardly detracts from his accent on a saner course at a time when a predominant public and media opinion in India is baying for blood. One can't but grudgingly concede to him the qualities that a leader should have. Just when an entire population is driven by emotion and might tempt a lesser leader to play along, he has championed a smarter and a pragmatic course of action. But as things stand, this approach may have helped him turn the corner now, but this offers no solution to a similar situation in future. What if an Uri like attack happens again in near future? And this isn’t only a hypothetical proposition. Such attacks, though condemnable, spring from a context and a reality that New Delhi now refuses to acknowledge, let alone take steps to address. Situation has now come to a point where India and Pakistan revel in not talking to each other. Now the two countries are left with no basic relations or the crisis tools to deal with an extra-ordinary situation, say the intensification of the LoC firing or a big terror strike. This calls for the neighbours to step back and introspect a future course of action. Continuing with the current stalemate is dangerous and fraught with the prospect of a dangerous escalation. Engagement is the only option if the two countries have to avert not only a major crisis but also to find an acceptable solution to the long-pending issues which alone will ensure a sustainable peace and the prosperity.
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