Analysis
BJP’s Blunder in Beijing
That BJP President Nitin Gadkari went to China on a goodwill visit just after Beijing administered a snub to India by giving stapled visas to Arunachal Pradesh residents was bad enough. His subsequent performance in China was worse. It seems that the BJP was so thrilled with being noticed by China that like the proverbial small town yokel it went salivating to Beijing assuming that it had arrived on the big international stage.
Apart from the conventional inanities that inform such visits Gadkari reportedly told his hosts that since China had great influence on Pakistan his party expects Beijing to use its good offices with Islamabad to put pressure on it to stop exporting terror to India and act against all jihadi acts of terrorism on Indian soil. This must have sounded like music to his hosts. It is hard to imagine a more damaging request by any Indian leader to China ’s rulers.
New Delhi has rightly and stoutly resisted all moves by America to intercede in India’s Kashmir dispute with Pakistan . The implicit logic is that as a regional power India cannot concede a big brother role to any third power. India will deal with Pakistan bilaterally. Now the BJP in its wisdom is pleading with Beijing to exercise the big brother role that India has rightly denied to America. What compounds the irony is that the terror machine that Gadkari wants to be defanged in Pakistan is sustained by Beijing’s unstinted military support to the Pakistan army that helps Islamabad export terror to India.
Beijing’s ambition to act the big brother in South Asia is encouraged by those segments of the American establishment committed to advancing US ties with China as a way of getting out of its economic mess. The argument put forward by these segments is that to stabilize South Asia Beijing can act peace maker between India and Pakistan . That is exactly what Beijing wants. If India can also become China ’s proxy in South Asia like Pakistan, Beijing would have achieved its goal. That would of course make South Asia stable, but at whose cost?
The BJP has proved that it is truly a Hindu party. The Hindu attitude to foreigners resulted in India being under the tutelage of foreign rule for centuries. It is a different matter that foreign invaders after settling down in India became very Hindu in their way of life and attitude. That is why India was continuously subservient to foreigners and allowed foreigners to rule them. It seems nothing has changed. What seems to divide the Congress from the BJP is that the former seeks subservience to America and the latter to China. Meanwhile, America and China are joined at the hip!
28-Jan-2011
More by :
Dr. Rajinder Puri
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Mr Puri you are right that Gadkari should have avoided making any request to China.
But he was talking about the export of terror from Pakistan and not about Kashmir.
He was not requesting Beijing to be peace-maker as you imply.The basic problem in India-Pakistan relations is the antagonistic attitude of Pakistan to India which will remain even if Kashmir issue is resolved. And India has so far not been able to make Pakistan see reason and live like a normal if not a good neighbor.So the best that India can do is to remain on guard to thwart any more terror attacks. |
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Sachin, it seems there has been semantic confusion. I used the term Hindu not to denote religion but a way of life or culture. Perhaps the use of the term Hindustani or Indian would have avoided the confusion. In the above article I have drawn no distinction between Hindus and Muslims since I pointed out that foreign conquerers after settling down in India became "very Hindu" in their way of life. As for your jibe about my seeking a secular certificate I think that anyone following my writings would not share your view in the light of my consistent and sharp criticism of the Congress brand of secularism. |
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In India you do not have to do much to prove your secular credentials. Just lambast at BJP or take a dig at Hinduism. You have done the same. I love your articles, but time and again I find that you tread on the same path as others.
What is the Hindu attitude you are talking about?
I do not find any reason for you to talk about Hindu in this article.
If BJP is a Hindu party then on the same logic we can say Congress is a Muslim party. As each one of them is busy appeasing thr vote banks.
Congratulations... you just won the tag of "being secular" |
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