By Kumar Sanjay Singh
Post-Pahalgam attack on 22 April 2025, BJP led NDA government has racheted up a war hysteria. A majority of the Parliamentary opposition has aquised by offering unconditional support to any steps that the government initiates to take to task the culprits and their ‘patrons’. Thereby, the BJP led NDA l8has been has been given a carte blanche, at least in the domain of foreign policy viz., the liberty to decide upon the contuors of Indo-Pak relationship that could forefront a military option over diplomacy.
That the largest opposition party, the INC believes that foreign policy is the decisive arena to address the challenges posed by the killing of tourists at the hands of seven armed militants of The Resistance Front, some of whom were speaking in Pashto, appears to be a strategic choice. Indeed, the leadership of the INC seems to be vigilant in ensuring that any statement issued by party leaders, that are raising policy and administrative failures of the central government, need to be refrained with as they distract from the party line of extending unconditional support to the government to tackle the issue of militancy in Kashmir.
The letter to all PCC chiefs, CLP leaders, party general secretaries and in-charges, MPs, MLAs/MLCs and heads of various departments and frontal organisations, by AICC General Secretary Mr. K C Venugopal is instructive. “At this critical juncture, when our collective resolve is being tested, the Indian National Congress must exemplify unity, maturity, and responsibility- virtues that have defined our conduct through decades of national service, in government and in opposition alike…It is, therefore, hereby directed that all comments, statements, and representations- whether by party leaders, spokespersons, media panellists, or official handles of the Congress Social Media Department- must strictly adhere to the CWC resolution…Any deviation, misrepresentation, or off-the-cuff remark that diverges from the official line shall be deemed a serious breach of party discipline.” It may be pertinent to point out here that a member of the highest echelon of the Congress party tagged Mr. Venugopal’s post on the X handle.
Yet, it will be sobering to remember that BJP’s response to the Pahalgam killings is not limited to the domain of foreign policy alone. Indeed, it is tagged with the agenda of communal polarization. On the foreign policy front BJP has been racheting up a muscular military approach towards Pakistan. In a political meeting in Bihar, PM Modi said India will pursue terrorists to the ends of the earth and give them “a punishment bigger than they can imagine.” A raft of diplomatic measures were unveiled: suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, downgrading bilateral ties, and shutting down the Attari checkpost. Finally, the decisive step, underscoring the preference of military over diplomacy, was taken when, on 29 April 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi empowered the armed forces to decide on their targets and timing of response in India’s counter attack against terrorists over the Pahalgam terror attack.
Even as the war drums are getting louder with every passing day the right-wing groups are leveraging the Pahalgam attack to deepen a campaign of oppression against the country’s largest minority group. The intensity of such campaigns are strongest in BJP ruled states. Rallies with lit candles and tiki torches have been organized that equate nationalism with political Hinduism (Hindutva) and anti-nationalism with Muslims. Official machinery has been used to harass Muslim migrants from other parts of the country in the name of a drive against “illegal Bangladeshis” and Rohingya. Gujarat tops the list with arrest of 6,500 suspected Bangladeshis. Kashmiris in other states have reported harassment and violence. Killings of Muslims were reported in two states, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
There have been widespread demolition of properties of Muslims. In Kashmir, houses of alleged active militants were turned into rubble through controlled blasts, while several residences of alleged militant supporters were searched, and hundreds of local people were detained. Facing an outcry from regional parties, including the ruling National Conference (NC), security forces’ operation to demolish houses of suspected terrorists was apparently stopped. However, the major crackdown on supporters of terror outfits has intensified.
The government in Gujarat also announced a demolition drive at a Muslim slum, the state’s home minister, Harsh Sanghavi, said that about 2,000 huts had been razed in a drive against “illegal Bangladeshis.”
In this backdrop, while INCs decision to present a national united front in face of a low intensity cross border warfare may be strategically correct but inadequate. If the opposition doesn’t highlight and resist the attempt by the BJP to leverage war hysteria against Pakistan to indulge in communal polarization of our society, it will fail in the task of securing secularism in India.
Kumar Sanjay Singh, Associate Professor, Department of History, Swami Shraddhanand College, Delhi University
2 May 2025
Source: countercurrents.org