The Politician-Diplomat needlessly creates problems for the Congress
By Sushil Kutty
It is a Mani Shankar Aiyar habit to startle. The ‘Congress veteran' is an amalgam of both politician and diplomat. And “respecting Pakistan” is an Aiyar trait. Now, Aiyar's “respect for Pakistan” is tinged with known fear. Aiyar says “Respect Pakistan or they'll drop atom bomb”. When was the last time Pakistan dropped an “atom bomb”? Aiyar is the veteran on the bomb squad, he will know.
Question is what got into Mani Shankar Aiyar that fear got the better of him and he spilled the beans on Pakistan? Pakistan can go ahead and drop an atom bomb, it will incinerate, too. And Aiyar's warning to the Modi government comes on the heels of Kashmiri politician Farooq Abdullah's warning that Pakistan wasn't “wearing bangles”. It is an insult to womanhood, but there it was and the Pakistanis are not short on respecting womanhood.
That being said, does Abdullah and Mani Shankar Aiyar know something more than the Modi government about Pakistan's intentions vis a vis India? The Congress has distanced itself from Mani Shankar Aiyar's “Respect Pakistan or they'll drop atom bomb” comment. But the Congress and “distances itself” are old friends. It was only the other day that the Congress “distanced” itself from Sam Pitroda's “Indians according to ethnicity” remarks.
Pitroda's comment drew widespread criticism and the Congress distanced itself. Now the Congress has distanced itself from Aiyar's “respect Pakistan or get nuked” warning. At this rate, the Congress will have to distance itself from itself. But then what can the Congress do if Mani Shankar Aiyar succumbs to whatever feelings he has been nursing for Pakistan for years?
Aiyar is not joking when he says India “can talk tough to Pakistan if it wants to, but has to respect Pakistan or pay a heavy price”. The veteran Congress leader is only echoing the Congress line on dialogue with Pakistan. India has had uneasy relations with Pakistan even when the Congress ruled India and the Congress is no friend of Pakistan in spite and despite of Mani Shankar Aiyar.
In a way, the Congress has done right by distancing itself from Mani Shankar Aiyar on this subject. The Congress cannot let anybody, even vaunted veteran Congress leaders, paint it into a coward's corner, not when the enemy at home talks of “muscular military policy”. The Congress leader spoke something about not provoking the “mad man” and it is not clear whether he was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
In the melee, the word “Lahore” was also heard. Mani Shankar Aiyar knows something that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh does not. So much for NSA Ajit Doval and his undercover stint in Lahore. If India does not want Pakistan to “drop an atom bomb” is fair warning. It is nice of Mani Shankar Aiyar to drop the bombshell and he should be given a top award.
Resuming dialogue with Pakistan is the easiest solution to respecting Pakistan. Whether the INDI-Alliance favours dialogue with Pakistan is not clear, but certain INDI-Alliance components do and that is what matters. An INDI-Alliance government at the Centre will kick-start dialogue with Pakistan. Both “atom-bombers”, Farooq Abdullah and Mani Shankar Aiyar, are on the same page on dialogue with Pakistan.
Farooq Abdullah's “Pakistan doesn't wear bangles” is shameful comment. But Farooq Abdullah is an enigma wrapped in the Indian and Pakistani flags. Abdullah grew up in trying circumstances and he is entitled to live the India-administered and India-occupied dilemma. When he is Chief Minister, Kashmir is India-administered, but when he is not CM, Kashmir is “Indian occupied”.
Thankfully, Mani Shankar Aiyar has no such compulsion/dilemma. Aiyar advocating dialogue with Pakistan is proof that Aiyar admits there is a Kashmir problem which calls for a solution. And Aiyar wants dialogue; he must have made a promise to his Pakistani friends. But why is Aiyar so fearful? Is it “Pakistan's nuclear retaliation if India flexes military muscles”, or does it have something to do with the ongoing elections in India?
Aiyar's words and warning points to the fear of continued Modi rule; a third prime ministerial term for the “mad man”. Aiyar's warning that if India flexes military muscle, Pakistan will drop an atom bomb on India is a big fat hint to the Indian electorate to not vote for Narendra Modi, the alleged loose cannon on the subcontinent. The Congress might have distanced itself from Aiyar's cowardice, his ungodly pusillanimity, but there's a lurking thought that the Congress is looking for straws.
Modi and his “400 paar” guarantee is eating into the INDI-Alliance's resolve. The INDI-Alliance has been accusing the BJP and Modi government of not resolving pressing issues, which includes Kashmir. The danger is Mani Shankar Aiyar has told the Pakistani regime of what it can do, “deploy nuclear weapons”, if India doesn't talk turkey. Do Aiyar and the Congress, the National Conference and other dialogue-friendly Indian political parties, as also Pakistan, apprehend Modi's dream of a third term come true?
Mani Shankar Aiyar has courted controversy, but it is a small price to pay in the face of another Modi stint at the helm. The danger of a desperate Pakistan deploying nuclear weapons against India if Modi gets a third term might compel a substantial number of Indian voters to vote the Congress-led INDI-Alliance to power. Didn't one of India's opposition parties promise to dismantle India's nuclear capabilities if the INDI-Alliance is brought to power?
(IPA Service)
