Intent & Outcome

Intent & Outcome


Abraham Lincoln was drawn into the American Civil War in 1861, almost immediately after being elected President on his anti-slavery platform. This because the declaration to secede, on the part of the 13 Southern States came first. And it was the Confederacy again that fired the first salvo when it attacked the Union garrison stationed at Charleston in North Carolina. These two events wrecked the option to negotiate.

And so it was only left to Lincoln to retaliate. And retaliate with such resolution that it broke the back of the secessionists and swept the old South into the dustbin of history, a process described poignantly in the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s classic Gone With The Wind.

But in hindsight, and in the interests of equity and justice, romancing the South might have been just so much sympathy for the devil. Similarly, liberal sympathy for Maoists, even as they behead people, kill policemen and CRPF personnel, blow up roads and bridges, hold hostages and write slogans on hijacked trains, may be misplaced.

The Indian nation cannot responsibly ignore their declaration of war, emboldened, most probably, by the kid-gloves treatment accorded to them over years of State ambivalence. But the Maoists are dead serious and, seduced by petty successes at armed insurrection, are dreaming of victory over the Republic itself.

The recent hostage exchange in the Lalgarh region of West Bengal was portrayed as an exchange of POWs, and the Bhubaneshwar-Delhi Rajdhani train hijack later was an attempt to spring some other prisoners from captivity. Let us also remember that close cooperation between terrorists of different ideologies and persuasions is a grim reality.

The Maoists would have it that they are justified in waging all-out war against the Union of India. This even as their apologists try to find ways and means to explain their stance. But the time for debating pros and cons of such anarchism, its causes notwithstanding, may have slipped away. And the Indian state, like the America of Abraham Lincoln, is left with no choice but to firmly put down such blatant sedition. The consequence of further ambivalence over the issue will only result in turning problems even more intractable.

The US is now nearly two and a half centuries old. But in 1861, at the start of the Civil War, it must have seemed like a massive risk to both sides. Without the gift of omniscience, no one could have known how the conflict would turn out.
But after the loss of over 600,000 lives, a most effective naval blockade, and the passage of just four years, it all became crystal clear.

American nationhood was steeped in the blood of martyrs, from that of the earlier War of Independence from the British; and again, from their home grown, even harder fought, Civil War. In the interim there was also the shameful genocide of Red Indians and sharp battles with the Mexicans at the famous fort at Alamo.

Through it all emerged an unshakable American nation with no further wars fought on its home turf since. But it consumed over a million lives to get there. And this without counting the American lives lost in subsequent wars fought abroad: in South Korea, in Europe, against Japan; in Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan.

India may have had a reasonably non-violent independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, but it did have to send in tens of thousands of Indians to die on foreign shores during WW II. And it has fought three wars against Pakistan and one with China since independence. It has also faced constant challenges to its nationhood from within, in the North East, in Kashmir, in Punjab, and now via the old Naxalite movement grown into present day Maoist insurrection. Blood seems to be the price of nationhood.

Today the threat to India is unprecedented, both from within and without, from Islamic and Maoist terrorism, from Chinese belligerence, Pakistani chicanery, and a variety of secessionist and seditious movements in different parts. And most tellingly, from its state of abject unpreparedness.

But perhaps our policy makers are at last coming around. It is ironic that we should be so threatened when India as an economic entity is poised on the threshold of greatness. There is reasonable commentary that sees the Sensex at 50,000 within five years, implying a more than doubling of the economy in the interim. Good and fine, but will we snatch defeat from the mouth of victory instead?

The American LeT operative Headley let slip to the FBI, news of the stalking of a certain “Rahul”. This may or may not be referring to the scion of the Gandhi dynasty but it tells you how vulnerable the leaders of an open democracy and a soft-state can be.

The Home Minister’s recent clear-cut warning that another 26/11 style attack masterminded from across the border will be met with decisive retaliation is most welcome. It represents a stiffening of the Indian spine not seen since Mrs. Indira Gandhi authorised Operation Bluestar.

There are other stirrings; such as the raising of new and specialised battalions, moves to urgently improve infrastructure in border areas, provide our police, para-military and armed forces with modern arms, equipment, facilities, and move troops and equipment to where they may be needed; on fronts facing both Pakistan and China. These are long overdue steps, and given the right provisioning, India will be no pushover.

Former President George W Bush underscored the realpolitik involved on a recent visit to give the keynote address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. He implied that India’s entry to the UNSC, with or without veto powers, will depend as much on our hard power as our diplomacy.

None of the present five permanent members are going to countenance expansion of the Council, and a consequent dilution of their own power, without compelling bilateral and multilateral benefits. And this applies as much to other contenders such as Japan, Germany and Brazil, as it does to India.

Omniscience may not be a human gift, but prescience can be. India must modernise and strengthen itself on all parameters. We can’t use the piece-meal approach anymore. This preparatory phase of India’s ascension to the big league demands things be done very differently from that of a new nation emerging from the yoke of colonialism to freedom at midnight.


(1,051 words)

November 2nd, 2009
Gautam Mukherjee

Published as the Op-Ed Leader on 4th November 2009 in The Pioneer entitled "Break their back, now!". Also published simultaneously online at www.dailypioneer.com and is archived there under Columnists.