A Dossier on Manmohan's India
By Dr Haider Mehdi
The Denial: The trouble is neither Singh nor the overwhelming Hindu majority nor its entire political establishment are perceptually and politically correct. The fact is that India is in denial of its present political ground realities. Undoubtedly, India is still a poor country, distorted with glaring economic inequalities, sociological disparities, political oppression and has experienced growing Hindu majority extremism and violence against its minorities for decades now.
The US and the West have kept a lid on the media not to expose Indian sectarian violence and brewing socio-political unrest for strategic and tactical reasons. The West is working on an Indian image-promoting strategy to prepare it by psychological manipulation and media projections to endorse US-Western interests vis-à-vis China and in the rest of South East Asia and the Central Asian Islamic States. And yet, the hard and unfortunate fact remains that India is plagued by its Hindu majority extremism, violence and its economically fractured socio-economic existential reality.
Counter-Productive: Pinning hasty blame entirely on the so-called Muslim "extremism" and Pakistan's alleged involvement in Mumbai's terrorist attacks will only be counter-productive for India. Manmohan Singh must concentrate on neutralizing growing Hindu extremism and push for nationwide sociological-economic reforms in his country preferably on a Chinese developmental model rather than the Western capitalistic framework.
In absolute truth, this is precisely the challenge that today's India is facing. A media projected US-West sponsored world status for India will not alleviate its real issues of public poverty, internal terrorism, Hindu extremism and violence against the minority populations.
A Must: India can possibly deny Kashmiri Muslims self-determination for some more time but it cannot do it indefinitely. History has taught us that suppression cannot kill the will of people nor can oppression prevail forever. If Singh wishes for political immortality, the best thing he can do is to prepare India for an independent Kashmir - this is how the PM can transform the Indian myth of democracy and political spiritualism into a living reality - a success of India's democracy and its self-confidence. Kashmir's right to self-determination is a must for Indian internal peace and its ascendancy to a democratic global leadership.
Perhaps Manmohan should study some Yogi wisdom.
It is of a nation's self-deception and moral defeat to flagrantly deny reality.
Would you agree, PM Manmohan Singh?
Caution: Saber-rattling on both sides of the divide, India and Pakistan, on the Mumbai carnage will only benefit traditional ruling elites in both countries. Use your imagination...!
Sum-up: Steer your nation away from conflict. Peace will serve your nation a lot better than war - that is how a Yogi would sum-up a sermon on relations between nations.
Rightly so!!!
The writer is a professor, political analyst and a conflict-resolution specialist.
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