[h=2]In Parrikar, India has an atom bomb that can backfire[/h]
Achhe din or not, one of the few discernible changes that have happened in the 365-plus days of the Modi government has been the increasing questioning, rebuking and ridiculing of Mr Modi and his retinue on social media. Until about six months ago, it was deemed impossible. So what changed?
Let’s leave deep analysis for the pundits and focus on just one reason: loose cannons. Really, it seems in this department, there’s no dearth of talent in the ruling party. They have their Sadhvi Niranjan Jyotis and Prachis as well as Sakshi Maharajs and Yogi Adityanaths. There could be an argument that these people symbolise the right-wing fringe within the party and some of them are not politically experienced. Fair point. Even Mr Modi had said in Parliament about Sadhvi Niranjan: “The minister is new and she has come to Parliament for the first time. We are aware of her background.” Then what about the IIT-ian defence minister Manohar Parrikar?
The former Goa CM moved into South Block with the reputation of a no-nonsense man and a hard taskmaster. That was the time when the Gujarat Model was the modern Ram Rajya and the Jumla Age was yet to come. And the IIT stamp perhaps did wonders to Brand Parrikar. But the defence ministry portfolio also brought some public speaking engagements. And the cannon started to fire.
There were some flip-flops initially, the first being over the Pak “terror boat” episode. A Hindutva group actually staged a protest outside a media outlet’s office in our immediate neighbourhood for being “anti-India” in questioning the version of a “patriotic minister”. Rest of the media was not interested, barring one TV channel that actually showed footage of a burning boat and called it a clincher for Sarkar; it didn’t matter that the video didn’t show how the boat caught fire.
The next were the series of flip-flops over the Rafale deal. This time, the media questioned but didn’t bother to delve deep into it. He’s a jolly good fellow, cut him some slack—this is what everyone who could have cornered the minister on the right grounds thought. Nevertheless, there were enough hints in the press reports for the minister to pick and behave with restraint. Sadly, he didn’t.
Last month, Parrikar declared that India wouldn’t shy away from using terrorists to counter terrorists. His exact words were: “We have to neutralise terrorists through terrorists only. Why can’t we do it? We should do it. Why does my soldier have to do it?” Mr Modi’s fans online celebrated his defence minister’s statements as reflection of a strong resolve to pay Pakistan back in its own coin and redeem the honour of the country that was lost under previous pusillanimous Congress ministers, always pussyfooting around in their dealings with our western neighbour. The bravos and huzzahs didn’t seem to stop online. But they didn’t realise that it was actually a diplomatic disaster.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatime...-atom-bomb-that-can-backfire/?intenttarget=no
