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Many in India offer prayers to the Sun God at dawn. Others pray facing Mecca. Both sentiments are worthy of respect. However, what do you say about those who pray to Washington-particularly since blind worship of the United States affects Indian policy to the detriment of the nation? New Delhi's conflict is clearly with Pakistan while Washington seems more concerned with Saddam Hussain. Our policymakers' justification of American mollycoddling of a terrorist state like Pakistan at India's cost is indefensible. Incapable of analysing security threats from an Indo-centric viewpoint, they swallow Washington's readymade briefs. The result: New Delhi invariably ends up losing.
Understanding why so many Indians are gullible enough to defend American, Pakistani or Chinese interests-while claiming to look out for themselves-is nor very difficult. Our educational system is at fault. Academic teaching and orientation are geared to encourage the cramming of facts. For example, Akbar minor in class VI, Akbar major in class XI and mega- Akbar in college. But they never encourage analytical skills required to grasp a certain situation and its problems and work out possible options. Much of Indian media analysis demonstrates mastery in the quick stringing together of facts. Information is borrowed from Western sources, despite its irrelevance within the Indian context. Also, it is not surprising that our intelligence agencies possess the capability to collate facts and gather encyclopaedic knowledge. But they do not know what to make of these. That goes for South Block personnel too.
For example, at one stage practically everyone was senselessly propagating the Western line that a stable Pakistan is in India's interest. It was subtly being suggested that if we decimated Pakistan, its people would create bigger headaches for us in the future. In other words, a stable Pakistan is in India's interest, irrespective of the mischief it was up to. The argument is untenable. Consider the surreptitious illegal migration underway in the Northeast, West Bengal, Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh, where demographic changes are part of the Islamic fundamentalist strategy. Not to mention the ethnic cleansing in Jammu & Kashmir. The Americans also planted a perfectly timed story about Pakistan's decision to exercise the nuclear option during the Kargil conflict. The US is clearly trying to put psychological pressure on India, with the aim of preventing it from going in for punitive strikes.
Post 9/11, the Americans need India's
support more than India needs theirs. The war on terrorism is in a tailspin,
with 3,000 Al Qaeda members sitting pretty inside Pakistan, in connivance
with the US's blue-eyed General. The military-ISI-madrasa nexus has further
muddied the entire picture. It is a matter of time before the US turns
to India for support-in the form of ground forces and other resources-in
a conflict against Pakistan. At present, New Delhi's interests are best
served by lowering the India-US profile in relation to joint military exercises
or defence purchases. The American honeymoon with Pakistan's dictator-turned-President
means the infiltration into India of thousands of jihadis. Tall claims
about being India's "natural ally" is not enough. The Americans have to
make up their minds about whose side they are on.
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