India's World - Demy (HB) by Rajiv Dogra

Author:Rajiv Dogra [Dogra, Rajiv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

FROM LOVE TO HATE TO ONLY BUSINESS

The relatively short period from 1998 to 2002 was full of surprises in India’s relations with Pakistan, some of them rather nasty. Did we acquit ourselves with quotable aplomb in these? Did we fully take into account the long-term consequences of our decisions? Perhaps not. Just to give one example, during Operation Parakram, India decided to ban Pakistani planes from flying over its territory for their journey east. Pakistan grabbed this chance and banned Indian planes from overflying its territory on their journeys west. In the process, Indian airlines and their passengers were the sufferers, because while Pakistani traffic to the east was meagre, the substantial Indian air traffic west now meant a long detour involving higher fuel cost and longer travel time. Pakistan used this ploy again recently after the Balakot attack.

It wasn’t just this issue; Vajpayee’s policy on Pakistan was full of unexpected U-turns. Yet the surprises that he sprang on people were accepted as normal in what was advocated as changed circumstances. And after every disappointment, Vajpayee tried again. He took a great gamble by taking the bus to Lahore, capped it with a visit to Minar-e-Pakistan, and spoke to Pakistan from his heart. These gestures won him appreciation in India, Pakistan and the world. But when the euphoria ebbed, Indians made the unpleasant discovery that Pakistani soldiers had occupied the heights at Kargil. Yet no one pointed fingers at Vajpayee for undertaking the visit to Lahore and waxing eloquent there about the stability of Pakistan, while at that very moment India’s own integrity was being spliced by its soldiers. Instead, the blame was passed on to intelligence agencies. Nor was it considered necessary to question the planners of the Lahore visit as to why they did not take the warnings about Pakistani incursions into account before giving the clearance for the visit.

If any further warnings were needed about Pakistan’s designs, they were provided by the Kandahar hijacking. But it did not deter the government from hosting the summit at Agra.

Around the time when Operation Parakram was called off, the international media had begun to view Vajpayee’s performance in office with a less kindly eye. Time epitomized this in its assessment:

He drank heavily in his prime and still enjoys a nightly whiskey or two at 74. India’s leader takes painkillers for his knees…and has trouble with his bladder, liver and his one remaining kidney. A taste for fried food and fatty sweets plays havoc with his cholesterol. He takes a three-hour snooze every afternoon on doctor’s orders and is given to interminable silences, indecipherable ramblings and, not infrequently, falling asleep in meetings. Atal Behari Vajpayee, then, would be an unusual candidate to control a nuclear arsenal.26

This article’s doubtful combination of personal health with governance was frowned upon by Vajpayee’s admirers, who continued to see him as bereft of warts. In taking an unduly harsh swipe at his ability to control a nuclear arsenal, this assessment made a fundamental misjudgement. It ignored the patience and balance with which Vajpayee handled the many provocations from Pakistan.

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