MISDEMEANOUR IN KARGIL

About the BJP government's misdemeanour in Kargil, much has been written in these columns as well as in the press outside. Moreover, every passing day brings new evidences of how the present government of India proved its abject incompetence about securing the territorial integrity of the country. As late as on August 11, The Asian Age quoted a Delhi based magazine saying Brigadier Surinder Singh, former commander of the Kargil based 121 Brigade, has been shifted to Leh "to prevent him from revealing the truth about the disastrous border war." The magazine quoted an official source as saying, "In reality he was taken there to keep him quiet."

The magazine also revealed that "Brigadier Singh had informed his divisional commander Major General V S Budhwar and army chief General V P Malik about the imminence of the Pakistani infiltration across the LoC in the Kargil sector last August, but to little avail. No preventive action was initiated as a consequence of his detailed briefing."

Having gone into details of how attempts are afoot to prevent the real reasons of the "Kargil fiasco" from coming out, the magazine also goes on to confirm the apprehensions the CPI(M) had already expressed. It says the three member inquiry committee appointed to go into the Kargil events "seems to have superseded all moves to fix accountability." In fact the committee "had neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to summon witnesses or demand classified reports to help them get a clear picture of the Kargil disaster....."

By its insidious propaganda and with the help of its supporters in the press, the RSS led brigade is trying its best to suppress precisely such revelations that are multiplying day by day. The move started on June 23, if not earlier, when the brigade decided to cacophonically observe "Kashmir Day" and once again tried to distort the history of Kashmir.

PERVERSION OF HISTORY

This perversion of history is, more often than not, based on pure falsehoods at which the RSS propagandists are adept. For instance, in July 25 issue of the Organiser, V P Bhatia, a regular columnist of theirs, writes: "Nehru supported Abdullah's crusade for independent Kashmir." Will any serious student of contemporary Indian history agree with this contention? He will simply dismiss it as an atrocious lie.

The facts are quite otherwise, though evidently unpalatable to the Saffron Brigade. It is in fact a case of a thief accusing others of theft in order to save his own skin. The fact is that when India became independent, it was the Maharaja of Kashmir who was scheming to become independent by taking recourse to a provision in the Mountbatten plan. In fact, even after handing over powers to the Indian Union and the newly created Pakistan, the British imperialists went on trying to ensure that at least some princely states (like Kashmir, Hyderabad, Travancore and Junagarh) remain independent so that the imperialist powers continue to have a foothold in the subcontinent.

And, for the RSS, the most bitter piece of truth is that the Praja Parishad -- the cover under which the RSS was then working in the princely state of Kashmir -- was most vocally supporting the Maharaja's move. It was a patent anti-national act on part of the RSS, notwithstanding all its hyperbolic propaganda about its supposed nationalist credentials.

THE BOOT IS ON THE OTHER FOOT

On the other hand, what Sheikh Abdullah -- the bete noire of the RSS -- was doing at that time? It was under the Sheikh's leadership that the Muslim Conference transformed itself into National Conference and decided to link its fate with that of the wider national movement in the rest of the country. It was precisely this very organisation that stood in the way of the Maharaja's imperialist backed design and, in the wake of the attack by Pakistani raiders, forced him to sign the instrument of accession. Since then the National Conference has always been reiterating that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.

Moreover, at a time when the rest of north India was burning, when literally lakhs were being butchered in the name of religion, when perhaps the biggest dislocation of population in world history was taking place with all the attendent indescribable sufferings, misery and homelessness, when the people had become strangers in their own towns and villages, and when along with others the RSS itself was playing a lead role in this macabre dance of death, it goes to the credit of the Kashmiri people that they, under the leadership of National Conference, maintained their calm and did not allow the demonic forces of communalism to gain the upper hand.

And soon came the final test in the form of an attack by Pak backed raiders when the Sheikh Abdullah led National Conference proved in action that it was worth its salt. Under its leadership, the people of Kashmir -- not only Hindus and Muslims but even the handful of Christians -- fought the raiders with guns in their hands and held the fort till the Indian army reached the valley. At that time, all the Pak propaganda to the effect that the Kashmiri Muslims must join Pakistan because they belong to the same religion, simply failed to cut any ice. It was because of those very Kashmiri people and their leader, the National Conference, that Jammu and Kashmir is still an integral part of India.

These are the plain facts of history and go to show that, in so far as the RSS charge of National Conference being anti-national is concerned, the boot is really on the other foot, the RSS's foot.

FOREIGN POLICY REVERSAL

The BJP government is also guilty of reversing the consensual foreign policy that stood India in good stead and helped her emerge as the leader of the non-aligned movement that comprised mainly the newly independent third world countries. It was a policy of peace as a precondition of development; it was a policy of strong opposition to war and foreign intervention, of steering clear of the military blocs; it was a policy of supporting the national liberation movements in the countries that were still under colonial powers. And by its very nature, it was a policy that served the genuine interests and aspirations of the third world peoples whom the imperialist powers consider to be the third class citizens.

But it is this very policy which has always been an anathema to the Sangh Parivar, and which the BJP government reversed as soon as it acquired power -- to the benefit of the same imperialist powers who are the biggest exploiters of the third world peoples, of their resources.

But here also the RSS brigade is out to justify its dubious feat by claiming that the foreign policy misdemeanours of the Vajpayee government in fact represent a big diplomatic victory for India. But their sole contention in this regard is that Indo-US relations were never so good as they are under the Vajpayee dispensation. When Shyam Khosla, a regular contributor to the Organiser, talks of "India's growing clout in international affairs" in the August 8 issue of the paper, in his long article he has absolutely nothing else to prove this "growing clout."

ANTI-MUSLIM MOTIVATION

But here also, the RSS propagandist is not relying on any objective analysis of the foreign policy developments but is in fact motivated by its anti-Muslim ideology. He says bombastically: "It was the BJP led government that charted out a new course by supporting US bombing of Taliban bases in Afghanistan... It not only reversed the anti-American tilt in India's foreign policy bequeathed by Nehru but also sent strong signals that India was willing for a realignment of forces to combat cross border terrorism inspired and supported by Islamic fundamentalists."

But this queer sort of logic has its own perils. For instance, RSS propagandists forget that it was in fact the US imperialists who nurtured the "Islamic fundamentalists." The case of Taliban is only too well known. Was is not the US that armed the mercenary Taliban to the teeth? The same happened in other parts of the globe. The US support for the Punjab, Kashmir and Assam extremists is now no secret. The question is: Who will rely on US imperialists in fighting cross border terrorism? None, except the paranoid RSS lobby!

Secondly, the RSS lobby also forgets that if the Vajpayee government supported the US bombing on Sudan and Afghanistan, there is nothing in it to gloat over; it is on the contrary something which should make them ashamed. For, by this support, the Vajpayee government has only laid a wrong precedent as it means giving the imperialist bully moral support in its drive to dominate the world and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries with impunity. This was precisely what the country's non-aligned foreign policy opposed.

REAL DANGER

It is precisely here that the real danger lies. For, in a unipolar world with no countervailing power to the US hegemonistic drive, the BJP government sought to aid precisely this very drive at the cost of the world community at large. It is well known that the US has not only maintained NATO but even expanded it numerically and is further arming it with deadly weapons. It is not prepared to listen to any demand of nuclear disarmament. Why?

The US has also revealed its real intentions in Iraq and recently in Yugoslavia. In case of the latter, it even showed it cares nothing for the opinions of other powers, e g Russia and China. The NATO forces even bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade which was, reports go to show, not accidental. Can one then really believe that US imperialists will remain silent in case India tries to assert its independence? None, except the RSS brigade!

The US imperialists, who never wanted to see India develop independently, had long ago revealed their intentions when, during the Bangladesh liberation war, they tried to intervene in the subcontinent and even sent their nuclear armed Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal. It was the timely support from the now extinct USSR that had saved the situation for India. Surely the RSS propagandists would not have forgot that episode! Or, have they?

But, obviously, all this is no concern for the RSS lobby who are out to sell the national interest. You can awake a person who is sleeping, but who can awake one who is feigning asleep? Otherwise, there was no reason for Shyam Khosla to write that "Jaswant-Talbot talks helped in removing mutual suspicions and misunderstandings to a large extent." Who does not know that for the US the real issue in these talks was not to remove mutual suspicions but to pressurise India into signing the CTBT? And, is it not a known secret that the BJP government has promised to signed the CTBT on the dotted line once an opportune moment comes? Did not Jaswant Singh rush to Singapore, as a servile satrap, to meet her master's voice, the US foreign secretary Madeline Albright, a monument of out and out imperialist arrogance?

It is therefore not surprising that, despite the loss of the country's prestige among the third world countries, the BJP government has not moved a little finger to revitalise the NAM which can save the interests of these countries, India included, and ignored all third world calls in this regard. Nay more, the BJP government has not joined the international public opinion in demanding that the US forthwith disband the Diego Garcia naval base in Indian Ocean, for retaining which absolutely no justification exists.

INTERNATIONALISING KASHMIR

But even today there are enough pointers to indicate where these foreign policy misdemeanours will land the country. Before Clinton signed a joint communique with Nawaz Sharif, there were reports that he talked to Vajpayee who only acquiesced. But what did the communique contain? A promise that the US president will take "personal interest" in Kashmir issue! Does it mean anything except that, courtesy Vajpayee & Co, the Kashmir issue has been internationalised? Is it not a big disservice to the nation and its interests?

Consider the following. The US has come out with a new formula on Kashmir -- open the borders between Jammu-Kashmir and the Pak occupied Kashmir, let the people freely intermingle, then hold an "election" there after five years, and accept the "people's verdict" !

But what is new in this formula? The US is talking of an "election," but is it really different from the plebiscite it has been talking of hitherto? The only new thing is about opening of the borders which, in effect, means allowing the imperialists and Pakistanis to indulge in massive propaganda in the concerned territories and pre-determine the outcome!

Not surprisingly, as reported in The Asian Age (August 10), Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz has flatly fallen in line -- as per the old Pakistani game of internationalising the Kashmir issue with US help. It will be recalled that once, when in Washington, former Pak prime minister Benazir Bhutto had advanced precisely the same proposal.

The cat is now out of the bag. It is obvious that the US will not remain content with advancing a proposal but take every measure to ensure that the Vajpayee government falls in line. And given its record in office on the patents and many other issues, one must not be surprised if one day the Vajpayee government swallows the bait!