news details |
|
|
| Like metals, states have a melting point | | | Ajit Doval
THE enemies, both within and without, use bullets and bombs, not to kill the people. They are collateral damages.
The real objective is to subdue the enemy by breaking its will and dictating its terms of peace. National will is the most vital ingredient of state power — that erodes when leadership is weak and systems lose their strength. The chosen weapon to break the national will is psychological warfare or psywar; often employed by adversaries to demoralise and confuse the enemy. Its aim is to manipulate the minds of decision-makers and the people at large who could pressurise them to make them think and behave in a manner that will serve the attackers’ interests.
In the last few days there have been some voices in the country questioning the wisdom and expediency of retaining Kashmir. These people unwittingly are inadvertently playing into the hands of enemies of the nation and giving them a signal that the national resolve is crumbling. Such an impression is not only totally incorrect and is far from the truth, but provokes our enemies to actually intensify their onslaught. Such suggestions are responsible for emboldening the forces of sabotage and subversion giving adversaries the hope that with a little more push, the ball will be in the goal. They also create confusion in the minds of the people and erode the singular conviction of the people in the unity and integrity of the nation.
Like metals, states have a melting point. The state building process involves raising this melting point to a level to which it is impervious to the heat generated by our enemies, within or without. The enemy tries to get to know this metaphorical melting point as well as design its strategy to generate the heat required to reach it. If India wilts under the pressure of terrorists, insurgents, criminal mafia or violent demonstrations funded from abroad, it is only indicating that how low its melt down point is. A nation aspiring to be a major player in global power dynamics can ill-afford to be a victim of such a psyche. Once a precedent is formed, all hostile groups will, supported by enemies within and outside, start competing with each other to reach that point.
This will create total anarchy in the country besides taking a huge toll in terms of the lives of the people.
Creation of a wrong discourse, by design or default, is the first step towards decline; which over time has a tendency to gather its own momentum. These illconceived discourses start making space for themselves not by superior reasoning and better understanding of history and strategy, but by an appeal to sexy slogans. Such slogans do immense damage in all settings but are suicidal in democratic polities. They lead to people taking partisan positions without understanding the grave implications.
This casts a heavy responsibility on the intelligentsia who have easy access to the media.
It is a pity that sweeping statements and prescriptive judgments are dished out by some commentators who presume that they can authoritatively talk on subjects they know little about. Kashmir is an integral part of India not only as per the unanimous resolution of the Indian Parliament and Constitution but its being an undetectable part of India’s civilisational identity. It also symbolises the fundamentals on which modern India’s state idea rests.
The only unsettled issue on Kashmir is continued occupation of parts of the state by Pakistan. Anyone who deviates from this position holds in contempt not only the Parliament but also the constitution.
In any other country, the response to articulation of such pernicious views would involve a cost— and often — a heavy one. The soft state that India has degenerated itself into allows all such activities to pass off with impunity.
People who have no faith in the Constitution or the country’s integrity have no right to be spokespersons of its future. Only those who have total commitment to the nation, its sovereignty and integrity and are prepared to make sacrifice for it, are the stake holders who have the right to suggest what will serve India best. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
