Best of BS Opinion: Post-Op Sindoor, India must plan five years ahead

Business Standard

a day ago

Hello and welcome to BS Views, your doorway to today's opinion page. Today's articles revolve around the idea of succession, whether it's the US Federal Reserve's chief, a Pakistani general following in his predecessor's footsteps, a deputy chief minister waiting for his turn at the top job, or even the Dalai Lama's power to choose who will take over from him. Read on!
Kenneth Rogoff points out that US President Donald Trump has found a fiendishly clever way to rein in the next Fed chair, who is theoretically independent of the White House. Trump is rumoured to be planning for his Fed chair-in-waiting to establish a 'shadow' Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) that would pressure the real FOMC to cut interest rates more aggressively. That plan, though, could backfire. Besides, monetary policymakers are hardly likely to take note of a shadow chair any more than they do the President himself. His real goal, then. seems to be to weaken the next Fed chief by forcing them into a kind of public apprenticeship; any sign of independent thinking could cause Trump to reprise his famous reality-show catchphrase: 'You're fired.'
Those who forget history are forced to repeat it, argues Shekhar Gupta, pointing out post-Operation Sindoor lessons from a short war fought in Kutch nearly half a century ago. Then, like now, a truce was called soon, but the first full India-Pakistan war broke out after merely five months. This, he writes, was because Pakistan simply cannot digest a defeat, unless it is an overwhelming one; a smaller war and a truce convince it to come back with a bigger attack. And now, Pak army chief Asim Munir is more than likely itching for a big fight. India can't time it, but happen it will, sooner or later. For now, India must have a graded plan for six months, two years, and five years, the last of which should be the deadline to build deterrence to a level where no Pakistani general will feel the same temptations as Munir. Our national resolution, he writes, has to be that if we get five years, there will never be an occasion when India will be outranked, out-gunned or out-watched in a conflict with Pakistan even for a few hours, despite the Chinese. This, he says, is an all-hands-on-the-deck moment.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's declaration that 2023 would be the last elections he would contest hit the right notes, getting him the top job in the state. But it would appear he has had a change of heart, writes Aditi Phadnis after seeing the events of the past few days. With deputy CM DK Shivakumar making no effort to hide his ambitions, Siddaramaiah seems all the more inclined to hold on to his seat. Why else would a deputy chief minister publicly say that he has no option but to let the CM continue? Especially when, given the state's political tradition, he realises it could be a while before he gets his chance to be CM.
Chintan Girish Modi looks back at the flight of the Dalai Lama from Tibet to India, and the subsequent years that he and his people have had to spend in exile - if one may call it that, given that India is practically home to generations of Tibetans. Indeed, living in India has helped Tibetans preserve their religion, culture and language, so much so that a new Nechung Monastery - the original, which is the seat of the eponymous oracle, is just outside Lhasa - was built in Dharamsala, close to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, and the offices of the Tibetan government in exile. Being in India has also helped the Dalai Lama teach and train a new generation of Lamas who are able to carry his message to the world at large. As he turns 90, India has also pushed firmly back against China, saying the Dalai Lama alone has the authority to decide his successor.
This past week threw up an interesting debate about cultural appropriation, writes Sandeep Goyal, in the wake of Italian fashion house Prada showcasing the humble Kolhapuri chappal as some kind of couture footwear. Never ones to take such slights lying down, the Indian internet's combined outrage over 'cultural appropriation' forced Prada to acknowledge the origins of said footwear. While there have been similar incidents in the past - dupattas, jute bags, lungis, block-prints - the columnist wonders where one draws the line between appropriation and inspiration? In fashion, especially, it can be hard to pin down. In many cases, he says, culture and fashion are compatriots, one feeds off the other, and one shouldn't see them beyond that.