When Abroad, NDA Delegates Forced to State the Opposite of Their Exclusionary Politics at Home

The Wire

5 hours ago

New Delhi: The Modi government dispatched seven all-party parliamentary delegations – including former diplomats – to 33 countries to project India's collective resolve and 'zero tolerance' policy on terrorism in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and the military conflict with Pakistan. Whether it was portraying India as a 'secular' country or one where Muslims enjoy equal rights and face no persecution, delegation members from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its Shiv Sena alliance partner went out of their way in their interactions with these countries to speak in a language that is contrary to the politics they practice at home. Opposition members who were part of the delegations, on the other hand, were seen ridiculing Pakistan in a language that is often used by the BJP at home. Clearing 'misconceptions' about Muslim persecution, stance on PalestineBJP MP Nishikant Dubey – known for his sharp, often Islamophobic, comments and who just weeks earlier in April had called former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi a 'Muslim Commissioner' for criticising the Waqf Amendment Act – spoke about how Muslims in India enjoy equal rights, pointed to the religious diversity of the delegation he was part of, and claimed that India had always supported the 'two-nation theory' with regard to Israel's ongoing genocide in Palestine.'On this visit, the misconception that is there about what are we doing about Palestine and Israel, what are the conditions of Muslims… Owaisi (AIMIM MP Assadudin Owaisi, who was also part of the same delegation) said we have more Muslims than Pakistan,' said Dubey while speaking to ANI in Algiers, Algeria.'Is there any house that doesn't have problems? Don't Hindus have problems with each other. But our delegation had members of five religions and were all speaking in one voice. We all supported each other,' he said.Dubey – who was part of the delegation led by Baijayant Panda (also a BJP MP) – visited four Muslim countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria. There, he paid tribute to a 'secular' India – a country supposedly at ease with its pluralism, extending equal status to all, de jure and de facto – that even ruling party MPs felt compelled to praise.While the BJP has criticised those supporting Palestine, Dubey said that the delegation had clarified that 'with regards to Palestine, we believe in the two-nation theory. We said that we are against Hamas, we don't support terrorism, but we are with the people of Palestine.' 'Second, the condition of Muslims in India is better than other secular nations. Owaisi also said that Article 25 gives equal rights. Third, Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism whether it is Sudan, Turkey, or US – it is all emanating from Pakistan and therefore, they must be placed on the FATF grey list.'We have put forward our prime minister's view of the new normal that we will not tolerate any act of terror. We also pressed on the point that Pakistan doesn't have money to give food to its people. We have requested these countries that whenever Pakistan speaks to you, these countries have to say that they have to stop terror activities otherwise we will not be able to save you. Any country that is giving money to Pakistan, whether it is the US or IMF or World Bank, it is all going down the drain in the corruption of the military and their citizens are suffering,' he added.Previous governments 'tried' talksIn Bahrain's Manama, Panda, who was leading the delegation that Dubey was a part of, took a cautious and even soft note in explaining India's 'new normal' stance. While he did use the lines being used by the BJP's top leadership – including 'talks and terror cannot go on' and 'blood and water cannot flow together' (referring to the Indus Water Treaty being held in abeyance) – he followed it up with a cautious note that India wants 'friendly relations'.'My colleagues are from across the country, we speak different languages, we have different religions. This is true India. This is the largest democracy ever in human history. This is the biggest message. We have taken certain steps – we have put in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, we have stopped visas, trade through ships coming in. Because the old thing – we have tried that for many decades – that we will keep playing cricket, cultural events, that has changed,' said Panda.In a departure from the BJP's campaign during Operation Sindoor where it attacked previous Congress-led governments for holding talks with Pakistan despite terror attacks, Panda cited those efforts as an alibi to say that India had 'tried' it and that is ready to meet Pakistan 'more than halfway' if it takes credible steps against terrorism.'Talks and terrorism cannot go on at the same time. Blood and water cannot flow at the same time. But we make it very clear. We want friendly relations. But talks have not helped, cultural exchanges have not helped. This has been going for decades since 1947. So the message is very clear, you stop shooting, we stop shooting. All these steps show that we will meet you more than half way. If Pakistan takes credible steps to undo its terror infrastructure and take action against the terrorists – which the whole world is saying are terrorists – we will be more than happy to respond with friendly steps,' he said.While no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India has warned the civilians of Pakistan of his 'goli' (bullet), these delegations emphasised that India does not have anything against the people of Pakistan.'We know civilians want peace in Pakistan but everybody knows the army has disproportionate control and their incentives must change,' Panda said.Panda was also full of praise for former Congress leader and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was also part of the delegation, citing his ties and contact with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) as coming in handy, as well as his connect with NAM, or the Non-Aligned Movement. 'One of our delegation members is Ghulam Nabi Azad, very senior politician, who has had a particular role to play from the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) days, when he used to interface with people like late Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief Yassar Arafat. That carries a huge credibility,' he said.What he brushed over was the fact that the Modi government has minimised India's Palestinian connect and NAM background. 'Human rights of victims of terror'BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was leading the delegation to the UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy and Denmark, spoke about the human rights of the 'young bride' who lost her husband in the Pahalgam terror attack, in an apparent reference to Himanshi Narwal. He made no reference to the fact that Narwal – whose husband Lt Vinay Narwal was killed in the terror attack – was brutally trolled by the right wing social media ecosystem for advocating peace and warning that the attack not become an excuse to target Muslims or Kashmiris. 'Who are human rights for? Do the victims of terror have human rights or not? Does that young bride who lost her husband just after 10 days of her marriage by the bullet of a terrorist have human rights or not? The whole concept of human rights must be properly understood and appreciated. We stand firmly for the human rights of the victims of terror,' he said while speaking in Brussels.'We are a democracy, we are a stable country. But this new dialogue must be conveyed in Belgium in the European Union. They don't have an answer to this. Enough of the human rights of terrorists. This must stop,' he added.'India a secular country'On being re-elected in 2019, Modi went to the extent of open mockery, saying, 'In this election not even a single political party could dare to mislead the country by wearing the mask of secularism.' But in the delegations they were part of, the BJP – and its ally both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, the Hindutva-focused Shiv Sena – were forced to champion the fact that India is a 'secular' country.'We are carrying a message against terrorism. India has been fighting this terrorism for a very long time.. But this what happened on April 22 in Pahalgam innocent families were killed who were there on vacation,' said Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde while speaking to Speaker of the House of Representatives of Liberia, Richard Nagbe Koon.'Young couples.. newly married couples..fathers who were there with their children were killed. Husband was killed before their wives. They were killed on the basis of their religion. The terrorists asked them which religion they belong to because their motive was to destabilise regional harmony in India. As you know India is a secular nation. All religious communities stay together in peace and harmony… Nobody wants war.''Stupid jokers'Not just MPs from the government, even opposition parties took to speaking a language not usually used by them in their domestic politics in India.AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi who has often been targeted by the BJP and by big media for speaking out against the targeting of Muslims – a senior BJP MP once taunted him to 'go to Pakistan' – was seen adopting a language that would please his BJP critics at home.Speaking in Kuwait, Owaisi responded to Pakistan's allegations that Muslims in India are persecuted.'Pakistan can't take up this issue of Muslims facing threats in India. India has a larger Muslim population than Pakistan and we are more sincere than them (Pakistan). This is their fake propaganda,' he said.Owaisi has himself spoken in parliament on a number of occasions about how the BJP government is using state machinery to curtail Muslims' rights in the country.The language of mockery while talking about Pakistan is usually associated with the BJP but Owaisi went on to call Pakistanis 'stupid jokers' as he mocked Pakistan's leadership after the country's newly promoted Field Marshal Asim Munir reportedly gifted a 'fake' picture to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a dinner event in Rawalpindi'The Pakistani army chief gifted a photo to the Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, the President was also there…These stupid jokers want to compete with India, they had given a photograph of a 2019 Chinese Army drill claiming it is a victory over India. This is what Pakistan indulges in,' said Owaisi.Earlier, Owaisi had told The Wire that despite disagreements with the government at home, delegates will cooperate when abroad.'Breaching LoC for first time in Uri 2016'Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has been at the centre of a storm in his own party since the delegations were first announced, stoked fire again when he said in Panama that India had breached the LoC (Line of Control) between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike for the first time in September 2016, during the Uri strike.Tharoor made the remarks while leading one of the all party delegations in Panama but his own party leaders put out excerpts from his 2018 book'The Pradoxical Prime Minister in which he had criticised the BJP's 'shameless exploitation' of the 2016 strikes and said Congress had authorised such operations during its tenure.Despite the delegates putting up a united front, it is learnt that in West Asia – an important region for the Modi government, particularly in the present context – pointed queries regarding the state of India's minorities and what evidence was there that the attackers were from Pakistan, dogged the delegates in open meetings.Foreign policy watchers, including former foreign secretary Shyam Saran have also questioned why the government excluded the region, its other neighbours in South Asia, where India needs maximum support.