Shaking Hands with Indian Prime Minister by Seema Arif
Yesterday, May 26, 2014, the world witnessed Narendra Modi, taking oath for the office of Pradhan Mantri (prime minister) in one of the biggest democracies of the world, India. Who would have imagined that a tea boy will one day challenge the powerful Nehru Dynasty and write a new victory for capitalist democracy after success of Barak Obama as president of The United States of America? How far this current has yet to travel…? It is already crossing continents.
The prime minister of Pakistan, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was invited in the oath-taking ceremony and he took this opportunity to break the ice between the two countries. Many see it as a proactive measure following the league of his mentor Zia-ul-Haq in the name of cricket diplomacy, or his arch rival, Parvez Musharraf who took the lead to go and shake hand with Vajpai during a SAARC Conference. Whether Nawaz will be able write the same story of success as his predecessors have written or he will surpass them?
PM Nawaz was smart enough to dress in one of his classy suits and take members of his family along him like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. How fruitful the visit of PM Nawaz Sharif will be for Pakistan or his own political career will be witnessed in future. In this article, I’m just trying to infer the future of geopolitics in the region by interpreting the body language displayed at the occasion by the two leaders. Let us see few pictures and it will be much easier for us to assume whether Modi will be tough or friendly with Pakistan? How proactive really PM Modi’s politics is, and how pragmatically he will deal with geopolitics of South Asia, where he is crowned like a Sultan among SAARC countries.
We all know that PM Nawaz Sharif is welcomed by senior bureaucracy only. See PM Nawaz Sharif approaching PM Narendara Modi:
In the next step:
Have a further closer look:
How well the handshake went and how it can be described….?
Both Narendra Modi (Namo is his pet name) and Nawaz share in them “the Na” (the obstinacy to go by one’s own version … “mein na manun rey”). Nawaz proved it by having repeated conflicts with Pakistan Army and Namo has been a maverick, a “baghi” all the way along of his political career. A sharp contrast is clearly observable in the personalities of both the leaders, Namo being evolved on the hard course of personal development, rising from the lower middle class to the upper echelons of government and becoming the most powerful person in the largest democracy of the world; whereas, Nawaz born with silver spoon in his mouth, entering into the game of thrones through backdoors via “asheerwad” (sacred blessing) of a dictator; Namo the vegetarian and Nawaz all time lover of delicacies; Namo a workaholic and Nawaz the idle prince; Namo the bachelor, and Nawaz not only happily married, but holding a trek record of a series of private lukewarm romantic affairs with some showbiz celebrities.
Nawaz tried to strike a balance by pointing out only one similarity – Love for mother (what about the love for the motherland). I wonder how does PM Modi being a down to earth hardcore political worker views the elitist and the corrupt government of PML(N) with a strong charge of massive rigging associated with recent elections and number of corruption scandals affiliated with numerous developmental projects carried out by PML(N) during their tenure of governments (past and present). Moreover, under his (PM Nawaz Sharif) nose the Kargil blunder took place and he was the one who fired the flame in Chagi.
If both of them represent the nationalist parties of their nation, both also symbolize the power icons, Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS and Hinduvita) and Zia –ul –Haq (Jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir). Both the mentors were strongly rightist and believed in the right of rule of the few over the greater population. Both have nurtured fundamentalism and extremism in their countries. Hindu Nationalists believe in the two-nation theory like the Muslim League, and both the Hindu and the Muslim ‘Nationalists’ joined hands with the colonial masters in order to thwart the Freedom Struggle so that they could have theocratic states of their choice, ‘Hindusthan’ or Hindu Rashtra and Pakistan or Islamic Khilafat respectively.
Whether Modi will be tough or friendly towards Pakistan? Again the picture tells the story: at the hi-tea table PM Modi chooses to sit next to Bhutan’s prime minister and makes Nawaz Sharif sit next to Buhatan’s prime minister – Tshering Tobgay . It clearly shows that the value of Pakistani PM is lesser than even semi independent Bhutan state’s governor.
Today the PM Nawaz Sharif’s friendly visit has been returned by 5 point agenda of demands. That’s what the PM is returning with – the predicament of “Do More”. Remember that Narendra Modi is the guy who can’t even travel to Europe and America because he is believed to be the mass murderer of Indian citizens (mainly the Muslims in Gujrat). He killed many more than 26/11, but the courts have not been able to pursue the case as Modi himself was the chief minister of the province for past ten years. Last year his comment about stop writing love letters to Pakistan has been a topic of hot debate (see the video clip below).
Now Modi has kept defense ministry in his own hands and appointed the ex-army general as state defense minister who is the alleged culprit of all state dramas of aggression and terrorism in the region which point finger at Pakistan. Again the pictures tell the story in a better fashion…. The posters of Modi (1) show his fisting in a Hanuman style (the aide of Lord Rama who helped him to devastate the empire of the villain Rawan). They also show that Namo is very comfortable in raising and pointing fingers.
Pic (6) is also of specific significance, the closed palm with one finger extended pointing at others express authority bordering at tyranny. So is the “ruthless” and “fearless” Narendra Modi.
In his country PM Narendara Modi has been welcomed by 39% to 45% of the youth wanting him to rule with an iron hand against corruption, and freeing the country from bad governance. This warm welcome is followed by massive inflow from FDI and FII to Indian stock market. (That is also the reason why the Dollar recently became cheaper in Rupee terms). What does this mean? It only means that international finance capital is confident that Modi’s Gujrat Model is now free to rule the rest of India. This model entails giving free hand to capitalist MNCs to exploit the natural and human resources country wide. The Indian ideals of “Nehruvian socialism” and the “welfare state” have come to sad end that will lead to the silencing of many environmentalists and peace makers. How Pakistan will pursue his case for water depletion as result of India’s building of dams….?
How proactive PM Modi will be in expanding the markets of India. He will explore routes, he is familiar with. An ambitious project that he has shown interest in is to leverage the large Gujarati diaspora in Astrakhan, Russia and establish a trade route between Okha and Olya, which if operationalized, would be the shortest cargo route between India and Russia. If this succeeds, a faster India-Iran cargo route may also be possible.
Modi’s foreign policy will be proactive and will be driven primarily by national interest. Sound strategic thinking and the unapologetic use of force could replace limitless restraint, idealistic rhetoric, and the Cold War hangover of Nehruvian nonalignment. India will no longer be a country that knows not how to help a friend or harm an enemy. According to Times of India, PM Modi, in a recent speech, has strongly disagreed with Ram Vilas Paswan’s proposition that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who have been a source of friction in Assam, be granted Indian citizenship and given a vote in Indian elections, and added ‘Assam is bordered by Bangladesh, Gujarat by Pakistan – difference is, Assam is disturbed by Bangladesh, Pakistan by Gujarat’.
The only safe way open for Narendra Modi in India is to open the gateways for corporate culture and capitalist investment aggressively, and instead of being ruthless against corruption in India keep targeting Pakistan and projecting all blames of extremism and terrorism on her. The dreams of social democracy in India are endangered and so is the stability of the region with ascension of the self-righteous narcissistic Modi to the highest power. Are you ready Pakistan…?
Sources:
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/yankeedoodle/how-would-modi-deal-with-pakistan/
Open letter to the ‘Hindu Nationalist’, Narendra Modi Ji, Chief Minister of Gujarat
Seema Arif is associate professor at School of Social Sciences & Humanities in University of Management & Technology, Lahore. Pakistan. She portrays herself as humble seeker of the Sufi way. Her academic output relates to organizational behavior and concerns about leadership. She has published widely in local and international newspapers, magazines and journals.
Contact her: seema.arif@umt.edu.pk
Visit her website: www.jehan-i-seema.net
