Interview with Prof. Harsh Pant on Afghanistan

Interview with Professor Harsh Pant, King’s College, London. Responded by him on Aug 3, 2015.

Question: How do you compare the situation that existed in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent taking over of interim administration with that the one that exists now ie., after taking over of Ashraf Ghani as President of Afghanistan, especially in the context of India's engagement in Afghanistan and her (India) other dilemmas?

Prof. Pant: The immediate aftermath of 9/11 was very favorable to India, that's why India’s engagement reached new levels. Today, the situation is very different. The western forces are withdrawing and Pakistan and its proxies want to get back in control. India is being freezed out.

Question: After the aggregate investment of 2 Billion US dollars, why do you think India has not gone ahead with any big bang aid to Afghanistan ever since ?

Prof. Pant: Because the situation has been deteriorating to India's disadvantage. There is no point investing if India is unlikely to get any returns.

Question: Considering the fact that US is going to stay for some time to come in Afghanistan, is there any possibility that India would put boots on the ground in Afghanistan to secure its interests? Apparently with a tacit approval of US even if it is going to be at the displeasure of Pakistan?

Prof. Pant: None! There is no political appetite for it in Delhi. The Modi govt, on its own, would be willing to consider it but its political opponents would make it very difficult to support that. Unlike in other nations, in India even national security crises are used to scope petty political points.

Question: How do you think in your opinion, India's relations with Central Asian states and Iran has an effect (negative or positive) on India - Afghanistan relations?

Prof. Pant: Positive....the greater presence India has in Iran and central Asia, the greater its leverage will be in Afghanistan.....

Question: Is it correct to assume that India & Afghanistan in their mutual relations are making a considerable progress in de-hyphenating Pakistan, thereby making their bi-lateral relations truly independent of Pakistan in particular?

Prof. Pant: TO a certain extent, this is true....but Ghani is giving priority to sorting out internal turmoil and he seems to think that negotiating with the Taliban is the only way out....for that he needs Pakistani support....so Pakistan once again has an upper hand.....

Question: To how far this notion is true that the current Afghanistan administration is pro-Pakistan and Karzai administration was pro-India?

Prof. Pant: The current administration is not really pro-Pakistan but its assessment is that Pakistan is key to resolving the internal turmoil and so negotiations with Taliban can only proceed with Pakistani help.....Karzai administration too at times had a similar position but it was let down by Pakistan time and again and it used its ties with India as a leverage.....

Question: If Ghani administration is indeed pro-Pakistan in practice, should India worry ?

Prof. Pant: India should worry only if the Taliban get a predominant position in the political set up in Afghanistan.....with the death of mullah Omar and fracturing Taliban, it seems unlikely in the near term....

Congress Party & It's Impotent Leadership

The debate of what method must an affected party (Politically Speaking) should approach is as old as Indian National Freedom movement. While majority of congress party insisted on the method of petitioning and pleading to the oppressor (British) for a better deal without even realizing as to why British has colonized India in the first place, there was a significant section of Indian intelligentsia that contended with the top leadership of Congress that what they are doing is not only illogical but meaningless and argued for a support to some form of armed resistance. Such voices were not only sidelined but maligned as extremists or terrorists. That is why you have had Nehru writing to British Govt. referring to Netaji. Subash Chandra Bose as “Your War Criminal “.  And congress leadership i.e., Nehru & family hid their mediocrity under the garb of Moderates. This debate of Moderates v/s Extremists is very old in that sense. But what is more appalling is that congress as a political entity even after independence continued the same approach of petitioning and pleading with sworn enemies. This Political mendicancy is a symbol of impotent leadership which Congress party espouses. Hence, the non-action of congress government after 2008 terrorist attack was not a surprise to many, because pleading & petitioning is central to its obscurantist political thinking which it uses to cover up its impotent governance. 1971 Bangladesh liberation is indeed an exception.

It is only in this aspect the current day Modi govt. is different from Congress, for it does not believe in pleading & petitioning, that too when you are in a position of strength. Every political action warrants an equal amount of political reaction; at times such an action may be proactive. Hence, after a militant attack on Army in Manipur, the way Indian Army reacted and political will displayed by Modi as a head of Indian State is a departure from impotent leadership style of Congress.

It is fine if our armchair media commentators don’t want to give credit to Modi, as such an act of appreciating Modi would amount to moving away from their ideological position which they are not ready to do, even if it is considered as intellectual dishonesty. The impassioned argument of political parties, especially Congress is that the credit for this Hot Pursuit in Myanmar goes to Indian Army and not to Modi Govt. is certainly laughable. Are they ready to say that Indira Gandhi had no role in 1971 Bangladesh liberation, and the whole credit goes “ONLY” to Indian Army?

Dalit Leaders and their Hindu hatred.

Recently I have attended a seminar on late C. Iyothee Thass a Dalit Leader from Tamil Nadu, which was conducted by Dept. of Philosophy, University of Madras.  Iyothee Thass fought against caste oppression and was a leading light for Dalits. This event was attended by Dalit elites including Thirumavalavan, leader of a political party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Party - VCK. The whole event was practically less about Iyothee Thass and more about Hindu bashing, more precisely bashing Brahmins. Their whole construct is that there is nobody else apart from caste Brahmins in Hindu society. And at a political level BJP & other Hindutva forces represent them. This is the premise of their hatred towards Hindu society.

Such hatred is certainly uncalled for in a society or a country where constitutionally speaking Scheduled Castes are given a great deal of reservation, and I am in no way claiming that reservation has helped them completely. I have personally said it many times; Hindu society has alienated few members (Dalits) of their own family in the name of imaginary birth based caste system. Caste Brahmins have twisted this system to their benefit. There are no two ways about it. Anyone who says that it is birth based should only listen to Sri DharmaPravartaka Acharya (or Dr. Frank Morales) for a detailed explanation.

It is painful to see the Dalit Leadership spewing venom in a non-stop manner against Hindus among Dalits. Next time when Dalit leaders open their mouth to abuse Hindus, they should know that some of the great voices against Caste system came from within Hindu society, for example: - Ramanujacharya and Dayananda Saraswati, both are great social reformers of their time who fought against caste system in Hindu society. The Dalit leaders conveniently ignore these truths. For they are worried that if these facts are brought to the fore, there will be little following for them which will be antithetical to their political fortunes.

It is important to know how anyone would get legitimacy among Dalit leadership. Unless if someone is ready to abuse Hindus, he/she is not considered as an authentic Voice speaking for Dalits. The only groups that would benefit from such hatred against Hindus are Islamists, Christian Missionaries and Communists. Their motives and political goals are well known. So to abuse Hindus is the only qualification to get recognized as an authentic Dalit voice.

In the post independent India, the lack of improvement in the conditions of Dalits is also to do with Political parties that were practising vote bank politics, foremost among them is Congress party, because they are already experts in creating Muslim vote bank and minority appeasement. Partition of this country is the result of Minority appeasement. Instead of such negative politics, the energies should be spent to show real empathy towards Dalits without any political motive. Hindu society has to go that extra mile to prove its credentials.

The present day Dalit leadership may be appropriately equated to the Hate Figure Jinnah. Both of them fooled their followers perpetually. While Jinnah divided this country in favor of Political Islam the Dalit leaders are planning to do it under different pretext.

Doing Dalit politics is not about spreading the ghetto mentality among Dalits and say that they are different and Hindus are their enemies. Instead genuine attempts should be made in facilitating their entry to join the mainstream, psychologically speaking.

Even though Ambedkar called Hindus as sick men of India, he still is considered as a genuine Dalit leader but not others who came after him. Look at the article 334 of Indian constitution and let’s ask ourselves as to why this provision had to be extended for every 10 years? This is enough to prove that the intentions of political parties, they are doing vote bank politics and don’t want Dalit emancipation to happen any time sooner. If given a guillotine Dalit leadership may exhort the indoctrinated Dalits to behead Hindus in mass scale, such is the hatred they are spreading.

What inhibits Dalits in joining the mainstream thinking is because Dalit leadership is not willing to assist Dalits in such a progressive transition as they would lose their vote banks. Like we have already discussed, this has come in handy for the anti-national & anti-social groups like Christian missionaries, Islamist groups and Communists. Though their interests diverge in many aspects but when it comes to their hatred towards Hindu society, there is no difference of opinion among them. Hence these groups prey on Dalit communities, while Christian missionaries convert these people at their will through inducements, the others continue with their brainwash. The Missionaries are telling the converted Dalits not to disclose that they have converted to Christianity to make sure there are no issues with the reservation benefits. This is the height of Bigotry that is practised without being noticed.

Under these circumstances the nationalist forces should work among Dalits and other progressive Dalit leaders, for the sake of Dalit Emancipation. That is the only way to isolate the false Dalit leaders and help improve the conditions of Dalits. 

Fake Gandhis

Why do parents name their kids after personalities who they think are great? I have rich experience on this subject. I’ll quote two examples. When I was at my grade 6 there was this guy whose name was Sashi Kumar whose father was a judge, this was in Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh. Suddenly to my surprise one fine morning in school this guy told all his friends that from now on his name is Nelson Nehru. I asked him what the matter is. He replied that he has no idea, as suddenly his father has changed his name. Though I did not get it at that tender age, I could guess what motivated my friend’s father to suddenly change his name to Nelson Nehru, this could possibly be due to his new found love with Nehru & Nelson Mandela? That is an educated guess. 

Another experience was with a guy called Mohammed, he is from Tondiarpet, Chennai who has four male kids and the names of all end with Castro. One thing I know for sure is that his last son who was newly born I recall Mohammed naming him King’s Castro.  Then I asked him a rhetorical question, will it not lead to confusion? I.e., naming all kids with a similar name. He replied that it shows how much he loves Cuba’s Fidel Castro. This Mohammed was an electrician who was working for a daily wage of Rs.110. It is entirely a different matter whether those who were named after such personalities actually live up to the expectations of their parents.

One would wonder as to what would have forced Jawaharlal Nehru to name his daughter Indira as Indira Gandhi, because from then on Feroz Khan has become Feroz Gandhi and their son Rajiv Gandhi and so on. There could be two reasons. One reason could be Nehru would have wanted his kids to emulate the character of the personality (Gandhi, in this case) on whose name he named his daughter. Second possible reason could be that he wanted to appropriate the legacy of the person on whose credentials the whole congress organization stood and turn it in to a family run enterprise; current day congress is exactly that, family run enterprise.

Mahatma Gandhi was the only original Gandhi that Congress party ever had; everyone else is a fake Gandhi. Raul Vince will not become Mahatma Gandhi just because he goes by his another name called as Rahul Gandhi in public. To think otherwise is a great insult to the intelligence of an ordinary Indian citizen. So all that mellow dramas through orchestrated speeches will not change anything on the ground, you are what you are.

BJP’s Romance with Islamists

Imagine Hamas & Likud party of Israel entering in to a political alliance to govern Palestine. That is unthinkable even for a naive political observer. In a similar vein BJP’s alliance with an Islamist party of Kashmir valley is unsustainable. Who are Islamists anyway?  I would consider the old definition of Associated Press “Supporter of government in accord with the laws of Islam. Those who view the Quran as a political model encompass a wide range of Muslims, from mainstream politicians to militants known as jihadi”, not all Islamists are necessarily extremists.

Islamists are experts in obscuring their intentions by routinely talking about Justice, Human rights and other lofty concepts. In principle they are no different than Islamic Extremists barring the usage of violence to meet their political ends. They often dupe the voters by religion and get themselves elected democratically so that the international community cannot call them undemocratic. Muslim Brotherhood is one such example, though it is a known Islamist organization no one thought that it would be so quick and adamant in implementing Islamist agenda. The point here is once Islamists have legitimate political authority they shall implement Islamist agenda through legal means. Somehow Mohammed Morsi of Egypt was removed as people did not approve his actions.

But the danger in Kashmir is due to the longing of Muslims to be ruled by Islamists. The victims of such desire are minorities or non-Muslims. What forced BJP which is otherwise ideologically in opposite pole to ally with an Islamist party PDP as a junior partner is not known because of the result of secret diplomacy through which BJP & PDP have reached an understanding in the run up to forming a government in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. We cannot settle with Common Minimum Program.

Releasing Islamist Masarat Alam from jail, Hoisting Pakistan Flag, objecting to the return of Kashmiri Pandit’s return to the valley are actions which prove that PDP is keeping to its schedule of implementing Islamist agenda. Re arrest of Masarat Alam on fresh charges is no relief. To assume that the issue has subsided because the prime time TV shows have stopped talking about it is tantamount to misunderstanding.

Things won’t change unless Muslims of the valley are willing to change. After all when Kashmir Pundits were slaughtered and driven out most of the killers or abettors were neighbors, so we need to appreciate the truth. BJP is in a fix. It is already reaping the results of entering in to an unholy alliance. The Common Minimum Program is no consolation and that will not stop the Islamists from what they want to do.

Though steps like abolishing Art:370 & implementing Uniform  Civil Code could keep Islamists at bay not only in Kashmir but in general, but if we have to think about implementing something immediately it is to initiate the discussion on re-drawing the assembly constituencies in the state of Jammu & Kashmir so that Jammu region is also at par with valley. It is unbecoming of BJP to claim that it has abolished the untouchability that prevailed so far where Nationalist parties like BJP could not rule Jammu & Kashmir. That should not be the motivation. We know there are some great thinking heads in the larger parivar who might have a Plan B. 

Responding to a Misleading Article - " Why Christianity failed in India ? "

My feeling after reading this:  Whoever wrote that piece appears to be under serious pressure of meeting monthly conversion targets.

Few facets of the arguments mentioned were deliberately given a spin to meet some perverted desires of the writer.  It would appear as if Missionaries are doing this job because they are trying to bring heavens on the earth by next month and this is being obstructed by Hindutva Groups.

I am not discussing on this entire article, but only on few segments.

1. Comparison of Hindu population in UK with that of the Christian population in India by %age is an attempt to fool the gullible reader. Are we comparing two countries one being India which has a billion plus population and UK which has a population of 64 Million? 2% of 64 million is not as same 2% of billion. The writer is well advised to take some statistics classes instead of hiding behind percentages.

2. Proselytizing as such is not the issue. But when you do it at an industrial scale by fooling uninformed but good hearted people by giving those crumbs and preaching them to abuse Hindu culture to prove the worthiness of Christianity is an issue. The whole North-East insurgency is directly linked to Christian-Missionary activities. Additionally the writer is well advised to read about the views of Ambedkar & Gandhi on Christian missionary activities.

3. On the question of whether Hinduism was also proselyted or not. It is not in the culture of a Hindus to slit the throats of people belonging to other cultures either because they have not converted or did not agree with Hinduism. The bloody history of Christianity is an open secret and is there for all of us to see. We have had Popes splitting the world in to two giving one part to Portuguese and the other to Spain as if they have inherited it from their grandfathers. Hindus believed in global commons. Long before the world knew who Jesus was we have had a thriving civilization in India which is still on.

4. On Hinduism's spread in South East Asia - People have voluntarily accepted Hinduism. Nobody was slaughtered to accept Hinduism.

5. The emergence of Buddhism only proves the Liberal qualities of Hinduism. For Hindus Buddha is another yogi, another rishi who attained salvation. There are hundreds of such accomplished yogis in Hindu culture. Hinduism is a religion of thousand prophets. Hindus have never felt the need to go around lying and giving money & other allurements to convert a poor guy in to Hinduism for the purposes of political control. Another advise for the writer is to know how Adi Shankara brought India from Buddhism to Hindu fold with out raising a finger, but through debates and arguments.

6. In post-colonial world Christianity is a tool to spread Imperialism. Its only business is Political Power. Hence it assists in the spread of imperialism in a benign way as the papacy believes that it cannot hold inquisitions or slaughter millions just like it did in USA for the purposes of conversion any more.

7. Hindutva is only a reaction to the murderous activities of missionaries, be it Christianity or Islam. It urges Hindus to organize politically so as to save themselves from the cheap tricks of Christian missionaries and Islamists.