Did Indira Gandhi create Bangladesh to win an election? No, she just won the election. For every national security action, there will be domestic repercussions. The Kargil war was fought under a caretaker government. The Pulwama attack happened on the cusp of an election. Yes, the Modi government attempted surgical strikes but did the strikes alter Pakistan’s behaviour? The other important question is: Was the Modi government trying to address a domestic audience or trying to bring about a qualitative change in the security situation? To my mind, the Modi government has fallen between these two stools.Īre you saying then that the Uri and Balakot strikes were aimed at the domestic audience? I have raised the question of why there was no kinetic response by the Manmohan Singh government after the barbaric Mumbai attacks in 2008. To me, the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. To be more precise, who has handled national security better, Modi or Manmohan Singh? In terms of trying to get peace, neither has succeeded. Both NDA and UPA have tried to manage the challenges from Pakistan and China in different ways. In the case of Pakistan, the Modi-led NDA did initiate forward-leaning measures through the Uri and Balakot strikes but the jury is still out on whether Pakistan has changed its behaviour whether it has stopped deploying non-state actors. Who has fared better on the security front: UPA or NDA? You have looked at flashpoints over 20 years. Vis-a-vis Pakistan, the optics suggests that the government has been aggressive but the hard question it should ask itself is: Has there been a change in Pakistan’s strategy to use non-state actors? The answer is, no. If you look at what the PLA is doing, and the increased weaponisation of the cyber domain, it is clear that India is dealing with new challenges on the security front challenges we still don’t have a response to. Substantive changes have taken place over the last two decades, and India is now not only looking at how to deal with hijackings and non-state actors. The Modi government certainly believes it does - It has authored two surgical strikes against Pakistan. You write in the book that the country does not have a national security doctrine. In an interview with Harinder Baweja, he speaks about the surgical strikes, the Mumbai attacks, and the UPA and NDA’s handling of security issues. Congress parliamentarian and former minister, Manish Tewari, has caused a stir with his book, 10 Flashpoints, 20 Years: National Security Situations that have Impacted India.
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