Turning point in Kashmir ** 79

Blood and Iron
In a speech delivered in the Prussian Landtag ( Parliament ) in 1862, the great future Chancellor of Germany, Bismarck, said " the great issues of the day will not be decided by votes and speeches but by blood and iron ( blut und essen ) ". He said this when the Landtag members were opposing his request to increase the grants to the military which he needed for unification of Germany.

A similar thing can be said about current developments in India, which beg...inning from Kashmir are likely to spread to,other parts of the country too. 

The speech makers

For most of the period after Independence in 1947 politics in India was largely governed by votes and speeches ( though there were some sporadic violent incidents too ). The 'giants' in our national scene were people who could give attractive and seductive speeches about how they would serve the people if elected, but behind the scene indulged in their field of expertise of manipulating caste and communal vote banks, and looting the nation.

But now after almost 70 years something fundamental has changed in India, these ' giants' have been exposed as paper tigers, and it has started from Kashmir. The era of ' blood and iron ' has arrived in India, and is going to rapidly replace the era of ' votes and speeches '.

Leaders with legs of clay

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, ex Chief Minister Omar Abdulla, PDP member Mehboob Beg, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, J&K Congress Chief G.M. Mir, National Conference spokesman Nasir Aslam Wani, and even the Prime Minister have all been making fatuous appeals for peace, which have all fallen on deaf ears in Kashmir.. Mehbooba Mufti, like a rat cornered by prowling ravenous tomcats, made a pitiful appeal ' for one last chance ', but who listens to her ?

All these people do not understand the forces at work in Kashmir, and therefore, like King Canute, are trying to push back the oceanic waves. But like an actor who refuses to leave the stage although his role is over, they will soon be pushed out by forces beyond their control.

I am reminded of Napoleon, who was very powerful at one time ( he used to confer crowns on his favourites like a Roman Emperor distributing coins to the populace ), but on reaching Moscow in September 1812 realized that most of his power had gone ( see Tolstoy's ' War and Peace ' ), and he ultimately ended up in St. Helena. 

As Shakespeare said in ' King Lear ' : " As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for sport ".

And as Omar Khayyam said in his Rubaiyats :
" They say the lions and the lizards keep the Court where Jamshed gloried and drank deep
And Behram that mighty hunter, the wild ass stamps over his head, but cannot break his sleep "

Now that the era of blood and iron is dawning in India, beginning from Kashmir, we will witness a rapid, qualitative, change in our politics. All our great netas will be thrown into the dustbin.

The True Face of Modi: Is he just another Politician?

Narendra Modi is often compared to Jwaharlal Nehru. He is supposed to be making a similar impact. But it must be rememebred that Nehru committed some cardinal blunders and these have been the proverbial thorn in the indian throat. Firstly he created the linguistic states which in fact sowed the seeds of regionalism. He also left behind the Kashmir problem and the border dispute with China. Worse he downgraded the professional indian army and reduced india's to a second rate power in asia behind China and just having parity with pakistan.

What about Modi ? He is doing great in his foreign policy and earning brownie points for it. But like Nehru he must not forget that all talk of a great power is dependent on military might. How much is Modi aware of this? Has he studied mao's famous dictum" Political power comes out of the barrell of a gun"?. It appears Modi is committing similar mistakes by downgrading the army status and not equating it with the other civil services. a point is that OROP which is already there in the IAs is not approved for the forces. Even the saunction of salary as per the fitment scale is paid to sevices from 2013, while civil have been paid from 2006. The matter is now in court. Modi talks of OROP as dear to his heart, but it looks an eye wash. Modi also made promises of black money. i am afraid Modi will complete his tenure and no black money will come back to India. how will he get it back when the foreign nations will not give teh details. Why should they? This money bolsters their economy and they will not cut their own feet. Modi is thus just again as a shrewd politician folling the masses. Lastly a leader's personal life should be an open book. In case of Modi it is a big black dot. He deserted his wie and now she moves in a cycle rikshaw while Modi travels in a Mercedes. He never divorced her and that is is another blot on his life. A leader who is dishonest in his personal life, how can he be a role model for the Indian youth. I hve raised some points for discusion.Modi may still prove me wrong and rise above Nehru, but that will require a herculean effort and an appreciaition that a the status of a nation is dependent on military might.