Controversy

Indian diplomatic challenge – Iran vs. the US, and the pressure on the Government

The Indian Government would have wanted to roll back the dice of time a few years back on many fronts; there was no global recession, growth rate was fine, and there was only the nightmare of Pakistan to deal with. By now, even Manmohan Singh has stopped talking about a romantic relationship with Pakistan, with the realization that the country will keep on implementing policies that are against India, and given its nuclear weapons, no threat will actually make an impact. The relationship of India with both Iran and Israel was fine, with defense and security linkages between India and the Jewish state setting the ground for increased economic partnerships.
The collision between the 2 Asian countries has only been increasing over the past several years, and so far India has stayed out of the fray. The tension between these 2 countries has been stoked by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has criticized the Israeli state at frequent intervals and supported Hezbollah and Hamas (who are deadly enemies of Israel). In addition, the attempts by Iran to attain nuclear enabled status have drawn international condemnation and a huge chorus of attempts by Western countries, primarily driven by the United States.
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BJP – It competes with the Congress in lowering its public opinion

The BJP seeks to portray itself as a credible alternative to the Congress in large chunks of the country (but cannot really match the Congress in the breadth of coverage all over the country where it is politically relevant). For that purpose, the BJP seeks to show itself as a non-dynastic and non-corrupt party, a party to look upto. However, events keep on happening that show the BJP in a bad way, and which depict the party as a party that is like any other party. The corruption shown by the party in the important southern state of Karnataka ended up tarnishing the image of the party all over India, and gave all the other parties a strong factor to push the party down. Similarly, the impression of corruption in the party affected the Government in the northern state of Uttarakhand, where the party had to remove the Chief Minister and bring in Khanduri, as a last ditch effort to try and restore some of the reputation of the party before the elections. And dissension is something that is worrying the party in all the states where it is in power (and in many other states as well where it would have liked to present a united front in order to wrest power in these states).
Another such episode happened recently in the state of Karnataka. The state has been in the news for several acts of moral strictness, where there has been a push against any kind of immoral act. This included even innocent events where couples would have gathered for Valentine’s Day, or in parks, etc. And of course, this includes other ‘amoral’ stuff as dancing in pubs, or having dancers in bars; there were even comments by one of the Government ministers that since women do not dress properly, they incite rape attempts on them. When attacks on couples or people indulging in any of these ‘amoral’ activities are carried out, the Government does not respond to the safety of citizens.
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More discussion about the Batla House encounter – the Trinamool Congress raises the question again ..

Ever since the time for elections come up, one can be sure that the Batla House encounter will come up. And you can be sure that Digvijay Singh will be somewhere in the frame, since he is apparently the appointed politician in the Congress who will raise the issues that are supposed to appeal to Muslims – not the issues that related to development and how to increase the economic condition of the community (since even when he was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, he was never accused of being good on the development angle front), but more about the emotional issues, about showcasing how other parties don’t care for the Muslims, and only the Congress can appeal to the Muslims. So when it comes to issues such as the apparent injustice to Osama Bin Ladenji (his statement) or the Batla House encounter, it is Digvijay Singh who is in the front.
Now, there is a genuine sense of hurt in the community. At the time that the Batla House encounter had taken place, there had been blasts which were created by a group named as Indian Mujahideen, and the Batla House encounter was treated as a breakthrough, which killed some of the members of the group, and also led to the death of a celebrated police official. During this time as well, the police took some short-cuts, arresting some members of the Muslim community (and the media started treating the Uttar Pradesh locality of Azamgarh as a terrorist creating place); both of these actions were not justified. Many of those arrested were not involved, and were released after the courts intervened and the police had no evidence to justify the continued arrest of these.
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