Politics has an insidious relationship with vultures, though the birds may be fighting extinction while politicians continue to thrive and multiply. Soldiers coming home in body bags have always made the politician’s heartbeat race faster. George Bush’s popularity went north after the US invaded Afghanistan. Indira Gandhi became India’s warrior queen after the 1971 Indo-Pak War and was even given the sobriquet of ‘Durga’ by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
But the bodies of the war dead—even those who perish in secret wars—are sacred mementos of patriotism. Like that of the Knights Templar, they have a special place in popular mythos. Sarabjit came home in a coffin, late last week. Whether he was an Indian intelligence agent or simply a drunk villager who wandered into Pakistani territory and was framed for the Lahore blasts, is immaterial. He was an Indian. The minority politics of the Congress jeopardised all efforts to get him released.
But once the man was murdered in the Lahore jail, and his body brought home, the vultures began to gather. The Congress, facing 2014 General Elections obviously wants to avoid being routed in Punjab, as it was during the state elections. The UPA government rushed Preneet Kaur—the wife of Amarinder Singh, a royal and former Congress chief minister—to the Amritsar airport to show solidarity with Sarabjit’s family. Not to be outdone, Akali leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal landed up, too, along with a regiment of Akali politicians. Both sides quarrelled about who would ride in the helicopter that would carry Sarabjit’s body to Bhikhiwind village, where he was born. The helicopter’s passenger list was a matter of contention, and the Congress got six seats and the Akalis two—which may not reflect the number of seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The dead man’s family couldn’t even accompany him on his last journey—they followed in another helicopter.
Sarabjit was an Indian, and deserved protection and every effort by the government to free him. If he was an intelligence agent, doubly so, because he was doing a perilous job within a hostile nation. Indian intelligence agents in Pakistan have repeatedly been let down by the government. Servile peacenik I K Gujral dismantled the entire RAW network in Pakistan, placing hundreds of lives of assets at risk. If he hadn’t, the Mumbai attacks may not have happened. According to a retired spymaster, Indian intelligence was so feared by Pakistan that in the mid-1990s, the ISI chief called the RAW boss for an unprecedented meeting to scale down hostile operations. Sadly, it is no longer as feared, and is caught in the conspiracies between its political masters. One of the military’s best intelligence divisions—the Technical Services Division—was dismantled over the politics surrounding former army chief general V K Singh.
After Jawaharlal Nehru, who lost India two wars and ceded swathes of territory to the enemy, Manmohan Singh is the most infirm prime minister in history. Indian diplomacy is like a paper tiger in a circus. Bangladesh is arm-twisting India on Teesta and territory exchange. China has outmanoeuvred us in Sri Lanka. Pakistan humiliates us within our own country like Rehman Malik did, and makes our diplomats dance on peace talks. Manmohan Singh, in return, is willing to withdraw from Siachen. To prevent diplomatic confrontation, the government has ordered the Indian Army to stand down on the China border, following the occupation of Depsang, 19 km deep into Indian territory. We don’t have the nerve to retaliate by hitting China where it hurts the most—by imposing an economic embargo.
A joke is going around South Block. Sonia Gandhi sends Manmohan an SMS: “Please send me a joke. I’m bored.” Manmohan texts back. “I’m busy holding important meetings and taking crucial decisions.” Sonia texts back. “Good one. Send me more.” But it’s no joke that Manmohan Singh government has turned Sarabjit’s tragedy into a farce.
Ravi@newindianexpress.com
