New Delhi: The week opened with a bold assertion from an opinion piece in the Global Times that claimed, as the title stated, ‘India’s diplomacy has a ‘S. Jaishankar problem’’.
The English version of the story appears to have been pulled down within hours of its ranking in the “most viewed” section. In the now-deleted article, Wang Daming—an international relations expert, according to the byline — claimed that, despite public and political consensus in that direction, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar is not in favour of improving ties with China.
The EAM’s diplomacy might have won him some “fans”, Wang claims, but his strategies and tactics were “full of tricks — they had neither the moral sense of Jawaharlal Nehru’s diplomacy nor the ethic sense of Indira Gandhi’s diplomacy”.
While it is not surprising that it was taken down, it is surprising that the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper ran the opinion piece in the first place. It reveals some barely concealed displeasure with, what the establishment clearly perceives to be, a double standard between India’s messaging and policy.
It blamed Jaishankar as the reason for the mismatch. The Chinese version of the article still appears to be available.
India, the article noted, has been “signalling adjustments” in its relationship with China. From the media to public and political opinion, there seems to be support for the idea that India, for its best interests, should pursue greater economic contact with China. Two bilateral meetings within a month of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs, on July 31 and August 29, also signalled a different kind of foreign relations momentum, it said.
It is against this backdrop that Jaishankar made “rather shocking remarks” on August 31 at the World Leaders Forum, where he claimed that not only was there a “general China problem,” but that “India has a China problem”. Here, Wang noted that by casting China as the “bad guy”, Jaishankar has ulterior motives.
“As minister of external affairs, Jaishankar’s priority seems not to be national interests,” the piece says, offering two reasons for his alleged “anti-China” stance.
Furthering India-China ties would, firstly, suggest that the Jaishankar’s diplomatic strategy over the past four years “might have been flawed”, and, secondly, “could displease Washington”. He has inadvertently “revealed his complex feelings of envy, jealousy and hate toward China” too, the expert alleged.
It also claimed that China experts, like Jaishankar, lack a “true understanding of China” and show that they don’t have a grasp on “India’s fundamental national conditions and interests”.
Saying that India had put its “Bangladeshi eggs” in a “Hasina-shaped basket”, it alleges that India’s “arrogance”, its desire to “assert its influence over smaller states in South Asia”, and “the BJP’s toxic use of religious nationalism” are stumbling blocks in ties with Dhaka.
“Rabid social media cadres” trained to “hate Muslims regardless of their country of origin’s ties with India,” have been making matters worse by spreading misinformation and vitriol, Khuhro claims.
This has given rise to a feeling of resentment against India among Bangladeshis. Citing the examples of Maldives and Nepal, which have also run afoul of New Delhi, the opinion piece is clear, calling on the Indian leadership to recognise that “while hate and derision may provide domestic dividends, they are not effective foreign policy tools”.
The New York Times continues its coverage of Islamophobia in India with a report titled ‘Cow Vigilantes’ Have India’s Muslims on Edge. In the article, journalists Anupreeta Das and Hari Kumar, claim that “how sectarian violence remains a serious problem”, citing a series of attacks on Muslims by Hindus tallied by human rights organisations and the newspaper.
While “religious violence is not rare in India” where many religious minorities coexist (“sometimes uneasily”), the report claims that “Muslims have increasingly become a target for hard-line Hindu groups affiliated with his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s) Bharatiya Janata Party”.
But it also notes how Aryan Mishra, a 19-year-old upper-caste Hindu who was killed in Haryana, was caught in the agenda of overzealous gau rakshaks. It quotes the Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) saying it’s important that “Hindus abide by the same laws governing all Indian citizens”.
In a comment piece in The Guardian, Indian historian and essayist Mukul Kesavan delivers a warning titled India is witnessing the slow-motion rise of fascism. It discusses how the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological arm of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has drawn lessons from the Nazis in Germany.
“If we focus, not on the breakneck speed of this (Nazi) political project, but its consistent goal—majoritarian supremacy through the subordination of dehumanised minorities—naming its lineal descendants becomes easier”, Kesavan writes, alleging that majoritarianism in South Asia is that fascism, but “in slow motion”.
There are of course caveats. “To look for a Weimar-like collapse in modern India is silly,” writes Kesavan. “India is a subcontinental republic with a flawed but embedded democratic system; reconstituting it into a supremacist Hindu nation will be a drawn-out affair. The last general election is a sign that it might never come to pass.”
However, the “steadfast, sinister” obsession with minorities means the rot has already set in. “That smell of sulphur is fascism in the air,” writes Kesavan.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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As this article Global media is
1. Venerated Global Times, the objective mouthpiece of Chinese communist party
2. Dawn, from the great liberal paradise Pakistan
3. New York Times and The Guardian, the news papers known for having no political agenda 😉
! Never mind what’s happening to Nupur Sharma or jehadis killing ppl over whatsapp posts. In a population of 140 cr 2-3 idiot gai rakshak are terrorising 15 cr ppl !
The Print editorial staff can have it’s political preference but cmon guys don’t be so transparent. At least pretend to be a newspaper.
Oh no, fascism is in the air in India and due to the monsoon winds blowing across the plains , a weird phenomenon is being observed wherein the fascist winds in India are being carried over from India to Bangladesh and such winds are inevitably causing Bangladeshi Muslims to attack Hindus of Bangladesh. Damn those fascist winds of India. Peaceful Bangladeshis are just at whims of nature. Poor Jamaat e Islami fascists were never fascists to begin with. Blame the fascist winds of India. Oh the whitewashing is so abhorrent !
I’m suggesting the print to search what happened to the country’s that tries to maintain distance from New Delhi.
Sri Lanka:- deep economic crises, have to lease Colombo port to Chinese
Nepal:- daily political turmoil, every year new pm or president
Pakistan:- no words for this shit hole
Maldives:- moddies downgrade ratings to junk. Foreign currency only for two weeks. Muizu crying daily that someone trying to topple his govt.
Now Bangladesh wait and watch
The sad and unfortunate part is the fact that Ms. Anupreeta Das (presumably a Bengali), Mr. Hari Kumar and Mr. Mukul Kesavan are all Hindus. They may or may not be practicing Hindus but they, most certainly, were born to Hindu parents.
This is the tragedy of Hinduism – divided and beset with infighting.
The world accusing India of “democratic backsliding” and “fascism” is one thing. But fellow Hindus betraying the nation and the religion by playing along is disappointing and disturbing.
One can only hope that Hindus would learn from the mistakes committed over the last 1000 years and put up a solid united front against the marauding Islamic forces.