The newly released Congress manifesto has come under fire for its seeming pusillanimity on issues of national security. Finance minister Arun Jaitley called the manifesto “positively dangerous”, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was a “document of Pakistan’s conspiracies”.
An NGO’s dream come true (and if rumours are to be believed, drafted by the same NGO-types), the Congress manifesto promises amendments to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, and the Code of Criminal Procedure so that bail becomes the default mode for crimes rather than pre-trial incarceration.
Obviously, the BJP has jumped in on this and used it as proof of the Congress’ weak security credentials, although the reality is far more complex.
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Not just in India, but across the world, the Left is seen as weak on national security and the Right as strong, sometimes contrary to facts. In Israel, it is said that “the Left can’t make peace and the Right can’t make war”. This is an allusion to the fact that the Left political parties there, being seen as peaceniks, get a free ticket to pursue aggressive military action. The Right, nursing a reputation for military bellicosity, gets far more wriggle room than the Left ever would in peace negotiations, but faces immediate international censure for military actions. This is a pathology that one sees across the globe, including the US.
Let’s be clear about the fact that the Congress in India is no spring chicken and tends to be far more ruthless on internal and external security than the BJP. To date, no Congress government has ever attempted to dilute the AFSPA. The party has introduced a slew of draconian internal security legislation (such as the TADA or the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act) and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), but only when the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act had been strengthened considerably to make the POTA redundant.
The Congress set up the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and made changes to the Evidence Act as well when it was in power.
One can safely say that in hindsight, India’s response to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was one the of most significant security policy thrusts of the country in the last 20 years. There were even talks that India had purportedly riled up Pakistan’s Baloch insurgents post the attacks (a policy the NDA foolishly abandoned in 2014). Although former home minister P. Chidambaram had denied it later.
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In fact, former PM Manmohan Singh’s policy of conventional military restraint in the wake of 26/11 gave India much-needed international leverage to go berserk on covert operations. It did this by getting international political support in restraining Pakistan, and ended up bogging down the Pakistani military in a manpower and resource-intensive military operation for almost 10 years. Even in person, I have found Congress leaders to be far more aggressive on national security than their BJP counterparts. Congress leaders have a far greater understanding of the tools of state power and its second and third order effects.
So, why then does the Congress have such an ill-deserved reputation on national security? My hypothesis is two-fold.
First, it can be deliberate, not from the electoral point of view (and to me, it was revealing that this was not an electoral issue for the Congress but a security policy one) but much like Singh’s 26/11 response, which was meant to cultivate a “peaceful image” internationally, allowing the Congress governments to get away with a lot more.
The second, more recent (and worrying) factor is the fact that the Congress may have become weak, internalising a European social democrat outlook on national security that is hopelessly incompatible with India. This second factor is much more visible in the younger leaders of the party, and is potentially toxic given their unwillingness to listen to the sage advice of the old guard, compounded by a lack of experience (and hence a lack of understanding of the limitations of state powers).
To test these two hypotheses, I decided to talk to a few Congress leaders, specifically on the issue of AFSPA.
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The senior leaders were crystal clear in their thoughts that AFSPA had two effects: the desirable and the undesirable. The desirable effect was the shielding of the armed forces from scapegoating and frivolous litigation. The undesirable effect was the corrosion of character (read corruption and human rights abuses, which usually leads to criminality in one form or the other) that such a shield enabled.
The party seniors were clear that the protections of the AFSPA could be migrated onto other legislation, which would end up providing the same level of shielding. They were equally clear that the negatives of the AFSPA could be mitigated by technology measures like helmet cams, that would act as a guard against scapegoating and legal harassment. As one leader said with a deliciously evil smirk on his face, “Do you think I am Irom Sharmila? Do you know how many votes she got?” On the other hand, some of the younger leaders (not all) betrayed a near total lack of knowledge of the problem and the issues involved.
Their reference points were the first world countries and international laws rather than domestic reality. Although even in the younger set, a disproportionate number were hard-nosed. In short, the problem isn’t with the Congress, it’s with its president, Rahul Gandhi.
The problem seems to be one of messaging and disconnect between Rahul Gandhi and his own party. There is a fine line between being Left-liberal and being an NGO, and unfortunately, Rahul Gandhi does not seem to understand this distinction unlike many in his party who do. The credibility deficit seems to be coming up, because if this power equation translates into a government, it won’t be the old foxes of the Congress running the show, but the inexperienced young activists.
However, the selection of Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath as chief ministers gives hope that this may not be the case. So, is the problem only Rahul Gandhi then? Or are we concocting a problem where none exists?
The author is a senior fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He tweets @iyervval
This reads like a compliment to the Scamgress behind the disguise of the headline. An attempt to poll select party members is to gauge policy idiosyncracies when their system of governance going forward is delineated in their manifesto. Yes the Scamgress is systemically weak in national security issues as we have seen post 26/11 and Parliament Attack. They are recalcitrant as with pursuit the ASAT program – cited my ex ISRO chief Mahadevan. The list goes on. If there is no 10% cut to be made, the Scamgress is not interested, period. eg.Coal, 2g spectrum, Aircel Maxxis, Commonwealth Games, AgustaWestland, INXS Media,AI+IA merger & 111 plane purchase, P-notes /offshore, endless Vadra-gate, National Herald, Bofors, Union Carbide- Anderson escape…, endless list really.
The theory propounded by the author and its proof, both are from congress’ view point..raising or creating few organisations vis a vis having a policy are two different things..be that may be, even if the theory is correct, Shri RaGa is a bad choice to bring them to people, as he is neither articulate nor has the grasp of issues..He is single handedly doing more damage to INC than whole BJP apparatus..sadly he is thrust upon INC, which unfortunately is INC’s own doing..It will do some good if INC looks for leaders beyond Gandhis…it’s sad to see INC going down like this..
Dynastic politics itself is a retrogrative in the Indian context… The family in power in the States or at the Centre is amassing wealth beyond comparison vis-a-vis Western countries….. The grand old party has really become old and needs to be phased out…. For example, why Khongress could not construct it’s HQ despite being in power for 10 long years and allotting space for the same as per Supreme Court orders bcoz everyone is amassing wealth for himself/herself and not for the party…… Whereas BJP has also got donation but for the party purposes and not for individuals….. It’s the case during NDA-I and NDA-II also….
No reason at all why AFSPA should protect sexual violence against women in disturbed areas. I think this whole mythology of being “ tough, muscular “ on issues of national security is becoming very tiresome. Go by the facts and figures, see how dismal the outcomes have been.
This is such a crap article especially coming from a ‘specialist’. Policies aside, can the ‘specialist’ explain why if the Congress is so tough on internal and external security, there used to be regular bombings in India during UPA 1 & 2? Was the proposal to give away Siachen as a peace gesture to Pakistan, part of cultivating a ‘peaceful image’? And cultivating a peaceful image for what? When did India have international support in its war against terror like it has now?
Your observation on “regular bombings in India under UPA 1 & 2” is spot on.
In fact these bombings blamed on Indian Mujahiden, SIMI, etc were so regular one wondered whether the govt of the day was willing to do anything to prevent it.
Not surprisingly 26/11 happened because of this paralysis.
I have read a few articles of this particular author. I respect his views since they are based on facts & evidence and they are interpreted rationally. Most youth in this country know for a fact that Rahul Gandhi and his young, sycophantic coterie, who are Western educated, lived their lives in Western countries and have not yet won an election in India, do not understand nor represent the reality of India.
With each and every idea that Rahul Gandhi comes without explaining how he will go about it, the educated youth and middle class (who will bear the burden of his idiotic promises) will just push him, his family and his party into the abyss.
If the Congress disappears in the future, the blame will lie entirely with Rahul Gandhi and his coterie.