It is hard for an ordinary U.S. citizen to cope with the foxy political moves of India’s rulers. A statement issued this week by India’s home minister, S.B. Chavan, attacking USA for casting an evil eye on Kashmir, may lend itself to many interpretations. The minister made the statement in the upper house of India’s parliament. “I have no hesitation in saying that the recent history shows that it is not just Pakistan but America, too, who has evil designs on Kashmir. The USA is responsible for the trouble in Kashmir. That country is trying to get a foothold in Kashmir.” The most plausible aspect of Chavan’s statement is that he is making it in a deliberate manner and not just casually, though Chavan evaded the opposition panics’ point whether he was expressing the Indian government’s views on the subject. He merely stated that his views were being made in a responsible manner. What really could be the minister and his mentor up to? It is not for the first time that Chavan has spoken against the USA. However, it is perhaps the first occasion that the Indian minister has attacked the USA in a frontal manner. Not long ago, Prime Minister Rao had let it be known that S.B. Chavan would be his choice for his successor. Again, S.B. Chavan, reportedly on Rao’s signal, attended fascist Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thakrey’s birthday party at Bombay. Only this week, Chavan continued with his unusual initiatives and went over to participate in the celebrations organized by the BJP chief minister Madan Lal Khurana on completing two years of BJP’s rule in the Indian capital. The culmination came in the minister’s statement on the USA’s alleged responsibility for the trouble in Kashmir. It is clear that all the Chavan moves could not be without Rao’s consent. Rao himself had been carefully cultivating all these years his image as a supporter of a soft I lindutva or a Hindu state. One can easily recall the manner in which the Babri Masjid was destroyed three years ago. Subsequently, in Kashmir the destruction of Charar-e-Shrief had the obvious Rao touch. Chavan’s latest move is aimed at projecting the ruling party as a saviour of Kashmir from its Muslim majority. The Indian rulers have all these years been projecting Pakistan as a great danger to India. Through all these moves, the rulers arc. in effect, trying to appease their Hindu electoral constituency as the country moves closer to a general election likely in April. Chavan’s statement indicates that India’s ruling party is moving closer to the BJP rather than offering it any competition as was the practice during Nehru ‘s or even Indira’s time. It is entirely possible that the Chavan initiative is in reality Rao’s method of sending advance signals to the fascist BJP -Shiv Sena combine that they could safely work together in the post-poll scenario in India. The real target is nor the USA but the Indian Muslims merely to appease the Hindus.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 8, 1995
