What Would Gandhi Do About The India-Pakistan Conflict Today?

Not wholly in jest, I tell my friends that in today’s India, the Mahatma would be stoned to death for his views on Muslims and Pakistan.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

Besides outrage, I felt a twinge of fear and disquiet on hearing the news of the Pahalgam horror because I know from experience that every terrorist act instigates what has now become an ugly reflexive response from the citizenry. The fallout is that a particularly venomous section of Indians sees in such tragedies a godsend to paint Muslims as traitorous acolytes of Pakistan and backers of terrorism who deserve punishment. 

It’s been almost eight decades since Partition, but there has hardly been a let-up in the pathological distrust that separates Hindus and Muslims. In the last ten years, anti-Muslim sentiment has gone through the roof, amplified by the diabolical machinations of the party in power. Friction with Pakistan inevitably metamorphoses into persecution of Muslims. Sadly, the aftermath of Pahalgam panned out exactly in that manner.

As a society, we have plumbed to the depths of inhumanity. The young hairdresser who tends the few remaining strands on my pate is distraught that he and other Muslims living in the Masudpur dairy area are being pressured to leave the locality. Across the country, Hindutva gangs have been making life hell for the community. Nitish Rane, the infamous Maharashtra minister, has asked people to identify Muslims by asking them to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, and then boycott them and their wares. In Rajasthan, scores of Muslims have been rounded up on the grounds of being Bangladeshi. In Telangana, two branches of the iconic Karachi bakery that is owned by Hindus have been vandalised because of the Pakistani roots of the name.

Kashmiri students and workers are hounded and are fleeing to Kashmir.

In a brazen act of pointed discrimination, Delhi university has asked colleges to collect particulars of Kashmiri students. And the hellfire that Himanshi Narval is going through, only because she appealed against targeting Muslims and Kashmiris, should shame us all. This is not the Mahatma’s India.

Today, we live in an India configured by the Vishwaguru, who has been calling the shots for over a decade, that has not seen peace, justice, well-being or unity. While the opposition is rightly demanding accountability for the unpardonable security lapses, for me, Modi’s greatest failure in the traumatic days following the Pahalgam barbarity was his blunt refusal to address the issue of persecution of Muslims and Kashmiris. His deafening silence in the face of the wickedness of his stormtroopers is unpardonable but not surprising, considering that he has seized and retained power on the plank of ‘fixing’ the Muslim community.

The middle class personifies the worst of India – class-conscious, smug, cowardly and self-absorbed. And deeply communal. They are the WhatsApp goons – spewing hate and division from their safe havens, unashamed of the naked display of gross inhumanity to their fellow countrymen. They are tutored via the malicious outpourings of Godi media warriors and yet their TV programs capture the most eyeballs – a reflection of the hate-filled society we have become.

The catastrophe that I feared unfolded in the early hours of May 7, when the tough talking ‘ghar me ghuske maroonga’ prime minister let loose the dogs of war. India struck nine terror sites in Pakistan and PoK, using high-precision strike weapons. The defence minister made the fantastic claim that over 100 terrorists had been killed but no civilians. The very next day, Pakistan killed 15 Indian civilians along the Line of Control.

Contradicting India’s pious claim of killing only militants, international agencies have confirmed the deaths of women and children too. 

Politicians of all stripes urged extreme punitive measures without consideration of the costs. No one called for restraint and the need to use means other than war to teach Pakistan a lesson. The tiresomely glib Shashi Tharoor called for a ‘kinetic’ response targeting terrorist infrastructure. Donning the unsolicited role of Modi’s defence counsel, he has extenuated the inexcusable intelligence failure with the absurd argument that security is not omniscient and even Israel couldn’t stop the October 7 Hamas attack. 

The vicious cycle of violence lasted for a little over three days before a sudden ceasefire was brokered by the US. Better sense has prevailed and both countries have agreed to suspend hostilities after three days of a suicidal war for both sides. 

The stupid belief that we boss the show and that Pakistan is an inferior, defenceless target incapable of hitting back has been obliterated, though we hate to admit it. Our reticence to address the much reported  ‘ambush’ of the Rafale aircraft is telling. We have inflicted serious damage to Pakistan but have also suffered in no small measure. Yet the gaggle of self-designated experts, the bloodthirsty bigots and even former army generals are deeply critical of India’s decision to agree to a ceasefire at a pivotal moment when we apparently could have achieved something else.

Let’s speculate on what could have been achieved by carrying on with the killings and destruction. Would we have come close to achieving our far-fetched objectives of a) ending or crippling terrorism; b) wresting back PoK; and c) bringing Pakistan down to its knees?

The ultimate theorist in realpolitik, Machiavelli believed that “if an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” Contrary to what the hawks in our midst think, the undoubted greater military strength of India over Pakistan does not mean that we can impose our will on the rogue nation.  

We need to remember that the most vulnerable of people – the Palestinians, despite being abandoned by the international community have, for decades, resisted the brutal killing machine that is Israel. And in Pakistan we have an adversary that is a nuclear power, actively supported by China. Like Douglas Horton observed, “When seeking revenge, dig two graves – one for yourself!”  

Modi’s Kashmir policy lies in tatters. J&K, which has been sullenly hostile since the abrogation of Article 370 and diminution to Union territory status, needed to be treated with utmost sensitivity post-Pahalgam. Instead, the Union government went about demolishing the homes of those suspected of being in cahoots with terrorists and rounded up hundreds of Kashmiris under a wide-spectrum security scanner that did not seem to care about innocents.

The policy of repression and “let them hate so long as they fear” is playing into the hands of separatists and Pakistan. Clubbed with the persecution of Kashmiris in other parts of the country, Modi has stirred a lethal brew that has further alienated the Kashmiris. Jamuriyat(democracy), insaaniyat (humanity) and Kashmiriyat (spirit of Kashmir) are dead.

At this grim time, it’s only right that we look to our leaders from the past for inspiration and guidance. Sadly, our myopic society harks back to the days when the hawkish Indira Gandhi shooed off the bully, Richard Nixon, in1971. Why is it that at this dark hour we have not thought of Mahatma Gandhi? The unpalatable truth is that he would have approached the problem differently. Not wholly in jest, I tell my friends that in today’s India, the Mahatma would be stoned to death for his views on Muslims and Pakistan.

It’s critical to remember the Mahatma’s response to the Partition mayhem when both sides shot, stabbed and killed each other. Amidst the bloodletting and bitterness, when the Indian government in 1948 decided to withhold Pakistan’s share (Rs 55 crores) of the sterling balance that undivided India held at Independence, Gandhiji went on a fast till death and called it off only when the funds due to Pakistan were released. We need a similar leap of faith today and reach out to Pakistan and fight terrorism together.

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