As we eye Pakistan, our own house burns

Recently, Home Minister P Chidambaram admitted that the government has underestimated the threat from Naxalism. This startling confession, however, failed to move our politicians or the strategic community.

Hamlet and the Naxals

First and foremost, how could we collectively fail to appreciate the character of Naxal threat all these years despite its violent legacy and nature? Who is to blame for not realizing the true nature of this threat: our politicians, the civil servants or the strategic community at large?

We as a nation are used to blaming politicians and bureaucrats for everything that ails our system. But in this case, we need to put the blame squarely on our so-called strategic community. A community of pre-eminent and learned people who, however, do not have any accountability.

To begin with, it is rather difficult to define the Indian strategic community. Loosely speaking,  it comprises a group of a few retired government officials, academicians, think tanks and a few media specialists. We expect these people to analyse and educate not just the general population but also the policy makers on security issues. Most of them receive funding from various sources, including the government, to examine existing and future security challenges. In short,  they are expected to predict likely threats.

But are they really doing this, and if yes, are they being heard?

The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, because some of them have been warning about the enormity of the threat of naxalism for many years now, but they were never taken seriously by the policy makers. And no,  because those who are in a position to influence the government do not consider this threat sexy enough to attract their attention.

Who helps the Naxals?

In India everybody gets worried when Pakistani Taliban reaches some 100km away from Islamabad. Yet no one raises an eyebrow when the Naxals gather within striking distance of  many of our cities. We are most concerned about the Talibanization of SWAT valley and a few killings in Srinagar, but remain apathetic to the almost daily carnage being committed by the Naxals.  This does not mean the events in Pakistan are unimportant, but should they overshadow everything else?

In the North East,  the state has been fighting insurgency/terrorism for a long time. Reports say even government officials have to give in to the ransom demands from various insurgent groups. A large business house was said to be paying money to the ULFA to protect their business interests. Yet our strategic community failed to highlight these issues. The linkages between some of these insurgents and foreign countries are well known. Tomorrow if these groups decide to start attacking Indian cities the way the Pakistani Taliban had started doing, does India have a plan to tackle them? Has the Indian strategic community even thought along those lines?

The Indian strategic community seems to have endeared itself with various fanciful western ideas, while failing to forecast the real, India-specific threats. They are often found parroting various western names, concepts and theories, and seldom have an independent view. Our think tanks have become reactive in nature.

'Maoists have the power to implode India'

Take the case of the US Af-Pak policy. The Indian think tank community woke up only after Americans raised it, and started discussing it as if it had never existed earlier. Can we ever imagine a situation that an Indian policy community/think tank prepares an India-centric document similar to the American Af-Pak policy, and the rest of the world sits up to discuss it?

Today, it also appears that the national security agenda is being set up by the electronic media. The increasing fixation of the people towards the electronic media could also be one reason for this. However, how can one allow the security ‘discourse' being set by people who cover Kareena Kapoor to Kashmir in same breath?

It is important to understand that the Pakistan-obsession gets maximum viewership,  and the media thus is unlikely to focus or stress on other important national security issues. It is for the political class and the strategic community to decide whether to get carried away by that two minutes of fame and get trapped by the TRP dominated agenda of the television channels,  or to think differently.

Special: Red Terror

It is important to understand that the major threats likely to be faced by India in years to come would be non-military ones, like insurgency/terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics and climate change. The recent scare of a bad monsoon clearly reiterates that the so called rise of India is delicately balanced on various factors,  and minor hiccups here and there could spoil the dream.

Regrettably, since the Indo-US nuclear deal issue came up on horizon,  the Indian strategic community has been divided into pro and anti-US camps. It is time they rejoined the pro-India camp.

If the government was unaware of  the threat of naxalism for all these years, it is because the strategic community failed to raise it. On the pretext of thinking outside the box,  it appears that they have forgotten even to look within the box.  

If things don't change soon, they are likely to be relegated to the ranks of the Page 3 Club,  only interested in seminars, free lunches, foreign tours and partying at embassies.           

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