DELHI THE HINDU 8 EDITORIAL TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The language of Pakistan India must guard against the type of politics that shaped, and continues to ruin, Pakistan a higher pitch. In October 2017, rence to the then military dictator ment of Muslims, which is other­ Congress leader P. Chidambaram of Pakistan. “Speak to Pakistan in wise impossible to establish. Con­ said in response to the appoint­ the language Pakistan under­ versely, Kashmir also becomes the Party and symbol ment of a new Government of In­ stands,” Mr. Modi said in 2013, site for the demonstration of the dia interlocutor for Jammu and when asked what he would have resolve of the ‘New India’ where Delhi HC order on ‘Two Leaves’ deepens Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma: “The done if he were the Prime Minister ‘appeasement’ is replaced with V arghese K. George T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s political dilemma demand in Kashmir Valley is to during the 2008 Mumbai terror brute show of strength. respect in letter and spirit Article attacks. he Delhi High Court verdict upholding the allot­ ur fight is for Kashmir, 370. And that means that they ‘Internal enemies’ ment of the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol to the AIADMK not against Kashmiris,” want greater autonomy… There­ Post­Pulwama air strikes The cries for revenge against ‘in­ Tjointly led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappa­ “OPrime Minister Narendra fore, I think we should seriously Last week’s military strike inside ternal enemies’ is getting louder di K. Palaniswami and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam Modi said at a Bharatiya Janata Par­ examine that question and consid­ Pakistan has been characterised and shriller, pushing the entire has come as no surprise. The Election Commission’s ty rally at Tonk in Rajasthan on Fe­ er on what areas we can give auto­ GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO by many as a clean break from the country to the edge. “India’s big­ November 23, 2017 order had ruled in its favour based bruary 23, which it now turns out nomy to Jammu and Kashmir.” Mr. that comes out only in campaign past. The real break from the past gest threat comes from its own in­ on the group’s majority in its organisational and legisla­ was setting the scene for the mili­ Modi responded: “Why are Con­ rhetoric. Jaswant Singh writes of came in 2014 itself when Mr. Modi visible internal enemies,” a Hindi tary strike inside Pakistan three gress leaders lending their voice to the India­Pakistan rivalry that Par­ called off a scheduled bilateral film director posted on Twitter tive wings. The claim of the faction headed by V.K. Sasi­ days later. The Indian strikes fol­ those who want azaadi in Kash­ tition “compartmentalised and meeting with Pakistan citing its along with a video clip of National kala, a confidante of the late Jayalalithaa, and her ne­ lowed a suicide terrorist attack mir? Congress is shamelessly using then tightly sealed the Hindu­Mus­ High Commissioner’s meeting Security Adviser Ajit Doval, in phew, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, to the party’s name and that killed 40 Central Reserve Pol­ the language that is used by sepa­ lim animosities; cementing fester­ with Kashmiri separatists, a rou­ which he makes the case that India symbol weakened after Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Pan­ ice Force personnel on February ratists in Kashmir and is spoken in ing grudges into near permanent tine affair. Mr. Modi overturned never lost to a foreign power un­ neerselvam, who were in rival factions earlier, decided 14 in Pulwama in Jammu and Kash­ Pakistan.” Mr. Modi’s statement hostilities; what was domestic Vajpayee’s Kashmir policy which less betrayed by internal enemies. to come together in August 2017. Since then, they have mir. The Jaish­e­Mohammad, a ji­ ended Mr. Sharma’s mission as (Hindu­Muslim) became interna­ had three components: empower A Delhi lawmaker, formerly of the consolidated their position by getting Mr. Dhinakaran’s hadi group that operates from Pa­ soon as it was announced and the tional (India­Pakistan).” regional mainstream parties, en­ Aam Aadmi Party and now a Modi kistan, claimed responsibility for former chief of the Intelligence Bu­ The Congress’s Pakistan policy gage the separatists, and involve supporter, circulated a video last loyalists among MLAs disqualified and outmanoeuvring the attack. reau is now cooling his heels. “in effect was only an extension of Pakistan. Mr. Modi shut Pakistan week, in which he asks Mr. Modi to him in both the party structure and in court cases. Mr. Modi spoke in some detail “If the BJP loses in Bihar by mis­ Congress’s Muslim appeasement out of the equation; disengaged deal with the enemies across the Their unity was forged with the common aim of keep­ to explain how violence against take, then victory­defeat will be in policy,” wrote A.B. Vajpayee in with the separatist groups; and has border while offering that people ing out Ms. Sasikala, who was briefly elected interim Kashmiris that erupted in other Bihar but crackers will be burst in 1973, only two years after the Ban­ constantly undermined the main­ would meanwhile deal with the general secretary of the AIADMK after Jayalalithaa’s parts of India could strengthen di­ Pakistan,” BJP president Amit gladesh war. When India’s Pakis­ stream parties in the State, namely traitors inside. YouTube has since death in December 2016, and her nephew. The court visive forces, but the same speech Shah had said during the 2015 As­ tan policy is understood only as the Peoples Democratic Party and removed the video, but the law­ has ruled that the EC was well within its powers to ap­ had another statement that sembly election campaign in the “appeasement” of Indian Mus­ the National Conference, in the maker has found support on social showed where the edge of his pol­ State. If that insinuation is not self­ lims, one Hindutva leader thought last five years. A principle that the media. “Deal with them right now, ply the majority test and allot the symbol to the faction itics is. “I regret how some people explanatory, Mr. Modi went a step the best way to reach out to Indian current government has followed the mood in the country is suita­ that had more members in the general council and in its who live in India continue to speak ahead in the 2017 Gujarat cam­ Muslims was to appease Pakistan. in faith and the practice is that ble,” a ‘spiritual guru’ told a prime complement of MLAs and MPs. The court did not enter­ the language of Pakistan,” he said. paign: “Pakistan’s former army di­ That led to L.K. Advani travelling there is nothing to be negotiated time anchor who helpfully asked tain arguments that the Commission should have ruled It is this pronouncement of the rector general Arshad Rafiq said all the way to Karachi and praising with anyone in Kashmir or about what is to be done with those who against the Panneerselvam­Palaniswami faction be­ Prime Minister that has caught on that in Gujarat, Ahmed Patel [pol­ Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 2005. Kashmir with anyone, least of all are against India. cause it had changed the party’s basic structure by following the Indian air strikes. On itical secretary to then­Congress That move, however, boome­ Pakistan. Anyone suggesting This level of intolerance and call abolishing the post of general secretary; and the con­ Sunday in Patna, he accused all president Sonia Gandhi] should be ranged, set him on the downslide anything out of line with this is ac­ for mindless violence, fuelled by Opposition parties and profession­ made the Chief Minister.” He went and paved the way for the launch cused of talking the language of religious majoritarianism, and tention that the Commission’s order was vitiated by als who have raised questions re­ on to accuse his predecessor, Man­ of his loyalist, Mr. Modi, who Pakistan. calls to cleanse the nation of inter­ malice because it granted additional opportunities for garding India’s Pakistan and Kash­ mohan Singh, and the Opposition would displace him as the more If Pakistan is projected as repre­ nal enemies are indeed the lan­ filing affidavits, after which many reneged on their ear­ mir policy of helping Pakistan. Congress party of being in collu­ authentic bearer of the Hindutva senting the internal and external guage that first shaped but conti­ lier statements on which group they belonged to. sion with Pakistan to make an In­ mantle. threats to the nation, Kashmir be­ nues to ruin Pakistan. Prime The Dhinakaran faction has decided to appeal in the A fifth column? dian Muslim the State’s Chief Mi­ Mr. Modi made Pakistan a leit­ comes the location of Hindu vic­ Minister Modi is right — it is a mat­ Supreme Court against the order that has set back his ‘People who live in India but are nister. motif for Hindutva mobilisation in timhood, an essential component ter of grave concern; a lynch mob political fortunes. At the same time, it wants a common loyal to Pakistan’, a fifth column According to the notion of citi­ which the idea of an external ene­ of Hindutva mobilisation. The might just succeed where the sui­ symbol to contest elections. Mr. Dhinakaran himself that threatens the nation, has been zenship and territory in what may my and an internal alien fuses into massive violence and disposses­ cide bomber has repeatedly failed. a recurring allusion in Sangh Pari­ be called the Hindutva Strategic a convenient ensemble. He per­ sion faced by the Hindus in the To turn India into a cauldron of won a by­election to the Assembly from the RK Nagar var politics.