BJP, PDP ARE ACTING OUT AN ANCIENT SCRIPT
Strange as it may seem, some of the wisest things have been said before. When that is the case they’ve also been best expressed on the earlier occasion. An excellent example is a famous sentence from William Congreve’s play, The Mourning Bride, written in 1697: “Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d, nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn’d”.
Now, doesn’t this aptly describe the way the BJP and the PDP are behaving? After their dramatic falling apart, they’ve turned on each other with the viciousness Congreve described in the days when a Dutch King last sat on the throne of England.
Let’s start with Amit Shah. He’s concocted a litany of charges stretching from the foolish and farcical to the exaggerated and incredible.
Thus, Mehbooba Mufti’s government was guilty of “discriminating” against Jammu and Ladakh whilst her family is accused of possessing “personal wealth” equivalent to the “entire state”. Proof of the first charge is failure to complete an AIIMS in Jammu or establish a functioning IIM, delaying Jammu’s smart city status, not giving ST status to Gujjars and Bakarwals, not spending the full amount allocated for refugee relief and failing to rehabilitate Kashmiri pundits. As far as I can tell, he offered no evidence of the second charge but still made it with exaggerated flourish.
Isn’t this a perfect example of “Heav’n has no Rage like Love to Hatred turn’d”? Incidentally, if you’d heard Shah’s speech, his anger was more than just rhetoric. It was pure wrath.
So far Mufti hasn’t retaliated with ‘hellish’ fury. But that could change because she is undoubtedly “a woman scorn’d”. Also, her response was tweeted, not spoken. When she speaks, her rage might be undeniable.
Claiming the charges are “false”, Mufti added, “the Agenda of Alliance (was) co-authored by Ram Madhav & endorsed by senior leaders like Rajnathji.” In other words, the BJP is the author of the policies it’s now abusing. “It is sad to see them disown their own initiative & label it as a ‘soft approach’.”
Despite her subtlety, Mufti dug the knife in when, with reference to the charge of ignoring Jammu, she said: “If anything, they should review the per- which criminalises any effort by an individual or NGO to help an illegal immigrant claim asylum.
All of this highlights a deepening crisis of ethical leadership that could do as much damage as uncontrolled migration or even a trade war. Beyond the cruel policies that it enables, it risks emboldening governments like those in China and Russia, as it makes them seem reasonable, even reliable.
This is already happening. The St. Petersburg Economic Forum, which had lost substantial clout after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, was back in business this year, with President Vladimir Putin presiding over discussions involving the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and International Monetary Fund President Christine Lagarde. To secure these figures’ participation, Putin did not need to admit any mistakes or recommit to democracy or the rule of law. On the contrary, since the event, Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker detained during the annex- formance of their own ministers, who largely represented the Jammu region”. Then, she twisted the dagger: “If there were any such concerns, none among them, either at state or central level, talked about it during the last three years.”
Now, let’s step back and ask a different question. Do Shah and Mufti reveal more of themselves than of the situations they describe?
Shah’s desperation to justify his party’s behaviour was obvious and because that was the case it didn’t achieve its end. Instead, he gave away the BJP’s real reason for divorce. It wants to use the Kashmir issue as a weapon in national politics.
Mufti sounded restrained because she was defensive. She may not be guilty of Shah’s charges but she is of running an inept and unpopular government. She’s lost her constituency and doesn’t know how to speak to the fragments left behind. Her style revealed her lack of confidence.
Finally, if you’ll permit a little showing off, let me switch to the poet Walter Scott. In his poem Marmion, written in 1808, he said: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
I wonder if Shah and Mufti realise their tricks have been written about for at least 210 years? Which proves there’s nothing new under the sun!
DONALD TRUMP SIGNED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER STATING THAT PARENTS AND CHILDREN WOULD BE DETAINED TOGETHER. BUT THAT ORDER ITSELF MAY BE ILLEGAL.
ation of Crimea, launched a hunger strike in the name of the 64 Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia.
Fortunately for Putin, in a world where nationalism has been undermining the authority of international law and multilateral institutions, morality is more relative than ever. And, relative to the likes of Trump, Putin does not look so bad at all.
Yet the erosion of democratic ideals can hardly be blamed solely on Trump. Europe is not above reproach, either. As Putin has pointed out, the West’s response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea reflects something of a double standard, given that the EU, together with the US, supported Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.
After World War II, the world – led by the US and Europe – reassessed international norms and created the pillars of today’s rules-based global order. A similar reassessment is needed today, perhaps shaped by two major crises of our times: migration and international terror. But Trump’s “approach is no way forward. Nor can Russia or China be trusted to defend human rights. At a time when the EU lacks the confidence to champion its values globally, who will?