SPEAK SOFTLY BUT CARRY A BIG STICK

India has a chequered history of dealing with groups that are implacably opposed to the interests of the world’s most populous democracy, while seeking sometimes to cajole the Government of India into parting with huge amounts of money. Among such misadventures may be included the support given to the Prabhakaran-led LTTE. This continued until the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 despite the LTTE supremo not having hidden his desire for a Tamil Eelam that included vast tracts of Tamil Nadu and even portions of neighbouring states. More than a decade after such backing to Velupillai Prabhakaran was shown to be a bad move, purse strings were opened to the Maoist groups in Nepal, for reasons that have yet to be made public. That such groups would always see the PRC as their natural ally seems to have escaped attention in the air-conditioned chambers in Delhi where policy gets decided. This being India, there has of course been zero accountability for such grievous errors. Indeed, those directly responsible for such decisions almost without exception went on to stellar careers, thereby proving that in the world of the Lutyens Zone, nothing succeeds like abject failure to achieve stated objectives. Now we are witnessing a host of voices within officialdom as well as their echo chambers in civil society that India must “deal with the Taliban to protect its interests”. The assumption being made is that the Taliban is a unified entity with a centralised command structure, somewhat in the manner that the Congress Party is an organisation that has since 1969 been controlled by the Nehru family. It is regarded as automatic that after AICC president Sonia Gandhi relinquishes her charge, the mantle will descend on Rahul Gandhi, the only other name under consideration being his sister, Priyanka. Whatever may be the views of political analysts about such a situation, it must be admitted that the vice-like grip of “CP” (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and now her son on the still capacious Congress organisation is clear and impressive. Just as there seems to be almost no accountability within the higher ranks of officialdom in India, there is none where the First Family of the Congress is concerned. Electoral disaster after disaster since 2014 has made no difference to the control that is exercised by the “CP” on the party that was passed on to Rajiv Gandhi by the tragic passing of Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984. Should Government of India accept the view that there is no option but to deal with the Taliban and recognize that collective as the government of Afghanistan, the effects of such an error of judgement will soon become evident.