New Delhi. February 2019. The death of more than 40 Indian soldiers is the deadliest attack on security forces in 30 years of militancy in Kashmir. Several commentators, including Prem Shankar Jha, note that is both a national and a human tragedy.

But Jha writes in The Wire that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using the tragedy of Indian soldiers to whip up anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim sentiment to win more Hindu votes and try to get re-elected as Prime Minister in the national elections, which are to be held in a few months.

“What is not understandable, nor forgivable, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s refusal to ask the country to stay calm,” writes Jha. “Instead he has immediately accused Pakistan of masterminding the attack” and launched retaliatory air attacks on Pakistan

Jha notes that Modi has also turned the trolls of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the secretive Hindu militant core of his Bharatiya Janata Party, to attack anyone who has dared to criticize his actions. The trolls have attacked Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, a former cricketer and one of the most charismatic personalities on Indian television, for daring to say what others have not had the courage to – that “entire nations cannot be held responsible for the dastardly acts of terrorists.”

Jha’s brave stand has drawn praise from several commentators, including Saeed Naqvi. Writing in his blog, Naqvi notes that the tragic killing of Indian soldiers has caused an eerie silence and widespread anxiety among Muslims in India.

“The video footage of candle vigils in and around towns and villages where funeral processions were being taken out, reminded me of “shila pujan”, when bricks consecrated in local temples were taken out in procession towards Ayodhya as part of preparation for the Ram temple,” writes Naqvi. The Hindu Muslim tensions, generated by the “shila” processions in 1989, led to widespread violent clashes in which thousands of Muslims were slaughtered.

“Communal violence by itself does not yield electoral advantage, but communalism tied to nationalism can be stretched out until the real, or contrived, denouement, which can, if perfectly timed, create the potential to turn elections.” Naqvi writes.

Here is the full article by Prem Shankar Jha in The Wire: https://thewire.in/rights/pulwama-narendra-modi-bjp-2019-elections

Here is the article by Saeed Naqvi: http://naqvijournal.blogspot.com/

Photo: The Wire