“The Iron Lady’s Clay Feet: Myth, Memory, and Modi’s Pakistan Problem”, Swarajyamag, May 21, 2025:
“Comparisons flow with numbing regularity in Bharat’s political discourse. “Indira Gandhi would have responded more forcefully.” “Indira knew how to handle Pakistan.” With tedious predictability, this refrain surfaces from certain quarters of Bharat’s right wing whenever tensions with Pakistan escalate as they have after the recent Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
But myth is not memory. And 2025 is not 1971. Let’s dispense with the hagiography. The Bharat of 1971, which Gandhi led to victory over Pakistan, was a different beast from the Bharat of 2025. Start with the obvious: nuclear weapons. Pakistan in 1971 was a conventional power, prickly but manageable. Today’s Pakistan possesses a substantial nuclear arsenal.
The strategic doctrine that guided Gandhi’s hand simply cannot apply in a nuclear environment. Bharat’s purported airstrike at Kirana Hills is a signal of doctrinal evolution. But the deterrent architecture is no longer a blank slate to be written upon with boldness. It’s a tripwire. And lest we forget, WikiLeaks documents later revealed that Indira Gandhi had offered to share nuclear technology with Pakistan in 1974, following Bharat’s first nuclear test. Second, the global architecture that enabled Gandhi’s boldness has dissolved……”
Read the full article at Swarajyamag.com
