Short answer is no.
And in this article I’ll explain why?
PM Modi’s position on Middle-East, and terrorism – everywhere.
For 1 thing, its precisely because of recent Bharat-Canada fiasco that Bharat needs to come out and roundly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. And denounce its safe havens. Which is what PM Modi did. Heck, Modi did palestinians a huge favour when he didn’t call them out for acting just like Pakistan and Canada. For providing dreaded, monstrous terrorists from Hamas refuge, who want to not just hurt their neighbour but completely annihilate it from the face of the earth! (Just like Gazwa-e-Hind from our eternal beggar Jihadi neighbor) And such a support is clearly not just limited to cross-border terrorism. Support for such genocidal sentiments can be found oceans away, across the world, even in the so-called “top-institutions for learning” where NDTV’s previous top anchors had hilariously gotten themselves admitted as a “teacher” without ever doing a basic “fact-check!” of the offer’s authenticity. (One does miss Cult-News’ excellent pro-Jihadi fact-check services sometimes! Maybe they could’ve facilitated contact with their pro-Hamas brethren on-campus to verify whether the authentic western Jihadis had invited her to teach modern Jihadism to racist white Left’s terrorists or not!)
But coming out of Hogwash university and to our main point…If we denounce Pakistan and Canada and the rest of the Abrahamo-Leftist world for providing safe-havens, refuge and all kinds of support to all kinds of anti-bharat, anti-Hindu terrorists, then how can we honestly and honourably condemn Israel taking action against Islamist Jihadist terrorists who’d launched such ghastly, biggest terror attack against its soil and citizens in the last 50 years – and also against those, who’d provided safe-haven and refuge to Hamas Jihadist terrorists? Namely, the Gaza strip? How can the entire Muslim nations – not just Middle East – after having taken pakistan’s side in decades, through wars and even now, on the issue of Kashmir – when they get together on OIC, expect Bharat to support Palestinian cause today?
2nd and more importantly – this kind of messaging from PM Modi’s office, this policy shift, it is not historic.
That history has already been made.
A whole damned year ago. (possibly even more)
Where was your outrage then?
Remember last year when an anti-bharat, anti-Hindu Israeli leftist hatemonger film-maker named Nadav-Lapid had called the only serious movie on the kashmiri Hindu genocide – The Kashmir Files – A propaganda?
It happened on 28th November 2022. But the news of it would only go viral the next day.
The next day, 29th November, which was also ‘International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People.’
On that day, PMs of our nation had always written a letter of support to palestinian people.
This one, is from that 29th November 2022.
I couldn’t find anything on years 2021 and 2020 (perhaps due to Covid pandemic of Wuhan coronavirus)
but this here is, from 27th November 2019.
Did you notice any difference between the two?
All references to “sovereign”, “independent”, “viable”, and “united” palestine , “co-existing peacefully with Israel” that we find in 1st paragraph of 2019 letter (and indeed many such letters across the years), are firmly dropped in 2022.
Now that, was historical.
Because it essentially left State of Palestine as something whose establishment would entirely depend on “negotiated” and “comprehensible” solution that comes entirely out of bilateral talks between Israel and Palestine. Something that would be equally acceptable to Israel. Exactly what form such a State would take, Bharat wouldn’t dictate terms of it to either party. i.e. whether it should be “sovereign”, “independent”, “viable”, and “united” palestine , “co-existing peacefully with Israel”.
And to be sure, this dilution of PMO’s individual position on palestine issue is something that had been happening across years in Modi’s decade in power.
For example, this is the last such letter in 2013 when Bhartiya PMO was helmed by Manmohan Singh, leader of anti-Hindu, anti-Bharat, Islamist Muslim appeaser terror-friendly UPA government who’d said “minorities, especially Muslim minorities have 1st right on national resources.”
Back then, along with sovereign, independent and other blah, blah, blah…it also included phrases like palestine “With East Jerusalem as its Capital,” “living within secure and recognized borders”, “side-by-side and at peace with Israel”, as “endorsed in the Arab Peace Initiative”, “the Quartet road-map”, and the “relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
Many people might roll their eyes saying “so what if a few words are dropped?”
To them…If the marathon back-n-forth negotiation over the “language” of final G20 text forming the Leaders’ Declaration is not a good enough example for such mammoth importance of words, I’d refer you to The Wire’s meltdown last year over Modi government’s “handling” of Palestine issue in 2018.
‘As for Indian support for a two-state solution, a subtle change took place during Modi’s three-hour visit to Ramallah to meet Mahmoud Abbas [in 2018]. Modi endorsed the call for a “sovereign, independent” Palestine but dropped the words “united” and “viable”, thus making it clear to Israel that a final settlement that does not vacate the areas acquired for Israeli settlers or any further encroachments by Israel into the OTs will be acceptable to New Delhi which also no longer insists that East Jerusalem be the capital of any future Palestinian state.’
(It’s surprising they didn’t comment on PM Modi’s actual letter a day later. Perhaps they didn’t notice it, otherwise the meltdown would’ve been catastrophic I imagine!)
Keep in mind that this policy shift started taking root in 2017, immediately following the Pathankot
and Uri terrorist attack, and the subsequent surgical strike in 2016.
So on terrorism, our PM’s position is consistent. Be it from anywhere.
So why all the outrage now? I don’t understand.
Why were you silent all those years?
And if you say, you didn’t notice… then why weren’t you paying attention? Which isn’t true exactly either – given The Wire’s meltdown last year.
And today, when Israel-Hamas war has once again reignited (and by all accounts is something that’s gonna drag and be extremely devastating), why then, when you eventually do take notice of PM Modi’s position on terrorism – after sneakily avoiding it for 2-3 days (especially in the middle-east) – are you crying foul and beating your chest relentlessly about the alleged unfairness of it all?
To be sure, late evening in 12-Oct-2023, Bhartiya MEA finally did release an official response, regurgitating the same old points and words. In the press conference, MEA spokesperson Bagchi said,
“Our policy in this regard has been long-standing and consistent… India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living within secure and recognised borders, side by side, at peace with Israel. That position remains the same.”
The de-hyphenation
But the point is, that is by now an established tradition in Bharatiya Foreign Policy – A de-hyphenation of Palestine issue vis-a-vis PMO Vs. MEA.
And Bagchi did say exactly that:
“I think the prime minister’s comments stand on their own and they do not require any clarification.”
What does it mean?
To my limited understanding, it means that…
MEAmight maintain traditional Bharatiya positions on Middle-East as far as Bharat as a nation, as a geo-political entity is concerned. But PMO and its occupant, as the office of the biggest leader of Bharat as a people, they would’ve none of that non-sense as long as any nation supports cross-border and international terrorism.
And that de-hyphenation plays perfectly to the frustration of everyone in Abrahmo-Leftist circle, who advocate for all sorts of Anti-Hindu, anti-Bharat agenda.
If asked on official position, Bharat can say, “We’d refer you to MEA’s statements, we’re consistent on that policy.”
But given the huge popularity of our PM Modi, in the biggest democracy of 1.4 billion people, where he consistently remains popular with ratings of 75% +, his words, “his personal opinion” practically outweigh everyone else. And this creates immense frustration for those who’d want to corner Bharat on a range of issues. (BTW, that’s why opposition and Abrahmo-Leftists, whether foreign or domestic, keep screaming on their insistence that “he should speak on this or that matter!”)
Given also that MEA’s “official” response came 5 days later, and by then gruesome details about Israeli casualties – including the beheading and/or burning of little children had already reached the world and Bharat, the already solid Hindu public opinion against Jihadi terrorism had become reinforced inside a concrete bunker.
Keep also in mind other, side-developments, regarding so-called “Muslim World” and “Ummah”.
- PM Modi had also (finally!) mentioned Kanhaiya-Lal ji’s brutal beheading at the hands of Jihadist terrorists as part of Rajsthan poll campaign.
- A Jihadi beheading that was part of the disgraceful episode of putting a death-mark on Nupur Sharma ji, at the behest of Global Muslim Ummah’s intolerant Jihadi belligerence, instigated by alleged hypocritical fact-checkers.
- Nupur Sharma, who himself finally made a recent, rare public appearance at the special screening of Vivek Agnihotri ji’s latest nationalist movie: The Vaccine War.
Taken together, it can be said that Bharatiya public’s long-simmering explosive resentment against Islamist world’s Jihadist terrorist intervention in our internal affairs is finally being addressed – or at the very least, is strategically being deployed to push back against their meddling and narrative warfare in Bharat. One careful step at a time. As an offensive needling, testing, probing their defences.
PM Modi’s comments on terrorism by Hamas should be seen in that context.
Perhaps there’s an effort by Bharat to take the initiative, and turn the tables of public-opinion warfare on Middle-East and Muslim World.
“You want our support, make some concessions on XYZ issue.”
Or it can be purely political.
Push as far as you can against Jihadism, and If things start getting out of hand, use MEA official responses in a tactical retreat later on.
It’s a good strategy.
And given the overwhelming western response in favor of israel (till now), this can be deployed very, very effectively. If we’re seen – even if on a slightly-less- than-official level – standing with Israel when earlier, we’d pursued aggressive neutrality in case of Ukraine, frustrating western nations to no end. Here, there’s ample chance that generally anti-Hindu west can come in our support against Muslim Ummah’s potential political anger. Given Israel had already called it their own 9/11. And Bharatiya case against Jihadi terrorism being well-accepted now, especially 26/11, where foreign nationals too, became victims of Pakistan sponsored Jihadist terrorism – just like 7/10 Israel massacre.
So this was NOT historical.
The question is: Will our PM show the courage to maintain this de-hyphenation in the face of mounting crisis in the Middle-East and Ummah’s Jihadist pressure?
