Manoj Joshi: PM's Baloch reference only for Bhakts

Independence Day is an annual occasion for celebration mdash and of reflection mdash in a sense of summing up the year gone by and setting benchmarks for the year to come We donrsquot have much to celebrate this year wersquoll celebrate the good monsoon only in the coming yearBut there are other downers to ruin the mood Despite two years of promise the economy remains bumpy tensions in the countryside exacerbated by triumphalist Hindutva hardliners pose a grave risk to the social peace of large parts of northern India and the situation in Jammu amp Kashmir is perhaps the worst since the 2008 Amarnath yatra agitationPM Narendra Modi arrives at Red Fort for the Independence Day address in New Delhi yesterday PicPTINarendra Modi was elected prime minister to transform the economic life and governance of the country He says he remains committed to those goals though the problems are obvious Though the economy is on the mend the recovery process is taking an uncommonly long time and has yet to gain momentum The persistent refusal of private sector investment to put down serious money in the economic plans of the country is leading to what is being called lsquogrowth without investmentrsquo which is now accompanying jobless growthFor the common man there is as yet no respite from inflation with almost all staples like dal and vegetables selling at astronomical prices A consumption bump of sorts will come with the release of the arrears of the 7th Pay Commission but it is well known that this is the worst way of trying to achieve high economic growthThe problem of governance has emerged with the rise of the gau rakshaks in states ruled by the BJP such as Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Haryana or where the party is a member of the coalition as in Punjab The issue which pits the upper caste Hindus against the Muslim minority and Dalits has the potential to destroy Indiarsquos rural economy and social fabric Some of this has been recognised by the PM in his Independence Day address the only problem is that while he senses the political danger of alienating the Dalit community he sees no need to address the equally dangerous effort to marginalise the Muslim populationThe situation in the foreign policy front is equally dismal New Delhi seems to have lost the plot in dealing with its difficult customers mdashPakistan and China There is an argument that given the way that these two countries have pushed around India in the past the Modi governmentrsquos hawkish titfortat approach is a longneeded corrective But foreign policy is not about satisfying the national ego and assuaging national angst It is about preserving and extending onersquos national interests It is here that the sheer negativism of the approach stands out The PMrsquos references to Balochistan may have gladdened the hearts of his bhakts but they are likely to achieve little other than to satisfy our ego No matter how you look at it no country in the world questions Balochistanrsquos accession to Pakistan whereas virtually no country in the world categorically recognises Jammu amp Kashmirrsquos accession to IndiaThe border conversation with China or the effort to pin down Pakistan on the issue of terrorism have little to show for themselves There seems to be alarming subtext in a lot of government declarations that India would not mind a bit of a scrap if push came to shove The least that our chicken hawks should consider is the lamentable state of our military which could well land us with egg on our face were we to seek some illadvised military adventureIndeed when doing the sums on Independence Day the one area we find that the plus side of the ledger is empty is that of the defence services The much vaunted Make in India is proving to be like the proverbial tale of the blind men and the elephant Figuring out just what lsquoMake in Indiarsquo means is proving to be equally problematic But that is the least of the worries the bigger ones relate to the delays in carrying out the deep restructuring and reform of the military services themselvesThe performance of the Prime Minister himself has been less than stellar It took him four weeks to react to the Una incident which took place in a state that he had run since 2002 However the hopes of the country continue to rest in his leadership He remains the premier political figure of the country and the citizens continue to place their trust in him His own inclination is to avoid controversial issues and seek the high ground where he can He now seems to be adopting a strategy of bashing Pakistan to seize the nationalist high ground with his core constituency at home The problem is that verbally chastising Islamabad is one thing but trying to execute those policies on the ground are a recipe for disasterAs it is there is a feeling that his effort to consolidate his political position by eliminating as many Opposition ruled governments in states and winning as many state assembly elections as he can have detracted from the ability of the government to deliver on its promises of good governance and economic growth But if in the consolidation of his government the constitutional and social order are damaged there could be longterm negative consequences for the countryThe writer is a Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation New Delhi