The Doctrine of Virtuous Murder

The Central India People have often been described as being Original Indians. These “Originals” predated the “Dravidians”, “Aryans”, “Persians” who ever came and then settled in this country and later called it home. But then in this cooking pot of people the spread of “Naxalism” is an indication of the desperation and alienation that now sweeps over these “Original Indians”. India shall always amaze one with its vastness of population. CalcuttaDelhi or Bombay now, there is no escaping the size of the Indian population. But then sometimes as you travel the sudden thought comes to mind of small clusters of settlement where even our “mail” trains refuse to stop, roads if there are made by people daily trotting down on them and then once you fly across to destination the thought sinks in that a vast portion if India is difficult if not impossible to reach. The roads and railways in the country act as the view in a cricket ground. There pose as the view available right behind the umpires head, most people cram for that, the story of developed India is much like that. back in the early 1900’s and

The “States” have been formed but then most of the “Babus” don’t loose sleep over what goes on in the interior. Even they believe in creation of a “State” what they want to see. One CM might join towns but railways, the other opens up a State Highway right next to it. Development done, but both bypass the so called “interior & inferior” regions”. This is one of the main reasons why the “Naxal” problem is what it is today. No one is bothered for that part of the forsaken state. The same idea would later affect the regions of the north east, especially Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur. Is the centre really bothered on what goes on in these regions? 62 years numerous governments have done nothing thus giving China the guts to say the mentioned places weren’t India’s after all.

But then the states always have not shunned these places away from development. The “Naxals” have always accused the government for not letting the poor rise from their misery and poverty. They have claimed the “Politicians” to be corrupt and in most cases these were true which led them to launch their movement in 1967 thus justifying violence. But since then they have got a much acquired “taste” to eat. The point being made there was no attempt to lay down arms. The “Gun Totting” way of getting things done have gone bit too far. Try building a road and the engineer is kidnapped and then killed. Join the local police and your parents will be brutally tortured. Try setting up a small scale industry and you will have to shell out lakhs as 'protection money' to them.

Most of the so called “Naxalite Infected” areas are actually rich in minerals. But since years there have been no development. After all, bridges, schools, gram panchayat offices, electricity towers have all been blown up to show who is really in control. Thus while the “Naxalites” blame the corrupt officials, the state blames the “Naxalites” for damaging tactics. Terror seems to be the order of the day, else why would one go around “Beheading Cops” and killing “Security Guards” at PSU establishments. Thus the question remains what about the people for whose cause the “Naxals” are fighting for. They have not been of any great help, the state has been shunned from helping, and helping themselves (acquiring arms) have been of utmost priority. One would ask when would this end. The centre is clearly going to get impatient.

It would not take much time for the state to move out the vulnerable police out of the equation and send in the army and in a battle where “India” would fight “India” it is not difficult to imagine who would turn out victorious. 15000 is the number which has been put to the “Maoists” killing all of them certainly cant be the “Final Solution”, but then these 15000 must understand the limits to which a government can be pushed. Their so called “Doctrine of Virtuous Murder” cannot be dealt with a loose hand any more. India has made difficult decisions in the past, the “Bhindrawale Saga” still hurts us in a wrong way, but then such decisions have been made.

The government and the “Naxals” both need to get the “Wider Picture” right. While the government needs to understand that no long term development of India is possible without taking a Pan India view, the “Naxals” should understand that challenging a government who has virtually no decent opposition to take its position away is nothing else other than “Elimination”.

PC’s call to “Abjure Violence” is well made and both sides needs to adhere by that and TALK.

"Chinese Chakkars"

Limited financial capabilities have prevented me from continuing (not permanently) updating my food blog. I don’t see a lot of “Treats” coming my way so till I do manage to fill up my now replenished financial capabilities my stomach and the blog relating to it would have to go empty.

So it back to world affairs.

We celebrated (I slept) Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday a few days back and though the media, for the day and a couple before it went into a frenzy with “Gandhigiri” the term has quite lost its relevance. Wondering why, well then the reasons are quite a few.

· China showing its military might, enough nukes to flatten India 10 times over.

· A worried Indian Air Chief declaring the immediate need of 50 Sukhois (Russian Made) to counter the emerging Chinese Threat.

· The Indian Army not to be left behind trying to launch a tender to purchase “Light tanks” to curb the Chinese threat in “Sikkim” and “Ladakh”.

· The commander to the US 7^th fleet openly admitting the US’s miscalculation of predicting the naval growth of China.

The Chinese suddenly have taken the whole world by surprise showcasing their military might. Since the last National Day celebrations China certainly showed impressive growth military strength. Hu Jintao had called for a “for even stronger armed forces” and that the PLA did confirm by kicking off a dazzling celebration in Beijing by showing off a range of home-grown weaponry. China now has a very effective arsenal of Nuclear Arms (counting 120 to India’s 50). The current celebrations showed that the “Nukes” were mobile too. The Chinese, over the years have taken great strain in seeing that their armed forces are no longer “Heavy” but rather “Light, Fast and Agile”. The showcasing of the newer Chengdu FC-1/JF-17 and J-10 fighters were also a step in the direction of being “Light and Effective”. The JF-17 will be able to carry a variety of conventional and precision-guided bombs, and air-to-air and air-to-sea missiles from short- to beyond-visual-range. Coming as a direct threat to the Sukhois fielded by the Indian Air Force, it has already attracted the Pakistani Air Force to order a few of them.

But behind all this what one cannot miss is the fact that most of the weapon systems showcased has been developed by China itself. In a bid to become a superpower China realized the fact that it would have to indigenously develop its military capabilities to progress in the pace it decided to. India has for ever lagged in this regard with most of its defense equipment suppliers. The fact still grapples us; the “Gorshkov” deal as well as the MMRCA competition is prime example. The huge array of home grown weapon systems showed China was making clear progress in moving away from its long-term reliance on Russian arms purchases. And the mix of ground, naval and air force components showed the PLA - which encompasses all those branches - was growing more diverse. “Confidence” in China seems to be over the brim, the Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie boasted last month that much of his nation's weaponry now rivals that included in Western arsenals.

Despite the rapid strides in weapons development China still has a lot of catching up to do in order to claim itself as becoming a superpower. Most of its neighbors have more advanced and better-trained air forces and navies (this includes India too). Japan, South Korea and India have had long presence in the Asian waters. The navies of Japan and India are battle hardened too. China is still yet to have a Aircraft Carrier and its presence in the Asian waters too is very limit

China will soon be able to deploy its first aircraft carrier and according to sources it is more advanced than anything India has or plans to acquire. Sources from the Indian navy say that the Chinese plan to operationalize the Varyag - purchased as junk from Ukraine for 20 million US dollars in 1998. In 2005, the dead ship was docked at the Chinese naval base in Dalian. Since then it has been undergoing sophisticated upgrades.

Apart from that the PLAN is also constructing a major underground nuclear submarine base near Sanva, and the first Type 094 submarine was recently moved there. It is reported that tunnels were being built into hillsides which could be capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. The aim is clearly to build up sea power in the Pacific Ocean region long time playground of the USA.

China also is believed to possess too few of some systems, such as major missiles, for them to be significant in strategic terms in the near term. Also most of the show of the weapons systems was not aimed to throw the US off balance; it would take more than couple of “Junk Varyags” to challenge their huge nuclear capable naval strength. China has very carefully plotted out its priorities and in the very near future India is PRIORITY ONE. But then for India China does what we call “mind games too”.

One call easily recall how an article in a Chinese website called for “Balkanisation” of India. A very well aimed dart one might say as we are only “Indians” on 2 days of the calendar read 15^th of August and 26^th of January and occasionally when the cricket team manages to reach a final. Other than that we are Bengalis, Malyalees, Tamilians but not Indians. The Chinese were “Chinese” from the very beginning. The Chinese are so obsessed with gaining control over the Tibetan Plateau that they now are staking claims over Jammu as well as Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. This again is a well placed move as for years numerous Indian Governments have been totally disinterested in the welfare of the North East. The Chinese Propaganda of India and China collaborating to play a greater role in world economy too is all but CRAP. China never wanted to ally with India and is very clear in trying to take all means to see it stays ahead of India both in Economic and military strength.

What New Delhi needs to do is stop trying to admit that it knows all about Beijing. We clearly do not know nothing about the Chinese and need to come to terms with that. Its been long since we regarded China as a cheap goods manufacturer. China has risen from a cheap goods manufacturer to a military superpower within no time and New Delhi was yet to take notice of the fact. But then this does not mean a race to pile up arms and show of strength against the Chinese as they are waiting for such a move. The grand show put up was a mailed fist aimed at India.

All is not well with China too. The grand show was also done to put aside recent memories of the riots in the western Chinese province of Uighur and the growing world pressure on China to move away from Tibet. China needs to show all is well and thus the show. Indians were taken aback by stories of rapid economic development in China and the impressive physical superstructure built there. But this is a development without accountability.

“Chinese Chakkars” have never been so confusing.