Why is there a veritable fusillade of anti-India commentary in the West these days? Why has there been a sudden upsurge of communal tension in coastal Karnataka? How come a bunch of MNCs including Hyundai, KFC, etc, endorsed Pakistan’s claims to all of Jammu and Kashmir? How come the tragic story of Lavanya, who committed suicide because of pressure to convert, has suddenly been pushed off the front pages?
The answer, my friend, as Bob Dylan once put it, is blowin’ in the wind. There is a narrative, and it reaches a cacophony of hysteria whenever there are elections in India, because the intent is to rally the faithful against the allegedly fascist BJP: “The Mudi sud rejine.” Well, elections in Uttar Pradesh have begun, so you can expect the baying to reach a crescendo soon. UP, they well know, is the prize. If they can defeat the BJP there, suddenly Modi is vulnerable.
UP shows a dramatic contrast exists between the utter fecklessness of the Congress years, and the tremendous improvement in the Yogi years: In law and order, in infrastructure, in how suddenly the state is a power to reckon with in its state GDP and industrial prowess. I received a book from Garuda Prakashan about Yogi in the mail. Personally, I am hopeful about the upward trajectory of UP and Bihar, and distressed by the downward trajectory of Kerala, Bengal and Punjab, as I wrote in 'Punjab phenomenon is devastating psychologically, but is it just reversion to the mean?'
Whenever there are important state elections, the ‘toolkit’ is activated, sleeper cells are given the go-ahead, and there is a plethora of stories in the compromised Western media about how things are going to hell in a handbasket in India. This is yet another reason to hold synchronised elections every two-and-a-half years rather than what appears to be endless politicking the entire time.
My friend Gautam Sen connected the dots on Firstpost.com in his essay 'Why there’s a sudden surge in international efforts to destabilise Modi government'. I too wrote about this some time ago in an essay.
So, lesson number one is that, internationally, India has no friends; no, not in the West, despite the honeyed words and the snake-oil salesmen. Just about the only two countries that we have common interests with are Japan and Vietnam, who are just as threatened by China as India is, but the one has the money and skills that we lack, and the other has the actual experience of defeating the Chinese in battle.
It is telling that it was Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe who suggested the idea of the Quad. It is also telling that a Democratic US president, presumably on the insistence of the Deep State, eviscerated it by doing a side deal called AUKUS, basically a celebration of Atlanticism, which has been long dead and should be given a decent burial. Isolated and increasingly impoverished Britain is hardly the ally anyone wants or needs.
Even Russia, which some of us consider an all-weather friend, is no longer reliable. An allegedly state-related entity named redfish advertised a documentary with a clear bias in favour of the Pakistani point of view. They too, probably, are caught up in the Sino-Pak axis, and Chinese propaganda that India is getting too close to the US. In reality, India is in the unfortunate trisanku position of choosing between Scylla and Charybdis.
In response to the security concerns of journalists and contributors involved in our documentary on Kashmir, we have taken the difficult decision to remove the trailer of this documentary and postpone its release.
Full press release: https://t.co/39uGiJfZJs pic.twitter.com/zZnavzpiD3
— redfish (@redfishstream) February 8, 2022
Lesson number two is that Pakistan’s ISPR is very clever (by half) at coming up with ideas on how to hurt India through propaganda. They were successful in getting a number of MNCs to endorse the Pakistani position that Kashmir is theirs, and theirs alone. Here is a partial list of those MNCs.
Companies which have joined the “Free Kashmir” propaganda:
1. KFC
2. PizzaHut
3. Hyundai
4. Osaka Batteries
5. Isuzu
6. Bosch Pharmaceuticals
7. Atlas Honda Limited
8. Kia Motors
9. Dominos Pizza
Time to show them the power of the Indian consumer. Boycott every single one.— Kavita (@Sassy_Hindu) February 8, 2022
At first glance, it is hard to escape the feeling that this is a vote of no-confidence in India from a lot of large companies. It is a little unfathomable that they would do this, considering the growing ‘buyer power’ of the Indian consumer. What if they boycotted Hyundai or Kia in India? Didn’t they see how FabIndia was hurt by a boycott after its usage of an Urdu word for Diwali?
Besides, do these MNCs believe that the Indian government would not take punitive action against them? After all, they grovel before the Chinese government despite their genocides of Tibetans, Uyghurs and so on. Do they really think they can afford to exit the Indian market which will grow at 9 per cent the next few years?
Some of these MNCs will find their sales are hurt: There are alternatives. For example, Tata and Mahindra stand ready to step in should people drop Hyundai, Kia or Honda.
Then the realisation dawns that Pakistan is too small a market for the MNCs to have subsidiaries there: They only have franchises. And it is quite likely that every one of these franchisees is a subsidiary of the Pakistani Army, considering that the Army runs most business in Pakistan. No wonder they toe the ISPR line.
ISPR was probably hoping to create some serious problems, perhaps even the burning down of the MNC factories or outlets (which is what would happen in Pakistan). That would in turn induce them to cease to invest in India, and eventually maybe even exit India. But none of this happened, which means the ISPR effort was a damp squib.
But there was something deplorable: The reaction of the MNCs’ Indian subsidiaries. I was observing, in real time, Hyundai India’s response. In a classic case study of what not to do in a crisis — business school students will soon be taught this — the PR people at Hyundai first stonewalled, weasel-worded, and started mass-blocking their Twitter critics.
They should have learned from Johnson and Johnson’s legendary response to the poisoning by some psychopath of their retail product, Tylenol, on retail shelves. They immediately fell on the sword, apologised, and recalled every bottle of their product from the shelves even though it really wasn’t their fault. The goodwill thus created gave J&J an aura, which actually translated to higher sales rather than the opposite.
It is likely that Hyundai India’s PR — probably outside consultants — are the usual Leftist types who have no idea what the average Indian consumer thinks. Said Leftists may believe in the Pakistani view themselves. Anyway, they totally messed up their initial response. It took a second set of more thoughtful responses to calm things down, wherein Hyundai Global carefully pointed out that they do not involve themselves in local politics, and that their franchisee in Pakistan had not been authorised to make any statements, and that they had been censured.
Besides, the South Korean ambassador was called in by the external affairs ministry and probably given an earful, and their foreign minister called the MEA with an apology. Even though some of us would have preferred India to bare its fangs like the Chinese do, perhaps the softly-softly approach is better for the moment. As Deng Xiaoping advised, “Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.”
Lesson number three is that Abrahamics create tactical alliances. For example, USCIRF, the grandly named US Council on International Religious Freedom, is basically an evangelistic extremist entity focused on conversion. With Biden as POTUS, the USCIRF is openly cooperating with Islamists. The chair of USCIRF, Nadine Maenza, attended an Indo-American Muslim Council event, ‘Protecting India’s Pluralist Constitution’ {sic} on Republic Day 2022, and it also had Archbishop Machado from Bangalore, along with former Vice-President Hamid Ansari.
Archbishop from Bangalore. Isn’t that interesting? There is the Anti-Conversion Bill in Karnataka, which is vigorously opposed by the church. Is it pure coincidence that within a week of this tete-a-tete, a hijab controversy in coastal Karnataka started dominating the headlines? Oh, and did you notice how there are no longer any headlines about the tragic story of Lavanya, a 17-year-old student in a Christian school in Tanjavur, who was so violated by tejovadham about forced conversion that she committed suicide, leaving a damning dying declaration?
It turns out Sahaya Mary and Rachel Mary whom Lavanya named are now quietly out on bail. So is the hijab issue a nice little diversionary tactic, that has gotten the entire commentariat (which was totally silent on Lavanya) a chance to display its ‘liberal’ credentials by supporting the girl’s intent on wearing hijabs to school? Is Lavanya’s case being swept under the carpet?
Of course, it could well be a pure ISPR exercise. It is likely they have sleeper cells in parts of coastal Karnataka, and Karnataka is a state that the Congress really would like to win back, thus they need to trigger their vote-banks.
Breaking news: Here’s a statement from the US’ “Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom”, Rashad Hussain, in virtually his first official statement after Joe Biden appointed him at the end of January. He is also accused of ties to radical groups.
Religious freedom includes the ability to choose one's religious attire. The Indian state of Karnataka should not determine permissibility of religious clothing. Hijab bans in schools violate religious freedom and stigmatize and marginalize women and girls.
— Amb. at Large for International Religious Freedom (@IRF_Ambassador) February 11, 2022
This would have carried a lot more weight if the US had responded similarly to France, Canada, or Scandinavian countries that prohibit certain Islamic attire. But it has never said a word. The implication is that this interference in India’s affairs is driven by other considerations. The Anglosphere believes India can be shamed into doing things that are not in its best interests.
Furthermore, the Pakistan Army has recently been humiliated by the Baloch Liberation Army that attacked several army outposts and managed to hold off helicopter gunships and commandos for 48 to 60 hours. ISPR would naturally blame India’s RA&W for the debacle (never considering how much Baloch hate them). That means they have to hurt India somehow, and given the fact that they are virtually bankrupt, what better than to activate sleeper cells and their assets such as Malala, with the connivance of the Deep State and its assets?
The writer has been a conservative columnist for over 25 years. His academic interest is innovation. Views expressed are personal.
