By Apoorvanand
The recent pronouncements by Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding “Operation Sindoor” show how the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party are cynically using the issue of national security to further their majoritarian politics.
During a Kolkata rally, the Home Minister thundered that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee opposed Operation Sindoor because she sought to appease Muslims. “Most importantly,” he declared, “you [Banerjee] are opposing Operation Sindoor to please the Muslim vote bank. Tell me, should this appeasement be allowed to continue?” This incendiary statement immediately drew criticism for its factual inaccuracy and its dangerous implications. The Trinamool Congress had not, in fact, opposed Operation Sindoor. Furthermore, the suggestion that any opposition was solely for “Muslim appeasement” is a sinister attempt to brand an entire community as anti-national.
Yet, a bizarre paradox emerged: while the Home Minister was propagating this divisive narrative at home, Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and a prominent Trinamool Congress leader, was simultaneously defending Operation Sindoor abroad. As part of a delegation of Indian MPs dispatched to various countries, including Indonesia, he was explaining the rationale behind India’s cross-border strikes under Operation Sindoor to international audiences.
BJP’s failure to reciprocate
The irony is unmistakable: can the Home Minister explain how a Trinamool MP has been dispatched abroad to argue for Operation Sindoor while his party’s chief is purportedly opposing the same operation at home? Ideally, following Amit Shah’s diatribe, the Trinamool should have withdrawn its representative from the delegation as a mark of protest. The fact that it did not suggests a commendable willingness to prioritise national interest over partisan political interest. However, the ruling party seems unwilling to reciprocate this spirit of unity.
While leaders of opposition parties are pleading India’s case abroad, the BJP back home is relentlessly focussed on attacking them. The ruling party, despite claiming to seek a moment of national unity and using charismatic opposition leaders to fight its case abroad, does not shy away from resorting to lies to malign opposition parties, often alleging that they are working for Pakistan.
BJP spokespersons frequently lambast Rahul Gandhi as a “Pakistan apologist” even as his own party’s MPs are faithfully echoing the government’s line and, in effect, being the BJP’s spokespersons abroad. Opposition party leaders are maligned, their parties are demonised, yet they continue to perform what they perceive to be their national duty, seemingly sacrificing their party’s honour for the sake of the nation.
This story was originally published in frontline.thehindu.com. Read the full story here.