BJP goes after Foggy Bottom

BJP's attack was not merely on the American 'deep state'. The idea had been acquiring currency across ideological lines for some time and has been given greater legitimacy by Trump

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

A most important event in our politico-strategic history passed with somewhat less debate than it deserved. It was the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) attack not merely on the "deep state," now seen as a formidable, undefinable, and mysterious pan-national demon, but also on the US State Department.

When the BJP's official Twitter (sorry, Elon, X) handle posted a 16-part thread attacking the US deep state for launching an all-out war on India and its Modi government, you might have normally been inclined to say, "It's OK. Trump is the new President. He's railing against the same monster. So, it's just as well that the BJP also joins in. Be on the winning side." Except, the 13th of these posts went beyond the deep state and accused the US State Department of leading this conspiratorial cabal.

The key lines: "It has always been the US State Department behind this agenda....The deep state had a clear objective to destabilise India by targeting Prime Minister Modi...the French investigative media group Mediapart revealed that OCCRP is funded by the US State Department's USAID...In fact, 50 percent of OCCRP's funding comes from the US State Department."

There are specific mentions of the Pegasus controversy, several exposés on the Adani Group, and also references to other "deep state" figures like George Soros. The substantively new thing here was the BJP launching a direct and unqualified attack on the US State Department. Please note that Mediapart is also the hard-left French platform that led the investigations into the Rafale deal, providing the Congress and Modi critics with much ammunition to attack him. So far, for the BJP, it might have been part of some French left deep-state plot to undermine India and the Modi government. Now, it's a credible ally. That irony just died isn't a phrase that works in hard politics. Here, irony dies and resurrects, just like the serial storyteller of Vikram aur Betaal.