How To Tame The Dragon

As China’s scant regard for old protocols spills blood on the border, India is looking for a fitting reply but less din

- R. Prasannan And Pradip R. Sagar

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For want of a shoe the horse was lost,

For want of a horse the knight was lost,

For want of a knight the battle was lost,

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

So a kingdom was lost—all for want of a nail.

The ancient rhyme rings true in South Block today. For want of a phone, 20 precious lives were lost.

For seven years, Indian and Chinese diplomats had been arguing over where to place a phone. Late last year they found a spot, but the ‘instrument’ has not yet been connected. It “is on the cards”, is what we heard last, in January, from Army chief General M.M. Naravane.

It is not an ordinary telephone, but a hotline between the armies of India and China. Had it been in place, perhaps the current military standoff in Ladakh could have been averted and the lives of 20-odd brave troopers of 16 Bihar, including its commander Colonel B. Santosh Babu, could have been saved.