China Or Covid, Why There Is No Such Things As A Neutral Expert

Cutting edge

- Rajeev Deshpande

Depending on what you read — commentary on the editorial pages, Sunday specials or the wide world of internet — you may reach very different conclusions on the affairs of the day. One view has it that India has failed to challenge the Chinese intrusions and is hiding the extent of PLA’s ingress. The other sees the Indian pushback as vigorous, upsetting the Communist giant’s plans to intimidate its smaller neighbour into submission.

Indeed, if the idea was to deliver a sharp, hard crack on the knuckles so as to remind India of its vulnerabilities on the Himalayan borders, China’s strategy unravelled in Galwan on the night of June 15 itself. Whatever the plan, it could not have included deaths of its own soldiers, whether a handful or dozens as various reports suggest.

Yet, the issue at hand is not about facts as such. The chances are that many will gravitate towards the opinion that matches and bolsters their view of events, a choice likely influenced by political affiliations. Analysts call it “confirmation bias” and social media’s digital echo chambers only encourage this tendency to absorb and propagate partisan views. So, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics have rarely detected a bright spot since 2014. Those on the other side see this as ideological bias and have their own set of facts.