Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise stopover at Lahore is of a piece with his government’s blow-hot-blow-cold approach to Pakistan.
The sudden diplomatic turnaround by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Pakistan has come as a pleasant surprise to foreign policy analysts. Most commentators have welcomed the belated move by the Indian Prime Minister to kick-start the stalled dialogue process between the two countries once again. The government has claimed it was an impromptu visit to Lahore on Christmas Day following Modi’s phone call to his Pakistani counterpart to wish him on his birthday. Modi had been scheduled to return to Delhi from Moscow via Kabul. Many commentators in India and Pakistan, however, are of the opinion that the Prime Ministers’ meeting was a carefully choreographed one. All the same, for the record, it is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Pakistan in about 12 years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was keen on visiting Islamabad at the end his tenure, but the rhetoric coming from the Opposition benches, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), scuttled his plans.
The Congress, in particular, was critical of Modi’s “unannounced and unprecedented” Lahore visit. Congress leaders point out that it is the first time in 67 years that an Indian Prime Minister has made an unannounced visit to a neighbouring state and that he came back without getting any of the assurances he had been demanding from Pakistan. The Left parties welcomed the visit but sought more meaningful and substantive measures to improve bilateral relations instead of the cosmetic touches that have been provided so far by the Modi government.
This story is from the January 22, 2016 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 22, 2016 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
