Editorials

India Today, February 8, 1999
Feb 8, 1999

Act of Infamy

Don't smirk at the prime minister's fast. Ponder the horror show that is India.

Act of Infamy At one level it is easy to scoff at the prime minister's decision to fast on January 30, the 50th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, in protest against the recent upsurge in religion-related violence. It can be argued, and justifiably so, that such dramatic gestures only seek to obscure administrative shortcomings. There may be some truth in that charge. Yet it is as much a verity that the sheer drama, even melodrama, of such abnegation will focus attention on the repercussions of Manoharpur. The conflict in the Dangs region of Gujarat, the acrimony in Karnataka, sporadic violence in states as far apart as Uttar Pradesh and Kerala: while certainly not excusable, these could be rationalised. Unfortunately, the human mind has its limits. It will find it impossible to explain the abominable ferocity of burning alive sleeping children. Somehow, every Indian is guilty of the murder of the Staines family. Every man, woman and child in the country has been united as rarely before: by a collective sense of revulsion. India has betrayed itself.

This land is no stranger to religious tensions. Even so, it has to be recognised that the Manoharpur catastrophe has breached the Lakshman rekha -- the line between human and animal behaviour. When life is cheap, justice is no more than loose change. The politicisation of the Staines' murder is so complete that any inquiry and trial would seem a mere formality. There are people, hundreds of miles from the site of the act, who rattle off the names of the guilty with astounding felicity. Equally, there are those who speak of Graham Staines being a proselytiser rather than a social worker. Does it really matter? A crime is a crime; to give it a religio-ideological garb is to glorify it. If the prime minister's fast drives home that grim reality, half his job will be done. The rest involves a more mundane but equally sacred duty: punishing the Staines' killers. Only then will India efface the scar on its psyche.

Walk the Talk

It's time to end the drift in Indo-relations with visible action and grand gestures.

Walk the Talk If there is one reality humans face at the dawn of a new millennium it is that we no longer enjoy the gift of time. Speed in anything we do is increasingly becoming the key to an individual's or a nation's progress. That is why the pace at which the Indo-US dialogue between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott is proceeding is particularly galling. By last week eight rounds of talks had been completed, some at exotic locations, and yet there has been no substantial breakthroughs. There has been at best a slow march forward -- some even describe it as a crawl -- on issues of contention between the two countries especially on the nuclear front. Both sides are responsible for the holes they are steadily digging themselves into. India has made the right noises since the Pokhran II explosion last May including a positive indication that it would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. But the lack of domestic political consensus on the nuclear issue has raised doubts about the ability of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Government to walk its talk. However, on the US falls a larger share of the blame. It is pursuing the impossible in the subcontinent: trying to implode what has already been exploded. Both sides must realise that time is fast running out for mere talk. Now is the moment for visible action and grand gestures. Talbott has hinted that the US is willing to consider lifting economic sanctions even before it sees in black and white what it considers progress on the nuclear chapter from India. He should carry through that approach. It would immediately put moral pressure on India and its politicians to reach a domestic consensus on the country's nuclear doctrine. And it would pave the way for substantial agreements on trade and a range of other issues between the two countries. This is one situation where haste will certainly not lead to waste.

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