Even JP Nadda’s bombast cannot hide the Government’s incompetence

Said the Indian envoy to China: “India hopes China will realise its responsibility in de-escalation and disengaging by moving back to its side of LAC.”

Where is China, then? This side or that?

We had been assured by the Modi Government, in spite of all evidence to the contrary mainly provided by the Indian Army, that China had not entered Indian territory. You might even remember that the prime minister announced at the all-party meeting that no one had entered Indian territory and India had not entered anyone else’s territory, without mentioning China once. Nor explaining how and why Indian soldiers had been so brutally killed. Then came a whole lot of clarifications about how Modi meant that no one had entered Indian territory and vice versa in that exact second as Modi spoke. Or some such claptrap.

We were even informed by BJP president JP Nadda that the Congress had ceded 43000 km of Indian territory to China. I leave you to work out the maths of that. As Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had once pointed out, “Einstein did not use maths to discover gravity.” Like Mr Goyal, though perhaps not like Mr Einstein, I am also mathematically challenged. I am not sure about Mr Nadda’s understanding of space and distance either. Maybe we all need calculators? As long they’re not made in China of course!

So, has China entered Indian territory or not? If it hasn’t, why has the Indian envoy asked China to “move back”. If it has, well, then it’s what some of us always knew: The Government of India has lied to its citizens. The Government of India is clueless about what to do about China and its entry across the LAC and into Indian-held territory. The Government of India contradicts itself because it has to fool us and itself at the same time. Meanwhile, there’s China apparently building roads, helipads, storage bunkers, and whatever it wants to, on this side and that side and just about any side it comes across.

Reports from Ladakh have pointed all this out for weeks, maybe more. But weeks ago, we were clapping in balconies and wasting money on petals, on the instructions of the prime minister himself. We were also being as negligent as possible about all the medical infrastructure promises we had made about

To be honest, we have allowed the Modi government this wiggle room. The best way to combat China in the public mind has nothing to do with Galwan Valley incursions and fingers and Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It has to do with blaming the Congress. You start obviously with Jawaharlal Nehru and then jump randomly towards any name you can think of.

Some anti-national will possibly ask (possibly me): given that the BJP judges itself only via the Congress, is Modi trying to beat this 43000 km surrender? China has to now acknowledge its responsibility and make sure that the BJP wins this battle with the Congress. The main enemy of course for all RSS “patriots”.

But there are other deflection tactics. To soothe BJP and Narendra Modi loyalists who might have wondered in some moments of seditious weakness why the details of the PMCares Fund were so opaque. Like, this tactic: why was money transferred from one fund to another when the Congress was in power? Once you ask this question, loyalists are happy. Now they have the Congress to blame so they no longer have to worry their pretty little minds about why none of those millions donated to the PMCares Fund appears to have helped anyone affected by Covid19 in India.

The less said about the virus the better, especially our incompetent bungling and blame games. Better not discuss China either. Or any other problems with the economy, migrant workers, agriculture, job losses.

In case you had wondered where and what Modi is actually doing, isn’t it obvious? Electioneering of course. And making some tremendous jokes, which he is well known for. Here’s his latest: “The Government does not discriminate between faith, gender, caste, creed or language: Our guiding light is the Constitution of India”.

To be honest, I’m not certain who this joke is aimed at. Voters who will believe just about anything? Modi loyalists? The rest of us?

I am certain though that 43000 km away, someone is laughing their heads off as they build some more helipads and fortifications.

(Views expressed are the author’s own)