Unbecoming of a PM

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is perhaps feeling the heat of embarrassment, and is out to provoke his people for more jingoism against Pakistan. His speech at a rally in his hotbed constituency, Gujarat, was unbecoming of the stature of a Prime Minister, and it seems he believes in stooping too low without any concern for diplomatic or interstate ethics.

This reckless provocation has a purpose and that is to derail the momentum of mediation and diplomacy that the US and other major powers are choreographing to usher in peace and stability between the two nuclear states. The fact that they have returned from the brink after a four-day duel, and are keeping their fingers crossed, calls for some statesmanship and not this political vandalism that the Indian premier is resorting to.

For the sake of record-keeping, let us reiterate what Mr Modi uttered in his carried-away saffron fanfare: "…eat your bread or [choose my] bullet." This appears to be a page taken from the playbook of Nazism, which led the world into a catastrophic World War, devastating civilisations and humanity.

Such brinkmanship is quite common among other BJP and RSS stalwarts too, as they time and again feel like threatening Pakistan to raise their minion status at the cost of regional sanctity. The applause from the crowd adorned in orange and white outfits is a red flag, and it is high time the world community took notice of India's political terrorism following its aggression against Pakistan under the false pretext of Pahalgam killings.

Modi, as an elected leader of one of the world's largest democracies, must reflect on his policies, and the best way out is to clean the Augean stable by addressing the irritants between the two countries.

Pakistan's condemnation is noticeable, and it is right in asserting that the fire-spitting speech was intended to distract attention from the ongoing human rights abuses and demographic engineering in IIOJK, as well as the failure of the Operation Sindoor. The onus is on India's civil society and the general public to rise to the occasion and checkmate this war-mongering mentality by booting the incumbents out.