Why is Parrikar Positioning Himself as Part of an Unruly Brigade?

Why is Manohar Parrikar trying so hard to be a part of the unruly saffron brigade, asks Sanjay Pugalia.

Can you spot any difference in the utterances of Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the fringe group that never loses an opportunity to create unnecessary controversies? It is tough to find any, if at all there are any.

Remember his “going to Pakistan is same as going to hell” statement? Is he not contributing to the growing lumpenisation of the political discourse already being forced on us by a fringe group? Some pracharak saying something like this can be ignored. But it doesn’t bode well for the defence minister of a powerful democracy that takes pride in its civilisation to make such an inane comment.

Blame Game

It is one thing to deride the Pakistani establishment, the ISI or the so-called non-state actors that have grown bigger than the state. They deserve all opprobrium and we have all the reasons to take them to task. But to compare a sovereign nation, which also happens to be our neighbour, with “hell” is in very bad taste. It does not befit our
defence minister.

Let us not forget the context. Not so long ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to be a guest at his swearing-in ceremony. We still remember warm hugs exchanged then. PM Modi also unexpectedly landed in Lahore to wish Sharif on his birthday. There were genuine attempts to establish friendly ties with our estranged neighbour Pakistan. How could Parrikar miss the context?

Is Parrikar’s statement part of a plan to divert attention from the government’s mishandling of the Kashmir situation? The government clearly looks helpless and lacks a coherent plan to resolve the issue.

History of Wild Allegations

The “hell” statement is not one off. Parrikar had raked up an unnecessary controversy by targeting actor Aamir Khan recently. Faced with all round criticism, he clarified that he did not take any name. He took pride though in the fact that he knew a team that was targeting an e-commerce company for making certain actor its brand ambassador. The reference clearly was about Aamir Khan.

Parrikar is reported to have said once that Pakistan needs to be “taught a lesson”. In fact, ‘teaching Pakistan a lesson’ kind of statement is a thread that connects Parrikar to the fringe groups.

The defence minister has had a fair share of unsavoury comments to his credit. Defence expert Manoj Joshi lists some. Parrikar is reported to have said once that India is ready to send its troops to fight the ISIS. On some other occasion, Parrikar had said that one of the former Prime Ministers had worked against the national interest. He did not name anyone though.

The point is if the defence minister knows something like this he should have come out in public with details. He has done none of it. Are such wild allegations justified?

Belonging to the Saffron Brigade

At a time when an ABVP worker questions the “patriotism” of actor Ramya or a reputed organisation is taken to task for “promoting anti-national” activities, should not the defence minister be careful with his pronouncements?

Parrikar, on the contrary, is doing his bit to add to the shrill voices of nationalism, Bharat Mata, tiranga, Kashmir and Pakistan. Is it because of the impending assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh? May be the idea is to keep the polarising narrative alive.

We had expected an altogether different discourse from Parrikar when he had landed in Delhi from Goa. He had a reputation of being a tough task master with very high level of integrity. The IIT alumnus was supposed to bring in a breath of fresh air in the rough and tumble of Delhi politics. We have not seen any of that so far. For someone who was supposed to compete with the likes of Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Sushma Swaraj, Parrikar is seen to be competing with the likes of Giriraj Singh, Niranjan Jyoti and VK Singh. It is difficult for us to digest.

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