There is this one thing that marks the present government, making it quite different from earlier ones. Prime Minister Modi is not one who likes his officers sitting in air-conditioned rooms, poring over their files and sipping tepid cups of tea. He likes them on the ground, sometimes bluntly asking senior bureaucrats what they were doing in Delhi, when their presence was required on the ground in a crisis or even for a policy review.
In the case of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, such chiding is unnecessary. The NSA usually hits the ground running, and demands nothing from his men that he is not capable of doing himself, no matter how dangerous. So when Doval speaks on Kashmir, it’s a good idea to listen carefully. He’s sitting right there, and he’s showing no signs of leaving.
‘Jihadi tanzeems’ want nothing more than crowds pouring out on the streets, and lying wounded in hospitals to be interviewed by media.