By Sushil Kutty
The Chinese have their own idea of immortality. China plans for the next 100 years, if not for the next 1000 years. If that is not immortality, what is? The Middle Kingdom turned Communist and Mao Ze Dong took off with a vision, not just for China, but also for Tibet, Taiwan and, dare say, India—Pakistan-included.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is convinced there is a ‘China Plan’ for India, conceived in Doklam and garnished to deadly intent in Galwan. It is not a laughing matter, he told the Lok Sabha. But the Treasury kept laughing. “You have no idea,” Rahul looked them in the eye. The Speaker reminded Rahul who was ‘King.’
The Speaker runs the House. The worry is at the border—Doklam and Galwan, which is where the Chinese PLA hangs out when it’s not kidnapping Arunachali boys from further east. Rahul Gandhi says China’s plan for India was hatched in Doklam and fine-tuned in Galwan, where it was bare knuckles against nails-studded clubs.
‘Who won, who lost’ is lost in the mists on the icy slopes. China tried a cover-up of casualties. The Australians, who hate the Chinese more than the Taiwanese, did some fact-checking. The Chinese are sticking to “four of our killed”. An Australian investigative reporter says 38 Chinese PLA killed!
Why is Modi’s India sleeping? Why hasn’t India acknowledged the Australian investigative portal report and thanked it for setting the wrong right? Now, things have gone from bad to worse after the Chinese paraded its “Galwan Hero”, who carried the Beijing Winter Olympics torch! An honour that was lost on Indians.
So, we’re now closer to the USA. We are in the USA’s plan for China. The only problem is if Pakistan plays second fiddle to China, Modi’s India plays third or perhaps fourth fiddle to the USA. Does Modi really think India will replace the United Kingdom in the USA’s plan? It is a loaded question, but the answer is obvious.
The USA is no friend of any country. Neither is China. India boycotting the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics has neither angered China nor brought India and the USA closer. Henceforth, we’ll have to live with an even bigger Chinese plan for India.
Rahul Gandhi is not a ‘kal-ka-bachcha’, and like the Chinese he too has a clear plan. One is to return Amar Jawan Jyoti to India Gate. Two is to return Article 370 back to its place in history. That will also mend India-China ties. China harbours J&K dreams. And J&K must be in China’s 1000-year plan for India.
The Modi regime should start taking Rahul Gandhi seriously. Rahul has predicted many unsavoury truths about Narendra Modi including the one about Modi and the teleprompter fiasco. But Rahul needs to go back to school. Modi is rewriting history, Rahul Gandhi should refrain from tampering with history.
Pakistan-India-China with India sandwiched is old news. It starts from 1963 when Pakistan gifted several parcels of land belonging to India to China. The BRI and the CPEC bound China and Pakistan further tighter. And it is always at the height of icy winters that the Chinese PLA turns its march towards India.
The pity is that we don’t know for sure where we stand with China vis a vis Doklam and Galwan, not to forget Arunachal Pradesh. There are conflicting voices and conflicting reports and it’s a pity not many of us can make out Mandarin from Urdu, not even the pidgin Mandarin. Just shouting ‘Ni Haw’ and bidding goodbye with a loud ‘Xie-Xie’ doesn’t make a foreign policy. It should worry the Modi regime plenty that Indo-Chinese ties have hit rock-bottom under his watch. Our boundaries remain unmarked. Are the Chinese PLA inside India? Who knows! (IPA Service)