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The Hubris of Indifference: Abandoned Punjab

  Punjab. Yes, Punjab. The land that once champion of Green Revolution, that filled Delhi’s plates, that supplied grain for war and peace alike. Today? Reduced to standing in Delhi’s darbar with a begging bowl. And the darbar—majestic, distracted, full of hubris—barely glances. Punjab, it seems, is now the unwanted child of the Republic. A state tolerated, not embraced. Consider the floods. Villages drowned, crops ruined, forty-six lives lost, more than 1.5 lakh people affected. Punjab was gasping, but the Prime Minister? He was campaigning elsewhere, cameras clicking, slogans soaring. His Punjab visit came later, reluctantly, perfunctorily, as if someone in the “royal secretariat” pencilled it into the diary. Contrast this with Indira Gandhi. Whatever her motives, when bombs fell or borders bled, she rushed to Punjab. Yes, it was theatre, yes, it was for cameras—but Punjabis felt seen. Today, the subliminal message is crystal: Punjab’s pain is optional. The Guardian —a Londo...

The Dragon Smiles While Modi Shouts ‘Khalistan!'

  https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/dc-comment/dc-edit-work-closely-with-canada-to-tackle-khalistan-threat-1886553 The Deccan Chronicle editorial calling for closer cooperation between India and Canada to tackle the so-called “Khalistan threat” is a textbook example of "locking yourself in a burning house to escape a mosquito". It is an editorial soaked in security-state talking points, and utterly blind to the far more pressing threats confronting India’s foreign and domestic policy. And while we’re at it, it’s time someone called out the Modi government’s real failing: not in what it obsesses about, but in what it consciously chooses to ignore. Let’s begin with the most uncomfortable, but essential, truth: the ghost of Khalistan is more a product of political theatre than geopolitical reality. In this regard, Narendra Modi bears uncanny similarities to another strong-willed Indian leader Indira Gandhi,  men and women cut from different ideological cloths but sewn i...