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BJP boasted of decisive action against Pak, under pressure now
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the 2014 parliamentary polls, Narendra Modi had claimed before a gathering of ex-servicemen in Haryana that the “problem” was in Delhi and not
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the 2014 parliamentary polls, Narendra Modi had claimed before a gathering of ex-servicemen in Haryana that the “problem” was in Delhi and not at the borders, and declared that only a “competent, patriotic and people-oriented government” at the Centre could solve the problem.
In January that year, Sushma Swaraj, then leader of opposition, dared the Manmohan Singh government to get 10 heads from the other side of the border if Pakistan did not return the severed head of Army jawan Hemraj.
Three years to the muscle-flexing, the BJP is being pulled down by the weight of expectations it created with promises of a decisive leadership that will deal aggression with an iron fist.
BJP leaders were expecting that the PM’s recent raking up of human rights violations in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir coupled with a hardline approach on Kashmiri separatists would go down well with its supporters ahead of elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
But incidents like Uri could undo the gains that the BJP might have hoped to secure from the muscle-flexing, and mount pressure on the party to go beyond rhetoric and be seen as taking “action” against Pakistan.
The response of BJP leaders to the attack stuck to similar rhetoric that aims to address its core constituency. BJP chief Amit Shah blamed Pakistan for helping terror outfits to destabilise India and said the fight against terror was at a “decisive stage”.
“For one tooth, the complete jaw,” BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said. His response was after Modi “assured” the nation that those behind the despicable attack will not go unpunished. Home minister Rajnath Singh called Pakistan a terror state.
But Swaraj, now external affairs minister, was missing from action on Twitter that she uses more than often to air views.
