People's Democracy

BJP’s Regressive Stand on India’s Neighbours

Prakash Karat

THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been taking a series of regressive and jingoistic positions on foreign policy issues and on relations with our neighbouring countries. The thrust of the BJP’s stand is to create a confrontation with Pakistan and China and to rouse national chauvinist feelings against these two countries. The approach of the BJP towards relations with Bangladesh is also governed by the same approach.

SUSPECT MOTIVE,

NARROW WORLDVIEW

The BJP, as the main opposition party in parliament, can be expected to adopt critical positions about the perceived  failings of the foreign policy of the UPA government. But the motivation for such attacks and criticism are suspect. They stem from a narrow worldview in which confrontation and conflicts with neighbours is sought to be fanned. They also emanate from a Hindutva ideological outlook which needs to see Pakistan as an enemy state and to paint China as a perpetual aggressor. All these are designed to serve the overall RSS-BJP combine’s aim to make the Indian state into an authoritarian national security state. In the case of the brutal killing of Sarabjit Singh in a jail in Pakistan, this reprehensible attack had to be condemned in the strongest terms and the demand made that those responsible for this crime be brought to justice. However, the BJP president, Rajnath Singh, utilised this occasion to demand that diplomatic relations with Pakistan be scaled down. The party also demanded that India’s ambassador should be called back for the time being. The BJP was, of course, not vocal about the unfortunate attack and death of a Pakistani national Sanuallah Khan who was lodged in a Jammu prison.  

The BJP has been steadfastly opposed to the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan. After the recent parliament elections in Pakistan, the PML(N) has won the election and Nawaz Sharif is now to become the prime minister. The BJP has disapproved of the invitation extended by the Indian prime minister to Nawaz Sharif to visit India. It called it a hasty step.  The RSS has gone further and stated that India must see whether Nawaz Sharif takes steps “to effectively rein in the radicals and ISI” before any talks could be held.

Contrary to what the NDA government under Atal Behari Vajpayee did in pursuing the dialogue process, the BJP now sets preconditions for any talks to be held with Pakistan on the outstanding issues between the two countries.

Regarding the Depsang incident in Ladakh due to the presence of Chinese troops, the BJP indulged in strident rhetoric. Its national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar charged: “Unfortunately, the government is not taking the issue very seriously. It is not the first time that Chinese troops have infiltrated or intruded into Indian territory,” and that “China is busy in aggressively increasing its influence in India’s neighbourhood.” The BJP deplored the prime minister’s remarks that it was a localised affair and declared that it is a complete abdication of duty. It also decried the home minister’s statement that troops come and go in no-man’s land which is not clearly demarcated around the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

PREFERRING TO ROUSE

JINGOISTIC PASSIONS

The BJP is not unaware of the steps taken by the two governments over the last two decades to settle the border dispute to maintain peace on the border. In September 1993, the two countries signed an agreement “On the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Control in the India China Border Areas.” This set out the steps to be taken to resolve the issues on the Line of Actual Control and maintain peace and tranquility along the border. 

Subsequently, in November 1996, the two governments signed an agreement “On Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the India China Border Areas.” This agreement lays out in a detailed fashion what are the steps both sides should take at the military level to avoid any confrontation or conflicts. It is this agreement which provided the basis for resolving the current standoff. During the six years of the NDA government, the Joint Working Group, which was set up in 1988, continued to work to discuss the border dispute. In fact, it was during the Vajpayee government in 2003 that Special Representatives were appointed with the political mandate to steer the negotiations. This was followed by another agreement in 2005.  This was called the “Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the Boundary Question.”

It is a fact that not much progress has been made since then on the boundary issue. But instead of pressing for that to go ahead, the BJP prefers to rouse jingoistic passions. It echoes its mentor, the RSS, whose paper, the Organiser, is filled with anti-China venom and calls for a halt to trade with China and ban  on all goods to be imported from China. 

The recent visit of the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, has led to the affirmation by both countries to increase trade and economic ties and to take forward the settlement of the border issue. 

The BJP knows very well that in the global situation today, cooperation between the two Asian giants is in the interests of both the countries as well as of Asia and the whole world. But its narrow rightwing ideology, and the need for rousing chauvinist feelings domestically, cloud its vision. 

CONTRARY TO INDEPENDENT,

NON-ALIGNED FOREIGN POLICY

Bangladesh is another important neighbour. During the Dhaka visit of the Indian prime minister in September 2011, the two countries came to an agreement on the land boundary which would involve exchange of enclaves and an end to adverse possession of territories by enabling a direct swap. India possesses 111 enclaves in Bangladesh and the latter possesses 51 enclaves on the Indian side. The people residing in these enclaves on both sides are deprived off citizenship rights and other entitlements. Resolving this issue was therefore an important step to improve the relations between the two countries. But the BJP has opposed this boundary agreement. Since this issue requires a constitutional amendment to amend India’s borders, and a two-third majority is required in both the houses of parliament for its adoption, the opposition of the BJP means that this agreement cannot be implemented as at present. 

The BJP rakes up the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh  and the treatment of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh and the handing over of some land to the other side as the pretext for opposing the agreement. It does not see the importance of resolving the border issues amicably with a country with whom cooperation is essential if the whole eastern and north-eastern region of our country is to develop. As far as the BJP is concerned, it does not bother about the struggle going on between the secular democratic forces and those representing Islamic fundamentalism. The BJP’s posture helps only the anti-India elements in Bangladesh, and this, in turn, is utilised by the BJP to further whip up anti-Bangladeshi feelings. 

The BJP has a consistently rightwing foreign policy. In contrast to the strident criticism of the UPA government’s foreign policy positions in South Asia and the neighbourhood, we cannot find any criticism of the Manmohan Singh government’s pro-US foreign policy positions. In fact, it was during the NDA government that the then prime minister, Vajpayee, declared that the USA is India’s “natural ally.” The other ally that the BJP values the most is Israel.  Hence there is no word of criticism at the burgeoning military and security collaboration between India and Israel. As far as the BJP is concerned, it still stands for what the late Brajesh Mishra termed as the US-Israel-India axis. It is this reactionary worldview that informs the BJP’s foreign policy outlook which goes against India’s anti-imperialist traditions and is contrary to an independent and non-aligned foreign policy.