Yedyoorappa (file photo)
"The entire world is keenly watching the Indian military attack targeting the tererorist camps in Pakistan and its aftermath. Our intervention has offered the opportunity to expose before the international community the terrorirst outfits based in Pakistan which target India.
The Indian diplomatic community in Delhi and in capitals around the world are in an intense campaign to raise a co- ordinated voice of the international community against the Pak policy of patronising terrorist forces. Such efforts have obviously paid in getting an upperhand too. And political parties in the country across party borders, have made it a point to stand together for national goals. Most of the parties have adopted an approach of giving top priority to the country's interst instead of pursuing narrow party-based political interests. At every stage of developments post-Pulwama attacks, this sense of unity was all too palpable. Naturally, it is incumbent on the government and the ruling party to be in the forefront of reinforcing that sense of unity, and to take it forward with greater cohesion.
However, it is unfortunate that the approach from the ruling party has been one of weakening that unity. Senior BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister BS Yedyoorappa said on Wednesday that our air strikes against Pak terrorist camps will make a Modi wave again, and claimed that this will enable the party win at least 22 seats in Karnataka. The statement reflects the narrow perspetive in which the BJP views a serious issue concerning the country's security and defence, and reveals the very mentality of the BJP. On the basis of this very statement, Pakistan has already begun its attempts to denigrate the country before the international community. Pak ruling party Tehreek-e-Insaf has by now used Yedyoorappa's speech in its official Twitter handle itself. Thus the statement in question tantamounts to giving a weapon for Pakistan to spread a campaign that the military action is nothing but an act of India's ruling party to win elections.
Opposition leaders have already alleged that the BJP and the prime minsiter are trying to politicize our steps against terrorism. Their charge is that when an airforce pilot of the country is in Pak custody, before saying anything to the nation about him, the prime miniser was speaking at a meeting of his party wokers. So far he has not found the time to address the nation at large about developments related to our borders, but he promptly appeared to participate in a video conference (touted as the 'largest video conference of the world') of party workers. And this happened when even the Opposition parties had suspended their party rallies and election campaigns for the time being. Naturally the Opposition's strong criticism was against this stance. These allegations and counter allegations only damage the sense of unity that has crystallized in the wake of Pulwama.
Every one is bound to sustain the tempo and awakening created by the brave moves of our forces with a just and reasonable cause. And if any quarter converts that awakening into a war hysteria and tries to make political profit out of it, that needs to be exposed too. Viewed in that angle, our Opposition, media and the civic society can be said to have behaved with a sense of responsibility which every one is obliged to maintain. At an hour of standing face to face with the enemy, nobody should assume a posture that creates a schism in our unity. Ultimately, our stances are based on the principle that peace should prevail.