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Friday, July 28, 2006
Israel Lebanon Hezbollah Conflict - What should India's position be ? OffStumped For All Things Right of Center, Bringing a Right of Centre Reality Check to Indian Politics, News Media Reporting and Opinion through Blogs and Podcasts. -- The Israel Lebanon Hezbollah conflict rages on for another week. Tony Blair flew across the pond for a tete-a-tete with this comrade-in-arms George W. Bush. The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is set to fly again to the Middle east. Meanwhile the Indian Navy evacuated over 1000 Indian Nationals from Lebanon. On Thursday Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a statement in the Indian Parliament. Here is what he had to say. Prime Minister Singh expressed serious concern about the escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah extending across the Lebanon-Israel border. In a reflection of shifting foreign policy visa-vis Israel and the Middle East, the Prime Minister reminded his fellow parliamentarians that India had condemned the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by the Hezbollah cadres and had called for their immediate release much to the chagrin of the left and some muslim vote pandering regional party MPs. Singh then went to strike a balanced note by criticizing the IDF's actions in what he called disproportionate and excessive military retaliation. Singh then went on to talk about the humanitarian aid extended by India to Lebanon and the efforts by the Indian Navy to evacuate Indian Nationals from Lebanon. Meanwhile Dr. Singh's main ally the Communist Party of India Marxist CPI-M lead by the Prakash Karat Sitaram Yechury combine played up its head in the sand world view by starting a signature campaign against Israel. The state intention of the campaign according to Sitaram Yechury is to exert pressure on the Manmohan Singh Government to take a strong stand against Israel in the wake of its continuing attack against Lebanon. It must be noted that Sitaram Yechury is a member of the Rajya Sabha and not the Lok Sabha and hence has never really represented directly the people of India. Of the 100 odd MPs who have appended their signatures to Yechury's campaign the bulk are most likely from Rajya Sabha representative of the electile dysfunctional political class with a political agenda not rooted in the grass roots reality of the country. This anti-Israel move is yet another example of this political class. Amongst Yechury's demands are moving the international community to impose sanctions against Israel and suspending purchase of arms. The principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP stayed away from the left sponsored signature campaign and has not taken a strong public stance one way or the other on the issue giving the Government a lot of wiggle room while focusing its agenda in parliament on other issues. So the question is what should India's position be on this conflict ? As always India's response to the unfolding series of events in the middle east must be guided solely by its strategic interests and nothing else. India must not allow silly stone age ideologies professed by the Left and rooted in the now defunct Non Aligned Movement to dictate its policy positions or diplomatic responses. India must also not entertain even for a second the divisive communally motivated opposition of the DMK, Samajwadi Party and the Telugu Desam, TDP which has less to do with Indian interests or policy positions but a whole lot to do with Muslim Vote Bank politics. Beyond humanitarian considerations India has no immideate stakes in the conflict between the Hezbollah and Israel. A prolonged bout of violence or an enlargement to other regions is no more India's interests than it would be for the United States or Europe. Indian diplomatic efforts must be to work with the International Community in building a consensus towards a sustainable peace in the middle east. The U.S. guided by its own interests and strong domestic support for Israel having initially chosen its own path is now veering towards working for a UN resolution and an International force mandated by the United Nations. To the extent possible India should lend its support to such an effort while it has international consensus. There is no need for India to go out of its way to take a silly moralistic position on this issue. Offstumped Bottomline: The Left with its ostrich like attitude to a changing world order in partnership with Muslim Vote Bank hungry regional parties is hell bent on taking Indian Foreign Policy to the Stone Age. Manmohan Singh's Congress Lead UPA Government must resist this move by the Left. There are no immideate strategic Indian interests at stake here. India must resist taking silly moralistic positions. The Indian Right must lend its unqualified support to the Government in working with the International Community in achieving sustainable peace for Israel and its neighbours by disarming terrorist elements like the Hezbollah and Hamas. Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Yossarin at 5:18 PM |
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