Russia, Poland, France, Italy, USA, England, Japan, China and many other European countries were the ones actively involved or affected during the World War 2. It should not take a length of words to explain why these countries have an aggressive National Security approach now in the modern world.
The horrors from their ordeal of having a foreign invader on their motherland are still afresh & drive their foreign policy in a big way till date. Interestingly, for an average Indian voter this link between a Historic War & modern day foreign policy will seem to be laughable, and that laugh should be alarming for India.
In November 2008, India was attacked covertly by Pakistan in its deadliest terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26/11. With elections in 2009, after such a serious lapse in National security (5 terrorists killed more than 180 innocent people in a 3 day long hostage drama) nobody with rational thinking would have expected the careless Congress government to return to power. But, it did. Because an average Indian voter does not keep National Security as the highest priority in the list of his issues.
After Modi government took over in 2014 with a mammoth mandate, the Prime Minister has made great efforts in changing the shape of our Foreign Policy for the better. For India's security interests we need to have strong relations with the developed and developing nations. Diplomacy played by India within these circles will keep Pakistan & China under check around us. Modi knows this and hence is making strong efforts to revive India's image to get an upper hand when sitting on the negotiating table with our rivals.
But again, the way our opposition leaders have criticised PM for his visits abroad resonates the fact that an average Indian voter doesn't really understands the importance of National security. Had a majority of Indians given it the importance it deserves, in the list of all other issues, our Congress friends would not have dared to raise such points in the parliament so confidently.
As a student of Political Science my understanding for this mindset of an average Indian voter is based on two facts:
1. Indians have been misled about their history from decades
Our History books have made us embrace invaders as Indians (read Mughals), mass-murderers as legends (read Tipu Sultan) and conquerors as saviours (read the British).
Even when our ancestors faced the wrath of invaders, struggling to save their homes, families and lives, (documented proofs and facts of such situations available in public domain) we have been made to believe that they happily lived under "Mughal Empire" & other invaders. An average Indian voter doesn't really understand what it's like to be invaded by or to live under a foreigner's rule. The freedom that we have enjoyed all these years, without any obligation of civic duties, have made us think less & less about what will happen if the same freedom is put at stake.
2. India has never faced a full fledged War on its streets
France, Russia, Ukraine and even England are living examples of the Nations that have faced bloody battles on the streets. Even now these countries have families who can recall the horror of such times. With such experiences a better sense of prioritising National Security comes naturally. India never had such a situation. We fought many wars but they were limited to our borders and previous governments never cared to include the stories of these battles in our history books.
Had we known the truths of Invasion of our great nation and the atrocities that our ancestors faced this air of apathy towards India's security issues would not have been the case.
Its a chicken & egg situation for India right now. Since India never faced a War that touched its population entirely, Indians tend to be careless about National Security. On the other hand, if Indians tend to continue their callousness towards country's security issues they might just end up with a War in their streets. Dangerous!
Now is the right time to wake up from our slumber & look beyond roti, kapda, makkan or personal gains. Let us vow to keep Nation first every time & always and make our leaders, government & opposition accountable for it on a priority basis.
Good analysis. I was hoping for more reasons. Perhaps you could write a follow-up blog post to this?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've also written on foreign policy recently, do try to come by.
philip@mail.postmanllc.net
ReplyDeleteGreat Reasons but i have more reason to Indian Voters take National Security for granted and i am share these reason on Car towing service. Please visit on my post.
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