As an apt reincarnation of Chanakya (nick name Indian Machiavelli), India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is out for anything to say and do anything to win another election. But given his pathetic performance and the electorate's growing ability to see through his game plan that remains a tough challenge. He had befooled the Indians once, and as public reaction to his governance suggests he may not able to do it again. All the way, his popularity chips are down. His Bharatiya Janata Party has lost elections in five crucial states, and his claim to be working to revive the Vedic Bharat no more gels with common people. And as for the trust of minorities, who constitute almost a one-third of India's population, in his leadership that is fully spent. This is what senior Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah has to say about India under Modi's order: "The walls of hatred are being raised in the name of religion in India and those who are opposing this injustice are being punished". And that would happen again, because Narendra Modi is a product of ultra-right politics.
Beyond India's national borders, it is the Muslim-majority neighbour, Pakistan, which is the natural target of Modi's warmongering. "It will be a big mistake to think that Pakistan will start behaving after one fight. It will be a long time for Pakistan to start behaving," he said at what some in India called a "manufactured interview". That 'one fight' he referred to is the so-called surgical strike in response to the Uri incident in 2016, which his government claims to his credit, but not verified by visiting foreign journalists. Since this 'surgical strike' sells with the preachers and practitioners of Hindutva, it is put on display whenever the going gets tough for the New Delhi establishment. A few weeks back, India's army chief Bipin Rawat, who presides over the present times most brutish massacre of Kashmiris, had also threatened a 'surgical strike' against Pakistani positions in Azad Kashmir. Modi is indeed a clever technician but he is hopeless strategist. His principal tool of governance and politics is religious extremism. No wonder then that thanks to his hatred-promoting mindset his BJP lost election in Madhya Pradesh because it didn't sit well with the electorate, both Hindu and Muslim, who rejected to be ruled by a saffron-clad Hindutva priest. Chanakya says "a person should not be too honest," and his present-day disciples, including a part of Indian media couldn't be an exception to his dictate. This chunk of anti-Pakistan media moved a step further - by claiming that it is Pakistan that is planning a 'surgical strike' on India, and Prime Minister Modi's take on the subject was only a riposte. Though that is not the case; Pakistan is bending back, almost dangerously, to assure the Indian public that it has no plan to launch a surgical strike against their country - knowing fully well that while the Indian media was misinformed, if not prejudiced, the Modi's surgical strike threat is only a bluff to win electoral dividends and divert world attention from his government's brutal treatment of people of Held Kashmir. "We are peaceful and want to remain peaceful," says Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, adding that "though we (do) understand India's sinister designs." As ever, Pakistan is on alert. Should India launch a surgical strike inside Pakistan there would be a matching response in just no time, and this may be harder. If India is a nuclear-weapon state so is Pakistan, and in terms of conventional weaponry the country's forces are suitably equipped to fight on ground, in air and on the seas. If Modi is bluffing to win election, it is then the Indians' own concern. That Modi is the kind of uber hawk who will always choose war over conciliation is a fact. Little does he, however know, that he will certainly end up tripping over his own two feet.