Author: V Sundaram
Publication: News Today
Date: September 29, 2006
URL: http://newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06sep/2909ss1.htm
Neville Chamberlain, the dethroned Prime Minister
of England during Second World War which began on 3 September, 1939 had to
wait for 68 years to find a rival who could put him to shame. Neville Chamberlain's
fall from grace began on 1 October, 1938, when he returned to an ecstatic
public reception in London following his meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich,
brandishing his now infamous Peace for all time (!) scrap of paper, with Hitler's
signature and his own, pledging that Britain and Germany would never again
go to war. Our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has repeated the same lurid
drama at Havana on 15 September, 2006 when he signed a joint declaration with
President Musharraf of Pakistan a sworn enemy of India to the effect that
both India and Pakistan have been victims of terrorism! Thus history has repeated
itself at Havana in September 2006. Neville Chamberlain unwittingly surrendered
to Hitler in 1938; Dr Manmohan Sigh has voluntarily surrendered to President
Musharraf of Pakistan.
As an organ of the State, our Lok Sabha today
is impotent, irrelevant, insolent, impudent and nationally irresponsible.
They do not seem to be interested in the supremely crucial issue of National
Security in all its aspects and ramifications. The MPs forming part of the
UPA coalition in New Delhi are more concerned about the survival of Sonia,
the super Prime Minister, than about the survival of our nation. They are
least concerned about Dr Manmohan Singh's political surrender to President
Musharraf at Havana or about the dangerous implications of this surrender
against the disgraceful background of our national security policy resting
on the Islam-embracing pseudo-secular pillars of voluntary equivocation, vacillation,
oscillation, nervousness and unction.
I have to contrast the disgraceful post-Havana
response of our MPs with the firm and historic stand taken by Sir Winston
Churchill in the House of Commons on 5 October 1938 against the meek surrender
of Neville Chamberlain to Hitler at Munich. Churchill called it, 'A total
and unmitigated defeat! His damning speech on that day struck a jarring note
that stood in stark contrast to the praise that was then being lavished upon
Chamberlain in Parliament, the Press and the nation. At this point, Churchill
could number his political allies in the House of Commons on the fingers of
one's hand. Let us hear the prophetic words of Churchill on that fateful occasion:
'If I do not begin this afternoon by paying the usual and indeed almost invariable,
tributes to the Prime Minister for his handling of this crisis, it is certainly
not from any lack of personal regard. We have always, over a great many years,
had very pleasant relations and I have deeply understood from personal experiences
of my own in a similar crisis the stress and strain he has had to bear; but
I am sure it is much better to say exactly what we think about public affairs,
and this is certainly not the time when it is worth anyone's while to court
political popularity. We had a shining example of firmness of character from
the First Lord of the Admiralty two days ago. He showed that firmness of character
which is utterly unmoved by currents of opinion, however swift and violent
they may be'.If that be so, such qualities and elevation of mind should make
it possible for the most severe expressions of honest opinion to be interchanged
in this House without rupturing personal relations, and for all points of
view to receive the fullest possible expression. Having thus fortified myself
by the example of others, I will proceed to emulate them. I will, therefore,
begin by saying the most unpopular and most unwelcome thing. I will begin
by saying what everybody would like to ignore or forget but which must nevertheless
be stated, namely, that we have sustained A TOTAL AND UNMITIGATED DEFEAT and
that France has suffered even more than we have'..Our nation should know that
we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel
far with us along our road ; that we have passed an awful milestone in our
history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged and that the
terrible words have been for the time being pronounced against the Western
democracies : 'Though art weighed in the balance and found wanting'.
'The Chancellor of the Exchequer said it was
the first time Herr Hitler has been made to retract (!) ' I think that was
the word' in any degree. We must not waste time, after all this long debate
upon the difference between the positions reached between us and Hitler at
Berchtesgaden, at Godesberg and at Munich. They can be very simple epitomised,
if the House will permit me to vary the metaphor. $1 was demanded at the pistol's
point. When it was given, $2 was demanded at the pistol's point. Finally,
the dictator consented to take $1.75 and the rest in promises of goodwill
for the future'.
President Musharraf has behaved like a dictator
at Havana in the manner in which Churchill described Hitler in the House of
Commons in 1938. Our weak Prime Minister has surrendered to him like a supplicant.
And this will be the inexorable and immutable verdict of history which is
no respecter of persons and personages - however mighty they might be.
The current hopelessly psychological condition
of the UPA Government can only be diagnosed as 'Stockholm Syndrome', which
came into vogue in 1973. This refers to a psychological condition in which
a victim of terrorism, finding himself powerless in the hands of a terrorist.
I fully endorse the principled and exact finding of B Raman in this context:
'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seems to have been smitten with the Stockholm
Syndrome ever since the Mumbai blasts of July 11, in which 184 suburban train
commuters were killed by suspected members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a Pakistan-based
terrorist organization and a member of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic
Front'.
The Islam-embracing UPA Government treats
all available documentary evidence of acts of terrorism in India sponsored
by President Musharraf and Pakistan as non existent and irrelevant for the
formulation of our National Security Policy. President Musharraf of Pakistan
is guilty of perfidy with regard to jihadi terrorism directed against India
from Pakistani territory with the help of organizations such as Lashkar which
operate under the control of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. Hitler
specialized in double dealing with both Russia and USA for several years.
Stalin saw through it from 1936 itself; President Roosevelt discovered it
only after Pearl Harbour attack in December 1941. President Musharraf has
been double dealing with India, Afghanistan, United States and England during
the last several years. After arresting 2500 people in Pakistan after 9/11
because of their suspected involvement in jihadi terrorism, President Musharraf
subsequently released them only for terrorism in India not only in Jammu and
Kashmir, but also in the rest of India. This action of President Musharraf
came soon after his peace accord with the humane (!) Taliban marauders in
North Waziristan.
President Musharraf may double deal with the
Americans, British, Saudis etc. and hood-wink them, but he will never never
let down the people of Pakistan. It has never been a democratic country, but
even the military dictators like Musharraf work for the permanent interests
of their country. But our dear secular leaders like Sonia Gandhi and our patriotic
Congressmen, who cry hoarse that they only led this country to freedom believe
in hoodwinking not only the communal and saffronized political parties but
also the innocent public and people of India.
The Americans are aware of the double dealing
of President Musharraf. So are the British; so are the Canadians; so are the
other NATO powers. Even President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has seen through
the wicked machinations of President Musharraf. All this is irrelevant to
our UPA Government and our great Prime Minister who seem to be in a happy
state of sleep after cheerfully swallowing their beloved sleeping pills of
pseudo-secularism based on anti-Hinduism! Our distinguished Prime Minister
and his office are treating the critical comments of all the retired civil
servants, police officers and diplomats of India as totally irrelevant in
the revolutionary context of their new found peace loving ally in President
Musharraf in our war against jihadi terrorism in India.
Our Prime Minister seems to be declaring to
Pakistan and the world : 'We will not dither to dither ; we will not fail
to fail ; we will not falter to falter so long as President Musharraf does
not disown his commitment to Indo-Pakistan Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism
with Islamic fervour and compassion'. Like our shaky Dr Manmohan Singh towards
Pakistan, his Congress predecessor P V Narasimha Rao buckled under US pressure
and shelved the nuclear tests in 1995. In contrast, our former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee will shine in the pages of history as a statesman whose
leadership was distinguished by diplomatic sagacity and political courage.
He ordered the conduct of 1998 nuclear tests without any imagined fear of
international and domestic backlash effects. He also undertook his historic
bus trip to Pakistan amidst heightened tension between the two countries.
The UPA Government and its Prime Minister
may view political courage as communal and non-secular and cowardice as secular
and non-communal! Winston Churchill whose track record in the field of politics
is no less distinguished than that of our national dejure Prime Minister and
that of our defacto international Prime Minister, said it for all time when
he declared : 'Courage always heads the long list of all great leadership
qualities because it only ensures the survival of all the other qualities'.
(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
e-mail the writer at vsundaram@newstodaynet.com
