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archive: Democracy Is High Virtue

Democracy Is High Virtue

Editorial
The Statesman
June 24, 1999


    Title: Democracy Is High Virtue
    Author: Editorial
    Publication: The Statesman
    Date: June 24, 1999
    
    IT is one thing for the Congress spokesman, Ajit Jogi to express
    disappointment that the G-8 statement on Kargil failed  to call
    Pakistan by name as the principal culprit, quite another to insist
    that it was merely "an iteration of the Sartaj line".  The one is
    permissible, the other is dishonest and mischievous. The statement
    called for the withdrawal of the intruders  and Jogi and his boss who
    must have cleared the statement, must know that even Sartaj did not
    suggest that India sent  people into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and
    redirected them across the Line of Control on purpose to blame
    Pakistan. It  remains to express the hope that the "craze for foreign"
    implicit in Jogi's reaction is merely a misjudgment for which the 
    party is acquiring quite a reputation and not influenced by the
    foreign element in the party itself. 
    
    The other point that needs to be noted is that the only credible voice
    from the Congress on the subject so far is that of  the respected
    Manmohan Singh who warns, and rightly, that a prolonged conflict will
    harm the economy. As is expected  of him Dr Singh makes sense even if
    no one else in the party does. Both countries must count the cost and
    if anything  Pakistan is in a worse mess as far as the economy is
    concerned. But that is another argument and has been discussed in 
    these columns.   
    
    Perhaps for the first time since the dispute over Kashmir, so casually
    complicated by Jawaharlal Nehru, a statement from  a group of powerful
    economic nations has vindicated India's position. Quite simply and for
    Ajit Jogi's benefit it is that the  intruders must withdraw before
    serious talks can take place, no country is obliged to place itself in
    a position where it can  be conned twice. There is a danger here.
    First, we must do what must be done, not wait on anyone's agreement
    or  endorsement, something the Vajpayee government is doing with a
    panache that has not been seen for a long while. This  newspaper has
    been the first to criticise the Defence Minister and the Parliamentary
    Affairs minister for shooting their  mouths off simply because there
    is a microphone in front and a friendly reporter holding it. That has
    stopped and there is  a much firmer grip on the situation which is
    welcome. We also ask that the Rajya Sabha be convened; the democratic 
    process must not be suspended simply because there is a serious
    conflict on our borders and for the same reason we  insist that
    elections be held on schedule. Remember Churchill's words as the House
    of Commons continued to debate the  war even as bombs rained on
    London. When the House itself was destroyed they met elsewhere but
    they continued to  meet. He said the Opposition "strove hard to
    present the government as a set of nonentities over which the Prime 
    Minister towers, and then to undermine him in his own heart and before
    the eyes of the nation. All this poured out to all parts of the world
    by cable and radio to the distress of  all our friends and the delight
    of all our foes." And then thundered the old war-horse, "I am in
    favour of this freedom,  which no other country would use or dare to
    use, in times of moral peril such as those through which we are
    passing."  That was Britain's finest hour. Let us try to reach the
    same heights.
    



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