National Integration

 The Threat Within – A Ticking Time Bomb!

Brig R S Chhikara

[Brig RS Chhikara (Retd) is a senior military veteran of the Corps of Signals who has has hands on experience of strategic defence planning having held a number of high profile General Staff appointments in the Indian Army. Currently on the panel of a number of Organisations dedicated to societal and national issues, he writes regularly for periodicals and newspapers.  Here, he draws attention of readers to the issue of national integration and warns us of grave danger unless immediate remedial measures are effectively adopted. ]

A nation’s security paradigm has two distinct dimensions namely the external and the internal.  The first is reasonably well understood, widely debated and analysed. The second - the internal dimension of our security and integrity are neither clearly understood nor debated with the degree of gravity they represent.

We have China and Pakistan as our adversaries with a disturbing history of conflicts. Our relationship with other immediate neighbours is none too stable. The increasing talibanisation of Pakistan, acute instability in Afghanistan and increasing Chinese interest in the region add another sinister dimension to our external security paradigm. The defence forces are beginning to take baby steps towards coping with the possibility of a two front war. The Government of India, its security, diplomatic, economic and energy agencies etc are hopefully seized of the external security challenges and are making efforts to cope.

But, on the internal front, the situation is indeed worrisome with Pakistan and China actively fanning flames of separatism in Kashmir and the North East.  Proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir accompanied by the political cacophony seeking abolition of AFSPA, terrorist cells spread throughout the country and the withdrawal of MCOCA, the ever expanding foot print of Maoism in more than one third of the country and Lack of meaningful control over illegal immigration in Assam leading to social conflict throughout the North East are serious existing threats to national unity and integrity.

If that was not bad enough, other more sinister threats to India’s security and national integrity are lurking in the internal environment which are not even being openly acknowledged.  

1. Democracy as practiced in India is predicated on creating and sustaining ever deeper and wider  division of society into sectorial vote banks based on creed, caste , khap, language, ethnicity etc. Every politician tries to make these divisions more bitter and permanent.

2. Parties in power promote and perpetuate reservations and quotas to nurture their vote banks. Crony capitalism to favour the friendly elite, alienates sections that are outside the partiy’s vote bank or fund bank.

3. Our administrative,  law and order and judicial systems are incorrigibly corrupt and inefficient creating conditions for people taking law into their own hands.

4. Administrative and development bureaucracy is entirely unresponsive. Public security, health, education, transportation, power supply, water supply and civic services, all are in a state of terminal decay. There is complete lack of accountability.

Wide spread disaffection, frustration, anger and hatred among large communities which stand segmented into adversarial groups is reaching unmanageable proportions. The country is descending into lawlessness and anarchy.

We have witnessed the Gujjar Community in Rajasthan bringing  the entire North and West regions to a grinding halt; Tamilnadu high jacking our sensitive relationship with Sri Lanka; Bengal seriously impeding  international agreements with Bangladesh;  Shiv Sena encouraging and perhaps engineering serious conflict in Maharashtra  by fanning the Marathi Manoos sentiment Karnataka’s intransigence in the matter of water sharing threatening the basis of india’s federal structure,  communal clashes becoming routine in Mulayam ruled Uttar Pradesh and manifestation of institutionalised oppression of  Scheduled castes and tribals  

All in all, public angst against corruption, mis-governance and sectarian policies is reaching breaking point.  Individuals and groups, even the silent majority, now feel compelled to protest. These protests could manifest as sectarian clashes or militant anti-establishment agitation. Such a situation will undoubtedly be exploited by unscrupulous elements aided and abetted by inimical external influence.

The arrogant ruling elite may be tempted to use disproportionate force to suppress the surge of public protests. Real and more sinister possibilities will then emerge. Significant sections of police may well be sympathetic to the cause of their brethren on the streets. Alternately, if they resort to excessive coercion, they would be looked upon as parts of the corrupt establishment and may themselves, along with their families, become targets of attack leading to a complete paralysis of the state.   

This could then lead to the Armed Forces being sucked into the conflict.  As it is, there is considerable anti-establishment sentiment within the rank and file of the armed forces due to perceived injustice done to them by the ruling politico- bureaucratic combine. Catastrophic results could emerge if the armed forces, then feel tempted or compelled to supplant existing democratic institutions who would have in any case lost their moral credentials to represent the people.  

J K Rowling had said, “We (a nation) are as strong as we are united - as weak as we are divided.” It is a nation’s soft power (soft strength) that makes societies and nations cohesive and resilient. This intrinsic strength is derived from its culture, the concepts and practices of its political ideology, the efficacy of its law and order, justice and service delivery systems and equity quotient of its policies. It is only when these ideologies, policies and systems are seen to be working for the good of the people at large that the people see themselves as stake holders in  the nation state. It is only then that people stand together to protect and preserve it.   

This scenario may sound alarming but it certainly is not farfetched. Complete absence of public morality and all pervasive corruption in governance impacting the day to day lives of the people are symptoms of the same disease that had caused Naxalism, Maoism and regional separatism to sprout and grow. There are urgent lessons here for our politicians, administrators and society leaders to learn.  We need to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, “ A  house divided against itself cannot stand.”