Condoleezza's Finger, Madam's Surrender

At long last, the cat is out of the Congress bag. P Chidambaram, that suave lawyer with the perpetual air of cross-examining the nation, has admitted that after 26/11 it crossed his mind that India should do some act of retribution against Pakistan, but the Congress-led UPA was told to hold its tongue and wait for "Madam’s orders."

So, while ten young fanatics turned Mumbai into a crematorium, our leaders were busy debating etiquette: Should we ask the Americans first? Will Soniaji approve? Will Rahul baba nod? In the process, Chidambaram has also managed to dismantle — albeit unintentionally — Rahul Gandhi’s favourite taunt of “Narendra Surrender.” For if there was surrender, the fingerprints lie squarely on his own party’s watch.

The confession is not shocking. We always suspected that the UPA, after crying its crocodile tears, chose to wear bangles instead of boots. What is amusing — in a black-humour sort of way — is the theatre of it. Imagine Chidambaram rushing to the prime minister: "Sir, let us retaliate." And Manmohan Singh, with his trademark economy of words, murmuring: "Shhh. Soniaji will decide." Condoleezza Rice flies in, wags her well-manicured finger, and lo! The world’s largest democracy surrenders without firing a shot.

Instead of jets, we sent mushairas. Instead of bombs, we sent business delegations. The initiative was called 'Aman ki Asha'. I called it 'Shanti ki Bheek' — begging for peace while the neighbour sharpened his knives. Editors and professors joined the chorus, writing solemn essays that "retaliation would be a strategic mistake." Pakistan was mad, they said, and possessed nuclear weapons. My grandmother had a simpler remedy for madness: tie the fellow up and give him a thrashing till he remembers his own name.

Contrast this with the present government. Love or hate Narendra Modi, he has no patience for drawing-room wisdom. He sent soldiers across in surgical strikes, sent jets in air strikes, and wrapped it up with Operation Sindoor. Did Pakistan collapse? No. Did it sulk? Yes. Did it use its nukes? No — they remain rusting in their silos.

The real scandal is not Pakistan’s villainy — we always knew the neighbour was a scoundrel. The scandal is the cowardice of our own rulers, who preferred applause in Washington to justice in Mumbai. Chidambaram’s confession proves what many already believed: that the UPA’s foreign policy was outsourced to foreign capitals, and its courage deposited in Swiss banks.

The truth has taken 17 years to crawl out of the cellar. But here it is, blinking in the light. The moral? You cannot govern a billion people with borrowed courage. Bangles may be ornamental, but they are no substitute for bombs.