With the sudden surfacing of a Pakistan element in the Indian discourses, the political scenario is in for a new spin. There is not enough of clarity about what India achieved in terms of the pre-dawn IAF attack on some installations in Balakot, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to sell the idea of India having achieved a major victory on February 26. There are the doubts, but overall India seems to have given full marks to PM Modi for the way a retaliatory strike was effected -14 days after the Pulwama suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy by Pakistan’s ISI-backed Jaish terror network. Now, there is considerable curiosity as to how this will impact the Lok Sabha polls two months hence. The notification for the polls is expected any time now.
The desperation in the Opposition camps is all too palpable. Top leaders in the Opposition camp are struggling to come to terms with the new reality. They have suddenly lost their voice, even to the extent that it would appear Balakot happened right in their courtyard and that they were still enveloped in a smoke. This being a defence-related matter, too much of questioning of the government at this juncture is an unacceptable proposition though they have their own doubts as to what IAF really did in Balakot. Pakistan, on its part, denies anything has happened there other than the loss of some pine trees – and complains to UN about an Indian attack on its ecosystems. Pakistan also denies it lost an F16 fighter jet – something that it should not have deployed for an act of aggression as per its promise to the US that delivered them the jets to fight terror on its soil.
The accepted fact is that India lost one MiG20 in the fight over the skies above the LoC on September 27. What is generally surmised is also that India did not do enough to defend itself when faced with an army of F16s, which managed to drop two bombs on Indian soil. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman saved the day for India by shooting down an F16, and found his fighter jet too was shot down. In reality, it was a mixed bag of some gains – of having reached up to to a distance of 80km inside Pakistan, undetected – and some losses. Yet, the overall feeling is India has done a job after Pulwama. Whether this will help Modi and BJP win the next polls is still a big question. Another question is whether the defence of the country’s territorial integrity should be used as political fodder.
