Islamabad, Pakistan – Former Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhrysaid he didn’t realize that a three-word post on social media platform India.
“Rahul on fire…” he wrote while reposting a video clip of Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s opposition Congress party, in which he could be seen criticizing the Prime’s ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul on fire…. https://t.co/6pi1mL0bQN
– Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 1, 2024
Chaudhry’s message, published in the middle of The massive electoral process in India which spans seven different voting days, starting in April and ending in June, immediately went viral, racking up more than 1.8 million views. It was retweeted 1,800 times and received more than 1,500 replies.
Among those who responded was Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT wing, who oversees the party’s vast social media machinery. Malviya accused Chaudhry of promoting Congress leader Gandhi.
“Is Congress planning to contest elections in Pakistan?”. Whether it is a manifesto bearing the imprint of the Muslim League or resounding support from across the border, the Congress’s alliance with Pakistan cannot be more evident,” wrote Malviya.
The Muslim League, one of the major political forces in pre-partition India, was behind the movement that led to the creation of Pakistan.
Ch Fawad Hussain, who served in the Imran Khan cabinet, as Minister of Information and Broadcasting, promotes Rahul Gandhi.
Is Congress planning to contest elections in Pakistan? From a manifesto bearing the imprints of the Muslim League to resounding support, from… pic.twitter.com/XllqlWdlAR– Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) May 1, 2024
A day later, Modi himself referenced Chaudhry’s post at an election rally in his home state of Gujarat.
“You must have heard. Today, Pakistani leaders are praying for the Congress,” Modi said. “Pakistan is too keen to make the prince (Gandhi) the prime minister. And we already know that Congress is Pakistan’s disciple. The Pakistan-Congress partnership is now on full display.
Since then, Pakistan has repeatedly appeared in speeches by Modi and senior BJP leaders, such as Home Minister Amit Shah, as a battering ram with which to both target the opposition and demonstrate the heavy-handed response of the government during tensions with India’s western neighbor.
After a Congress veteran referred to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, Modi used a crude sexist metaphor in Hindi to suggest his government would show Pakistan where it belongs. Shah, in a speech, said India under Modi had given a “befitting response” to Pakistan’s “terrorism”.
Modi accused the Congress-led opposition INDIA alliance of fighting for Pakistan, giving the neighbor a “clean cut” when it was accused of “terrorism”.
This increased focus on Pakistan stands in stark contrast to the months of campaigning leading up to May, when relations between the neighbors were virtually non-existent as an election theme.
Chaudhry, whose message apparently started it all, said he was stunned. “I didn’t expect this kind of reaction, especially from their Prime Minister Modi,” the politician told Al Jazeera.
The Pakistani government also hit back at Modi and Shah’s comments, calling them an “unhealthy and ingrained obsession with Pakistan.”
The statement, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 14, said the Indian leaders’ comments revealed a “deliberate intention” to exploit hypernationalism for electoral purposes.
“The bravado and chauvinism displayed by Indian leaders reveal a reckless and extremist mindset. This mindset calls into question India’s ability to responsibly manage its strategic capabilities,” the statement added.
However, Pakistan’s intervention in Indian elections is not new; in the past, it has sometimes even become a dominant flavor.
A nationalist story
The two neighbors have had tense relations since they became sovereign states in August 1947, following the end of British colonial rule on the subcontinent. Nuclear-armed nations have fought three major wars and share a disputed border around the world. Himalayan region of Kashmirwhich they both claim in their entirety but only rule in parts.
Modi and his BJP won a second consecutive term in power in the 2019 elections, during which the party’s campaign focused heavily on Pakistan.
On February 14, 2019, a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian paramilitary forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 46 soldiers. The Pakistan-based armed group Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility. Pakistan condemned the attack and denied any involvement. But India has long accused Pakistan of harboring groups like the Jaish-e-Muhammad.
Days later, on February 26, Indian warplanes crossed the Line of Control – the de facto border between the two nations in parts of Jammu and Kashmir – and bombed what New Delhi claimed were hideouts of armed fighters preparing to target India.
Pakistan retaliated a day later, sending its own fighter jets into Indian-controlled territory, shooting down an Indian plane and arresting the pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, who was released two days later.
The nearly week-long skirmish between the two days brought the two nuclear-armed nations to the brink of war, just weeks before India’s elections that year.
Subsequently, Pakistan remained a key part of the election campaign. After several think tanks and independent analysts concluded, based on their investigations, that Indian planes did not hit any significant targets when they entered Pakistan-controlled territory, opposition parties demanded to Modi’s government with evidence of the success he had claimed in the mission.
Modi turned the questions around, saying they showed how the opposition did not trust India’s armed forces and instead believed more in Pakistan – which had also denied any major damage caused by Indian strikes.
Although the Indian prime minister has once again brought Pakistan into the election campaign, Walter Ladwig, lecturer in international relations at King’s College London, said that compared to 2019, Islamabad was now a secondary concern for New Delhi, Beijing becoming the “main concern”. foreign policy challenge.
“It is true that the events of the 2019 Balakot attack were used in the campaign, but it was quite an unusual event,” Ladwig said, referring to the Pakistani city bombed by Indian aircraft. “In this election, I view the invocations of Pakistan as a way to distract from the fact that India has lost territory to China and the government has been unable to significantly improve the situation or achieve a return to the pre-2020 status quo.”
Ladwig was referring to the clashes between India and China in June 2020 in the Himalayan region of Galwan, where more than 20 Indian soldiers died, while China lost four soldiers.
Since then, numerous independent analysts have highlighted evidence that the People’s Liberation Army has retaken chunks of territory that India previously controlled along its disputed border. The Indian government denies losing land to China.
Is this just rhetoric?
Despite the backlash over his May 1 post, Chaudhry redoubled his efforts and two days later he posted another message, suggesting that religious minorities in India could pose a significant challenge to the BJP if they united.
If Modi g and the BJP can be so shaken by my tweet alone, imagine what enlightened and progressive Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus can do together? These classes must come together to defeat the narrative of division and hatred and support anyone who can stop the menace of Modi, be it Rahul or Mumta…
– Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 3, 2024
A few days later, Modi once again insinuated a pact between the Congress party and Pakistan, without providing any proof.
“Congress’s cross-border B team has become active. Tweets are coming from across the border to boost morale in Congress. In return, Congress gives a clean chit to Pakistan in cases of terrorism,” he said.
Qamar Cheema, an international affairs expert and executive director of the Sanober Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank, said the campaign’s references to Pakistan reflect the “changing nature of the idea of India” as a secular state. to a Hindu majority state. political regime.
What happens if the BJP wins again?
Many opinion polls suggest Modi and the BJP are the clear favorites to return to power for a third time.
If that happens, Chaudhry, the former Pakistani minister, said bilateral relations – already barely functional – would suffer further.
“If the BJP and Modi win the elections by sweeping the polls, as they claim, relations with Pakistan will not improve, but will deteriorate further,” he said.
But some analysts say that despite Modi’s rhetoric, Pakistan’s endemic economic problems and India’s desire to focus its attention on the Chinese threat are prompting New Delhi and Islamabad to significantly improve their relations.
Several Indian governments over the past decades, Ladwig pointed out, have tried – unsuccessfully – to work with their Pakistani counterparts to improve bilateral relations. During his first term, Modi also made a surprise visit to Pakistanas neighbors attempted to restart talks before an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir shortly after extinguished those prospects.
“But now, in his third term, Modi will reflect on his legacy,” Ladwig said. “Some sort of lasting rapprochement with Pakistan” could serve this purpose, he added.
