New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mastered the art of indicating left and turning towards Pakistan like an unstoppable force. His itinerary and comments before the Balakot strikes in 2019 and “Operation Sindoor” on Wednesday morning (May 7) are masterclasses in the art of deception, the strategy of dumbfounding the enemy with classic red-herrings.
Once is happenstance, but twice it is Modi’s war dance, a metaphorical tandav that explodes on the global stage without a hint. India struck Balakot just before dawn on February 26. At 9 pm, when Indian planes were ready to take off, PM Modi was addressing a summit organised by a media group in New Delhi. PM Modi spoke about India’s aspirations, development, and its resolve against terrorism. But, while the clock ticked in the background, the Prime Minister was sang-froid personified. There wasn’t a crease on his forehead, not even a worry line or shadow of doubt on his face.
They would have been pleased with PM Modi’s leadership by example — perhaps we’d see a chapter in some self-help book soon in the episode. If you don’t learn from history, you are condemned to repeat its mistakes. Had Pakistan analysed PM Modi’s behaviour before Balakot, it wouldn’t have been watching like a mute spectator on the night of May 6-7, when India hit nine targets across the Line of Control.
Just a few hours before the strikes, he appeared at a media event to talk about India’s aspirations and dreams of becoming an economic behemoth by 2047. In his address that lasted 30 minutes, the Prime Minister was the proverbial cool cucumber. He spoke with the calm of a man bereft of worry and stress, cracking jokes and avoiding the P word even when the audience seemed eager to hear him blast the neighbour for its support of terror attacks in India.
He talked about the inability of governments to take decisive actions because of the fear of public pressure, the “log-kya-kahenge” syndrome. There should be only one decisive factor–nation first. But, of course, only an accomplished mind-reader could have figured that PM Modi was giving verbal clues to the thoughts churning inside. The biggest feint was, of course, the announcement of war drills across India, indicating that PM Modi was still getting his country ready for military action and its repercussions. But, it turns out, it was just a strategy to give Pakistan the illusion of having the luxury of time.
Gurus of the art of war posit that if you know the enemy, there is very little chance of defeat in a battle. Pakistan can start by studying PM Modi — reading in his words what he leaves unsaid, finding in his actions motives that he hides, looking for signs of stress and anxiety that don’t exist.