Clap with neighbors not slap: Mani

Unmindful of earlier backbites including recent ambush and subsequent killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani intruders, Congress still shies away from taking hawkish tune against its aggressive neighbor. If one is to go by what senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer said during orientation ceremony held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, “slap approach” as being suggested by opposition is no solution, amicability with neighbors is significant and which can only be brought about through “clap approach”. He also added that exuding the zenith of patriotism, opposition might say “teach buggers a lesson but well one has to consider that those buggers have nuclear bombs too.”

Mr. Aiyer separately discussed India’s relations with each of its neighbors historically and also currently. He said that India has always shared rapport with Bhutan which still continues with bonhomie with current king Khesar Nagmyal. He cautioned that though India helped Nepal restore democracy in its state but given that it is a buffer between India and China, India must be hyper sensitive about their sensitivities. As for China, the geographical disputes still continue. Tibet and Arunanchal Pradesh are major bone of contentions yet economic bonding with China is strong. It is an irony that it was India who vehemently supported and assisted in the formation of Bangladesh yet the latter doesn’t seem to extend friendly hands.

He also doubted at foreign policy being a Centre prerogative given the fact that state governments increasingly and forcefully influence foreign policy stand for their own vested interests.

To surmise his entire lecture, India cannot afford to take a tough stand against its rough neighbors be it Bangladesh, SriLanka or even Pakistan because being in a globalized world it’ll take no time for small neighbors to summon in super-powers in order to fight against their mammoth neighbor i.e. India. Thus the only way forward for India’s Foreign Policy towards its neighbours is that “uninterrupted” and “uninterruptable” dialogue with them doesn’t come to stall.