In the country, do we trust?!

I understand that many in the ranks of the opposition in this country, and a whole lot of so called enthusiasts on social media, are baying for the Governments blood, asking why enough details of the adventure or otherwise at the  Chinese border is not being made public. There is also one leader of a principal opposition party who seems to have asked why the government hadn’t taken the opposition into confidence before making any move to keep our borders in tact.

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There is no doubt that the government of the day has not been good at communicating a whole lot of things with the people of the country, particularly, in things that have consequence to the lives and welfare of people all over. Take for example the issue of how the initial perception was done by the leadership and governments across, when Covid broke out initially in the country. We can surely say that wrong expectations were created in the minds of the people, and an impression given that we as a nation are well prepared to tackle the epidemic, and the situation will pass with not much of collateral damage.  (you may want to read this, on the topic of Communicationand Covid in India).

Now cut to the topic of communicating details on the attacks at the Chinese border, and precious lives of our brave heart soldiers lost in the process. The government through both the defence spokesperson and the executive leadership has clearly mentioned the factual position and that there were not incursions into the Indian Territory as portrayed by some sections of the media. Yet, in the process of defending our soil, there has been avoidable loss of lives of our soldiers.

Rather than consuming the information at face value, sections of our media and citizenry have been busy in picking holes on what has been communicated, why it has not been said in time, and why the government is not sharing enough and more details as in how the attack was executed in-situ.

These is a bit unique to our nation, and its psyche, and think no other country in the world, when it comes to matters of national security and integrity, what the government of the day is views with a lens of doubt. While it is good to be endowed with a robust democracy with enough room to criticize the leadership in various issues, if the same is extended to matters of defense and military operations, then it only means that such communication could become a potent weapon in the hands of the attacking country, in any later day aggression. This is as good as common sense, but has become so uncommon, in sheer hatred and doubt on the military and leadership might of the nation.

Also, most of us here, seem to be more convinced that the opposite side in this conflict is more true than our own government and leadership, and are hell bent on scoring political brownie points, by using the discomfiture of the government, and our forces, in some aspects as to how our soldiers went down fighting. No other nation would even have allowed these details to be discussed in public forum, and we can say safely that the media here is also to be blamed for pandering to such elements.

Contrast to this – the Chinese official media, and media sympathetic to the communist party, the party in power there has been sputtering non-stop nonsense, and trivia, not even acknowledging the casualties in the Chinese side, despite the number being significant, and more than what the Indian side suffered. It is a different story if these utterances are being bought by the common public across the border. But, here it is important to note that there is neither is there any  perception of discontent with how the Chinese forces conducted them on  the fateful night, nor are there any murmurs on why enough has not been given out in public. The contrast with what happens in India, is stark, and actually unreal – to the point that we become a laughing stock to the rest of the world.

Think it’s good for us to bear in mind, that when it comes to matters of national integrity and in matters of national security and defense, its reasonable expectation that the country ought to trust its executive and political leadership. That’s what most countries of the world do, if you look around carefully.