Perils of Relying on American Support

The contemporary wars in the Indian subcontinent have seen an increasing involvement, or at least, mediation, by the United States. The subcontinental elite have relied far too much on the US to bring them victory in war. India learnt the lesson in 1962 when the US failed to provide India the much needed bomber support to win the war. For Pakistan, the moment arrived in 1971, when despite overt US support, it failed to preserve East Pakistan. Once again India seems to be relying on American support to achieve its objectives in Kashmir, imagining that personal relations with American leadership is enough to win wars.

The presence of President Donald Trump at the “Howdy Modi” event in Houston and the rather low-key criticism of India’s handling of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir led many Indian analysts to imagine that New Delhi’s brilliant diplomatic manoeuvres have defeated Pakistan’s efforts to exploit the complete shutdown of Kashmir for more than two months and to highlight it as the violation of human rights.

Since 2014, the tendency to indulge in premature celebrations and claim victory much before the final whistle is blown, has been a part and parcel of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government’s information management strategy. This is achieved through extensive use of propaganda in which all forms of media are employed, including motion pictures.