Modi has clearly won this round at UNGA but has to restore normalcy in J&K to ensure that the goodwill stays with us
Normally, speeches by heads of States at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) are really about taking notes for a global idea bank of the future. It is testimony to their leadership in meeting challenges unique to their own and presenting the lessons learnt to the world. On that count, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made full use of that brief in his speech and in the process recast India’s story as that of an emergent world power. So he transcended the binaries surrounding Pakistan and Kashmir, that one issue that has been whipped about as the only magnet of international attention, and talked about a multilateral world that ought to deal with shared concerns together. In this narrative, he shifted focus to India’s attempts at meeting UN development goals and how these could become a template for other developing countries, be it in managing resources, the most precious being water, climate change, hygiene and healthcare for the poor. Invoking the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or “the world is one family”, he argued why we no longer “have the option to confine ourselves within our boundaries.” In fact, he built up India’s social experiments as political capital, emphasising how we were at the forefront of the battle against climate change although our past contribution to global warming was very low. In fact, his commitment to combat single-use plastic at a practical level was suitably applauded. One may argue that Modi converted only the flagship projects of his Government as global selling points but, of course, you cannot deny him smart diplomacy by executing issues in real time that were mostly in the realm of intent so far, and aligning them with millennial goals. In fact, he linked the need for a harmonious society with the absence of terrorism. Invoking both the compassionate spirit of Buddha and quoting Swami Vivekananda’s vision of peace, he graduated India’s fight against terrorism as a common cause with other member-states, arguing that they should unite simply because terrorism undermined the reason for the UN’s existence. In the process, he reduced Kashmir to a subset of many conflicts around the world and seized the upper hand by not mentioning it at all. Besides, this stand is also consistent with the Indian position that the abrogation of Article 370 was within its Constitutional space and since it was its internal matter, it need not figure on the world stage. Modi also smartly referred to a democracy of 1.3 billion and how he won the biggest mandate, dispelling any apprehension of heavy-handedness and underpinning his worth as representative of the will of a nation. So yes, as far as optics is concerned, he did appear to display some statesmanship and maturity, claiming a space that Pakistan doesn’t have, making its pitch look short-sighted, predictable and parochial.
The latter’s Prime Minister Imran Khan actually was right in admitting that “for the world, India is a market.” And from the Pakistani perspective, he had no option but to go blazing guns on Kashmir, pressing all the buttons —Islamophobia, nuclear threat and a potential conflict — all with a huge dose of self-pity of a smaller nation defenceless against a big neighbour and ignoring his nation’s history of genocide. Coming after Modi’s speech, this provocation clearly didn’t have a context and fell flat. Except for China, which raised Kashmir as a “dispute from the past”, there were no echoes. But, of course, China should remember that its very act of pushing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was in contravention of UN principles. Besides, as US diplomats pointed out, if Pakistan staked claim to the championship of the Islamic world, it should raise the persecution of the Uyghurs Muslims by China. Of course, Modi has won this round and staved off overt US interest by getting a historic energy deal signed between Tellurian and Petronet. However, there is the moral victory that is still elusive, one that he himself set the bar for by repeatedly emphasising diversity, harmony and democracy. If he doesn’t want the tide of world opinion to swerve away, he has to address the lockdown in the Valley. While the world at large may have made peace with the legality of the changed situation in Kashmir, they are perturbed about a humanitarian crisis. It has been over 50 days and militant attacks have begun in spurts. The only way to counter this is by restoring a semblance of normalcy in civilian life there and allow voices to be heard. Even Kashmiris know that Article 370 had all but lost teeth and had remained a tokenism. But the muzzling of reactions fired them up and can erupt with volcanic fury.
