There has been a lot of brouhaha over Modi being credited for Indian response post Pulwama through Balakot air strikes and surgical strikes on terror launchpads in POJK post Uri attack. Those critical have been arguing that the credit goes to the armed forces. Lets dissect and analyze it further.
The concept of a muscular response to the strategy of war through a thousand cuts has been around since 1993-94, when P.V. Narasimha Roa was at the helm of affairs as the prime minister. I was an 8th standard school student back then. India was in the midst of a transition, recovering from the post cold war effect coupled with political and economic commotion within. There hardly was any political will left for some action. The same continued with the United Front government which was in power for two years from 1996 to 1998. All through the tenures of P.V.Narasimha Rao and United Front governments, BJP under the leadership of Vajpayee and Advani, has been advocating a muscular response to the cross border terrorism on the lines of how Israel responds.
Following midterm elections in 1998, Vajpayee led coalition came to power, which went ahead with the long due nuclear tests. The coalition was unstable and fell after 13 months, leading to midterm elections. Then came Kargil in the period between the fall of government and elections. Even during Kargil, Indian political leadership has decided to not cross LOC. I was pursuing my 11th and 12th during this phase.
NDA(with BJP as lead partner) , riding on the Kargil victory couple with a current in favor of Vajpayee, came back to power general elections in 1999. The NDA tenure from 1999 to 2004 had lots of terror related incidents, be it Kandahar hijacking, Parliament attack, Kaliachuk incident, Swaminarayan temple attack etc. Post parliament attack, India went for a major mobilization and the expectation was that an attack across LOC is imminent. International community succeeded in convincing Indian leadership that they will force Pakistan to stamp down on terror factories, which Pakistan never did, but used the cool off period to play its nuclear card as a blackmail ploy. BJP lost 2004 elections and UPA(headed by Congress) came to power. I completed my Bachelors in Technology in the year 2004.
UPA was in power for two terms from 2004 to 2014. Of this, the period from 2004 to 2008 was particularly horrendous in terms of terror attacks and casualties. There were major terror attacks in Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad,Varanasi, Assam, Mumbai train blasts, Mumbai(26/11) etc. Such destruction and the ensuing public anger failed to make the political leadership press the button to hit across LOC. After two terms, UPA was kicked out of power in 2014 and then came in NDA-2 headed by Modi. By the end of UPA-1 and UPA-2, I completed my masters in engineering and worked for eight and half years as a software engineer)
By now, Pakistan was very confident that Indians lack the spine to bite the bullet. All they do is bark loud about teaching a lesson and then go back to their hibernation. Then came a major strike in the at Uri in the year 2016, which was avenged by Indian forces by crossing LOC to hit the terror launchpads. 23 long years after I first heard about calls for surgical strikes across LOC, India went for it. Pakistan surely is not going to change so fast and it did indulge in one more monstrous act at Pulwama, which made the political leadership order airstrikes on camps at Balakot, which is inside Pakistan(not POJK).
It is clear for every one except those pretending to be asleep to see who bit the bullet and who called the Pakistani nuclear bluff. Modi deserves the credit for political decision and armed forces for the execution part. The armed forces were ready all along, while the political will came in late. As I write this article, I have a masters in engineering and a work experience of 13.5 years.
The concept of a muscular response to the strategy of war through a thousand cuts has been around since 1993-94, when P.V. Narasimha Roa was at the helm of affairs as the prime minister. I was an 8th standard school student back then. India was in the midst of a transition, recovering from the post cold war effect coupled with political and economic commotion within. There hardly was any political will left for some action. The same continued with the United Front government which was in power for two years from 1996 to 1998. All through the tenures of P.V.Narasimha Rao and United Front governments, BJP under the leadership of Vajpayee and Advani, has been advocating a muscular response to the cross border terrorism on the lines of how Israel responds.
Following midterm elections in 1998, Vajpayee led coalition came to power, which went ahead with the long due nuclear tests. The coalition was unstable and fell after 13 months, leading to midterm elections. Then came Kargil in the period between the fall of government and elections. Even during Kargil, Indian political leadership has decided to not cross LOC. I was pursuing my 11th and 12th during this phase.
NDA(with BJP as lead partner) , riding on the Kargil victory couple with a current in favor of Vajpayee, came back to power general elections in 1999. The NDA tenure from 1999 to 2004 had lots of terror related incidents, be it Kandahar hijacking, Parliament attack, Kaliachuk incident, Swaminarayan temple attack etc. Post parliament attack, India went for a major mobilization and the expectation was that an attack across LOC is imminent. International community succeeded in convincing Indian leadership that they will force Pakistan to stamp down on terror factories, which Pakistan never did, but used the cool off period to play its nuclear card as a blackmail ploy. BJP lost 2004 elections and UPA(headed by Congress) came to power. I completed my Bachelors in Technology in the year 2004.
UPA was in power for two terms from 2004 to 2014. Of this, the period from 2004 to 2008 was particularly horrendous in terms of terror attacks and casualties. There were major terror attacks in Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad,Varanasi, Assam, Mumbai train blasts, Mumbai(26/11) etc. Such destruction and the ensuing public anger failed to make the political leadership press the button to hit across LOC. After two terms, UPA was kicked out of power in 2014 and then came in NDA-2 headed by Modi. By the end of UPA-1 and UPA-2, I completed my masters in engineering and worked for eight and half years as a software engineer)
By now, Pakistan was very confident that Indians lack the spine to bite the bullet. All they do is bark loud about teaching a lesson and then go back to their hibernation. Then came a major strike in the at Uri in the year 2016, which was avenged by Indian forces by crossing LOC to hit the terror launchpads. 23 long years after I first heard about calls for surgical strikes across LOC, India went for it. Pakistan surely is not going to change so fast and it did indulge in one more monstrous act at Pulwama, which made the political leadership order airstrikes on camps at Balakot, which is inside Pakistan(not POJK).
It is clear for every one except those pretending to be asleep to see who bit the bullet and who called the Pakistani nuclear bluff. Modi deserves the credit for political decision and armed forces for the execution part. The armed forces were ready all along, while the political will came in late. As I write this article, I have a masters in engineering and a work experience of 13.5 years.
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