Friday, August 27, 2010

Roaring dragon, freaked out tiger

The recent incident of China denying visa to a senior Army official, who commanded forces in J&K, because of the "disputed" nature of the territory smacks of arrogance of a bully.
India has always been meek in its response to political, economical and military rebuke by the giant neighbour.

China has beaten India in every department be it sports, economy, standard of living, defence and social spending. This is despite we having a 'vibrant democracy' for the last 6 decades.

India decided to let go of the socialistic economy and adopt open market policy under the stewardship of Manmohan Singh in the 90s. However, what was and is missing is political will power and the courage to execute policies to serve national interests.

Even today we find the policies in every sector being framed to suit the interests of a few leading private players in that sector.
In mid 1950s and early 60s, when People's Liberation Army was occupying vast swathes of Indian territory, a pussy-whipped Nehru kept ignoring the advice of field officials and held on to his lofty ideals where he expected the Soviet friends to deter a Chinese invasion.

As usual, the idealist's ideas went for a toss and India was put through a humiliating military defeat. China dictated terms of peace and territory from a position of strength and the tiger was reduced to a whimpering kitten.

India learned its military lesson and upgraded weapons and increased the number of troops. However, the country's leadership again failed to match China in the massive infrastructure in place.

Chinese continue to claim Arunachal Pradesh as their territory and keep insulting India by denying visa to people from the region. Those who travel to China get their visa stapled to passport and not stamped on the passport itself.

India, always on the idealistic high pedestal, keep "summoning the Chinese envoy and registering protest".

When an economically resurgent India began exploring overseas business options, the Chinese have beaten us in all continents in every field of business.
C
hina has been arming a belligerent Pakistan and supplying them with expertise and equipment to build a nuclear bomb — true exponents of Tsun Tsu.

On the economic front, China has been the hub of production of spurious goods with 'Made in India' label so as to discredit India in foreign markets. In UN, China has been blocking India's entry to the Security Council using every possible resource.

So where are we lacking?
1. Lack of a powerful political leadership which is ready to put national interest as a top priority
2 Mismanagement of national resources and allowing private players to reap its benefits
3 Outdated foreign policy approaches
4 Lack of infrastructure and long-term vision and development objectives
5 Excess bureaucratic flab bogging down growth and innovation in every sector
6 Overbearing corruption, which ensures sabotage of national interests
7 Inability to aggressively pursue national interests and take out enemies of the state

Unless we pull ourselves out of this quagmire, stop shadow boxing and face the real issues, we will be reduced to the status of a mutt living off the crumbs that fall of the grand Chinese buffet.

No comments: