Nukes not for poll rhetoric, either

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign is getting more and more shrill and aggressive, and he is entering new areas and invoking themes that are wrong and inappropriate for a prime minister to use in a political campaign. There has always been a consensus in the country that matters like the defence and foreign policy of the country, the armed forces and nuclear weapons policy are kept out of election campaigns and are not made issues of partisan political contestations and posturing. Parties, prime ministers and other leaders have generally stuck to the norm in the past, but in the current election campaign, the BJP and the prime minister have from the beginning given it a go-by. The party’s campaign has been predominantly on projecting Modi as a strongman using the Balakot airstrike and hostilities with Pakistan. The tone and tenor of this campaign has become sharper after the campaign has moved primarily to North and West India.

The most irresponsible of such statements and claims was made by Modi in Rajasthan’s Barmer on Sunday when he said that India has not kept its nuclear weapons for Diwali fireworks. He was talking about the nuclear threat from Pakistan and said India would not be cowed down by it and could use its nuclear weapons. This is loose talk about nuclear weapons and is not expected from the prime minister. India has always maintained that its nuclear weapons are for deterrence only. Nuclear weapons are not for bragging about from campaign platforms. India’s nuclear programme was begun under Jawaharlal Nehru and successive prime ministers ensured that it continued through difficult times and the country obtained nuclear weapons for its security long before Modi became prime minister. To flaunt them and use them as weapons for winning elections is wrong and unbecoming of the prime minister.

The prime minister did well to speak India’s mind on the suicide bombings in Sri Lanka on Sunday when he said that such acts of barbarism have no place in our region. To have then proceeded to talk lightly about the use of nuclear weapons, which would kill and maim countless people, was unconscionable and shows the desperation in his campaign, flogging the Balakot airstrike and using the armed forces repeatedly to prop it up. Armed forces veterans have expressed their displeasure over the use of the forces for political purposes. The Election Commission has been told of the impropriety and the violations of the model code of conduct by the prime minister in this respect. But the EC has failed to restrain him and his transgressions are becoming increasingly blatant and brazen.