While, Indian media has been more restrained this time in waging a blitzkrieg against a hegemonist neighbor, it is the Chinese media which is going overboard in revving up war hysteria much more than India and cautioning India of the consequences of the Dokhalam misadventure. While Modi has been firm, and his government more assertive on the Dhokalam issue, it is the Chinese premier who has been more pugilistic including his relentlessly poignant speech on the Chinese army day celebrations.
1962, once slighted, forever shy, India on the other hand, has been ghosting Chinese border infringements and incursions as a part of the Nehruvian policy of perpetual denial of Chinese threat, under Modi however, practical realism has been much more pervasive than ever in the past, and the mood has been changing. Had a Dhokalam been orchestrated by Pakistan, the Indian media would have by now tried Pakistan on its multiple channels and declared war on it. With China, somehow, the reportage is more controlled and calibrated. The reasons notwithstanding, the outcome is good.
Relationship with China has always been precariously balanced. The Chinese army owes historical allegiance to the Communist army of Mao. That army was raised from a poignant peasantry, trained in guerrilla warfare and fed on the hate of the class struggle, very different from the Indian army, which fights more for valor and honor much more of the soldiers’ village than of the country.
While, the stand off at Dhokalam may continue for some more time, till China relents or reconciles with India's nascent penchant for upping the ante against China's policy of crawling encroachment, India must get prepared for the riparian rivalry that China will unleash to punish India's standing up to it. In defiance of the historical treaties and international conventions, China may release more water to flood Indian rivers or release so less that India craves for more, either way causing riparian terror to disrupt and distress the Indian NE.
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