Rumbles of a Lonely Mammoth

There have been political murders in many southern states. Even though Kerala and TN stand out (in that order), the murder of the day in Bangalore (16/10/2016) and one today in Pune (17/10/2016) shows a widespread and planned attempt to murder dissenting political voices. On the top most layer - each of these issues seem unconnected. In Kerala, it is Communists that unleash the violence. In TN, the violence has decidedly religious undertones - most that were murdered were politically active Hindu activists, and the murderers are suspected to be Islamic fundamentalists. Nothing is known about the murderer in Bangalore. These are the superficial observations. The connecting thread is that the victims in all these cases are politically active members of Hindu organizations. The levels of these conflicts have been kept deliberately below retaliation threshold; and their reporting deliberately muted. Given the press coverage a single murder in Dadri cases of inconsequential vandalization...

Tomes will be written about how the Indian Army showed Pakistan its place, by the surgical strike on 29th of September 2016 (29/09). In a significant deviation from previous stances, the Indian Govt decided to tell Pak that it has been violated. This is a scenario of nightmares for Pakistan. As many have rightly pointed out, the nuclear bluff has been called; and Pakistan was made to stand alone. There is widespread jubilation from a mercurial Indian population; and a fair amount of chest thumping too. This post isn't about any of those. We peek into how the future will unfold: 1. The gauntlet has been thrown : India has told Pak, "you hit - I will hit back". India and Pak both know Pak will not escalate this beyond this level at the conventional theatre. In fact, with increased levels of alertness in the IA camp, Pak will not even try to attempt another face-to-face with the Indian army. However, keeping with their strategic goal of dismembering India, Pak will rise...

Indian social media (SM) is undergoing a turmoil. On one hand, are the vocal supporters of Indian Army who flaunt the latest cross-LOC ops as India's might. On the other, are the every so cautious "liberals" - who believe that the army adulation must stop. I will refrain from drawing inferences about either group based on historic data - and will just analyze the conundrum alone. Should a society believe its army / government blindly? Should a society distrust its army / government blindly? Where does one draw the line between distrust and belief? Which is the ideal place to stand? The answers to these questions are always subjective: to a die hard IA fan boy like myself - there is nothing wrong in supporting *our boys*. After all, I sleep every night - knowing that *our boys* stand watch at the borders. However, setting aside my own favoritism, it is important to look into the questions raised above. Armies and governments routinely lie to keep their own people...