Skip to main content

Modi visit to Israeli resulted in "annihilation" of Nehruvian consensus, whose dismantling began under Narasimha Rao

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed
The entire media world was recently abuzz with the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel as he set a historic landmark. The Israeli PM Netanyahu even referred to him as, “Merey dost Narendra Modi! (My friend Narendra Modi)” The reason is that Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in the history of both the nations that were established as independent nations more or less at the same time. The visit also marked the 25th anniversary of Indo-Israel relationship.
Truly, Modi is a Prime Minister who has accomplished what the previous Prime Ministers had fought shy owing to the vote bank considerations. In fact the Modi visit resulted in the annihilation of the last vestige of 'Nehruvian Consensus', whose dismantling began during the P V Narasimha Rao years. What should have happened in 1948 happened in 2017. The Jerusalem Post also reported, “This is the first time an Indian prime minister is visiting Israel, that too without visiting Palestine in the same trip, which would have been unthinkable during non-BJP regimes.”
How PM Modi touches the inner chords of people has been proved by this example of Moshe Holtsberg. On the second day of his visit to Israel, the PM met Moshe Holtzberg, the 11-year-old today, whose parents were killed in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Mr. Holtzberg, who escaped the terrorist attack with the help of his nanny, now lives with his grandparents in Israel. Mr. Modi has offered him and his family long term visas to visit India “anytime”.
Israel is small country in the Middle East, about the size of New Jersey, located on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and bordered by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The nation of Israel -- with a population of just more than 8 million people, most of them Jewish. It has many important archaeological and religious sites considered sacred by Jews, Muslims and Christians alike, and a complex history with periods of peace and conflict.
As history goes, the Jews were persecuted by Hitler at the time of Holocaust. The holocaust was the systematic persecution of the Jews by the Nazi regime and collaborators and between 1933 and 1945. The Nazis who came to power in Germany, believed that they were a “racially superior” race while deemed the Jews as inferior. As a result, the Jews started leaving Germany and in fact from all the world, they were made to settle in the Middle East where Israel today is.
The United Nations approved a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state in 1947, but the Arabs rejected it taking it to be unjust and illegal occupation of their land. However, on May 4, 1948, Israel was officially declared an independent state with David Ben-Gurion as its first Prime Minister. Since then there has been a military tussle between Israel and the Arab nations surrounding it with the two major wars in 1948 and 1967. In both these wars though the Arabs started well but ended up losing owing to the superior military technology of Israel backed up by the USA.
With not-so-successful record of cyber security, in Israel India finds a dependable ally who can help build firewalls
The nature of the conflict has shifted over the years from the large-scale, regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which peaked during the 1982 Lebanon War. However, developments in the course of the Syrian Civil War reshuffled the situation near Israel's northern border, putting the Syrian Arab Republic, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Syrian opposition at odds with each other and complicating their relations with Israel. Israel, like Japan, that was decimated by the nuclear attack rose from its ashes, Sphinx like to be a small but one of the most powerful countries in the world.
As far as India’s stand is concerned, it is a friendship-friendship bond with all the nations of the world with the Prime Minister Modi visiting Saudi Arab, UAE and other Muslim countries. In Saudi Arab, the PM was also offered their highest civilian award by the king. India will keep supporting the Palestinian cause but without opposing Israel as was in the case of the previous governments.
In a two-page joint statement the governments of Israel and India the two leaders dedicated one of 22 paragraphs to their discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “They underlined the need for the establishment of a just and durable peace in the region,” the declaration read. “They reaffirmed their support for an early negotiated solution between the sides based on mutual recognition and security arrangements.” As a matter of fact, no Muslim country except Pakistan cribbed over Modi’s visit to Israel. Had Pakistan befriended Israel, it would have been far ahead.
Despite the US emerging as a major Indian defence equipment supplier, Israel has held steady course as India’s third largest hardware supplier, even if it is does have capital-intensive weapon platforms for fighter jets, major warships or submarines that India imports. In February, the Cabinet Committee on Security, cleared a Rs. 17,000 crore deal for 40 medium range Surface to Air Missiles (MR-SAM) from Israel for the Indian army’s strike corps. Deals worth an estimated $ 5 billion are in the pipeline for the missiles and drones.
India is 158 times bigger than Israel; however there are many benefits that India can gain owing to its superior technology. The first would be cooperation in agriculture with Israel supplying irrigation and related technology that will have the potential of boosting farm sector efficiency, improving crop quality and quantity, and reclaiming arid land.
The second would be in a large measure linked to the first by way of Israel providing India with cutting edge technology on water management, recycling and desalination. This would also include technology to control the pollution of Indian rivers. Together, agricultural and water technology can help India ensure food and water security for its teeming millions.
Third gain is cooperation in space projects. Israel has been partnering India in its quest to be the frontrunner among emerging powers in developing space technology, especially in the domain of satellites. The successful launch of nano satellites, which represent the future, is an outcome of this cooperation. The idea is to take this cooperation between ISRO and Israeli Aerospace to an altogether new level.
Fourth on the agenda would be cyber security. India, like every country, faces the threat of cyber crime and cyber terrorism. The threat increases with each passing day. With a not-so-successful record of cyber security, India needs a dependable ally who can help build firewalls of the future.
Once again, the transfer and infusion of Israeli technology, recognised as among the best in the world to deal with cyber security, is being aimed at.
Last, though not the least, both India and Israel are keen to enhance people-to-people contact by pushing tourism, showcasing culture, promoting scholarships and creating connectivity. India has agreed to set up a cultural centre in Israel. This part of the relationship will be work in progress over a period of time.
In a two-page joint statement the governments of Israel and India the two leaders dedicated one of 22 paragraphs to their discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. “They underlined the need for the establishment of a just and durable peace in the region,” the declaration read. “They reaffirmed their support for an early negotiated solution between the sides based on mutual recognition and security arrangements.”
It goes without saying that Modi in Israel, has left a lasting impact.
---
*Grandnephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, social commentator

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Why is green revolution harmful for nutrition, food safety, environment, climate change

By Bharat Dogra*  A lie repeated a hundred times will not turn a lie into a truth. The big media should realize this and stop perpetuating the lie of the green revolution saving India from hunger, long after the world has awakened to the reality of how harmful the green revolution has been from the point of nutrition, food safety, environment and climate change.

Alarming Odisha arrests, 'illegal' detentions ahead of Vedanta bauxite public hearing

Counterview Desk  More than 80 lawyers, legal academics and researchers have written to the Governor of Odisha raising concerns about the “alarming arrests and illegal detentions” of about two dozen persons from Rayagada district in Odisha in anticipation of the upcoming public hearing for the Sijimali bauxite mine proposed by M/s Vedanta Ltd.