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Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Operation Sindoor & its long pause: Figuring out the fallout
India is in a state of frozen conflict with an officially declared pause on Operation Sindoor . This is possibly aimed at keeping the enemy in a state of confusion or suspense. The obvious corollaries are: A) How long can this state be maintained? B) Does it really have constraining influence on our adversaries? How does it impact us internally? It is fairly apparent that both sides had restricted objectives and limited stamina, specially for non-contact, kinetic warfare, in terms of missiles and drones. A defined, short pause can help to reset, introspect, re-arm and rebuild arsenals. The law of diminishing marginal returns also applies to this extended pause. Defining New Normal Pakistan is already using ISPR/lobbyists to drum up the narrative of India being irresponsible, war-mongering hegemon, insisting on bilateralism, ruling out external influences. On the contrary, as a responsible nation, India has acted in a proportionate, non-escalatory manner, with calibrated targeting. Operation Sindoor, as a short, surgical operation was indeed commendable, and it delivered a potent, effective message. Following up on Balakot, it curated an additional space below the nuclear threshold and debunked Pakistan's narrative of irrational escalation to nuclear domain. The new doctrine defines altered realities: guaranteed retribution after terrorist misadventure; debunking of nuclear blackmail; and that terror sponsors will have to bear the consequences. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo Pakistan attempted an economic façade at Pahalgam, to derail tourism and normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. We need to bounce back and not get bogged down, since Pakistan has really nothing to lose. In any case, Pakistan is running spectacle of visits, lunches and even hosting tutorials on its version of air combat for foreign delegations. Learning from the pastIt will be appropriate to constitute a time-bound, fast-track Kargil Review Committee (KRC) type of a task force. It was indeed commendable that PM Atal Behari Vajpayee ordered KRC within a week after the culmination of Operation Vijay in Kargil. Even more noteworthy was the constitution of a group of ministers (GoM) under the then deputy PM, L K Advani. We implemented some reforms, but we lost traction. Few recommendations still need to be taken to a logical conclusion. It is important to take a call on the pending issues of theatre commands, raising cyber command, and upgrading aero-space and special forces agencies, from two-star to three-star led. It is time to put the NDU debate to rest by officially accepting RRU, which has acquired de facto status. However, in keeping with global norms, there is a requirement to reinforce faculties and apex management, with more services representation. Another important issue is empowering CAPFs with integral cadres. ITBP and BSF deployed in operational grid should be placed under theatre and regional commanders to implement 'One Border, One Force' to build accountability and specialisation. It is relevant to recount the unpleasant experience of a prolonged mobilisation during Operation Parakram, after the terrorist attack on Parliament on Dec 13, 1991, which stretched for more than ten months. In keeping with bureaucratic ambiguity, mobilisation was managed without invoking the war book. Much after demobilisation, Indian Army was battling auditors who refused to clear bills for civil transport hired to keep ammunition on wheels in a ready-to-move state. Recently, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari, who has multiple tenures in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence and is a constitutional lawyer, raised some seemingly valid questions on the declaration of national emergency and war. It will be prudent to address them and lay clearcut norms. The most discouraging thing is when even after stellar performance, the forces are literally abandoned to fend for themselves, with a maze of vague and rigid regulations. This is also relevant for ongoing emergency procurement where guard-rails need to be reinforced, and accountability shared. Viksit dialogue Mercifully, the present template is different with no large-scale mobilisation or move of formations. To maintain surprise, no general 'recall from leave' orders were promulgated. The surprise was only in timing, as the nation was rooting for instant retribution. As they say that revenge is best served cold, could we have kept Pakistan on tenterhooks for a longer duration, imposing penalties and costs, in a guessing and scrambling game? Considering the dangerous hype created by war-mongering TV channels, there is a need to develop the culture of 'Viksit Samvad' (informed dialogue) for 'Viksit Bharat'. It is time to dispel the misinformation on our aircraft losses. In any case, some losses are an acceptable part of occupational hazard. At present, the Pakistan narrative seems to have found better traction. The confusion is becoming more baffling with floating of new theories of spoofing, with towed decoys. Way forward It would be realistic to infer that while deterrence against Pakistan are in place, there may be attempts to test the redlines coupled with deniability. The next round may be entirely different, especially with Chinese having got considerable amount of data, on our vectors. Hence, we need to have serious discussions on designing force level and platform-mix. It is time we develop an optimum combination of manned-unmanned platforms. The guiding rule is agile platforms with minimal electronic signatures. We should build a potent, but smaller manned fighter fleet, integrated with drones, loitering munitions, missiles and layered air defence. Discussions on the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) have to be progressed in the light of water stress, climate change, need for clean hydro-energy, de-silting of dams for safety and livelihood issues like minimum draft in Jhelum for navigation. The treaty requires a review, taking into account altered realities, but only when the other party mends its ways. Meanwhile, work on dams and reservoirs must be expedited. It is time Pakistan learns to live with the new water regime in the Indus basin. (The author is former GOC-in-C, Western Command, Indian Army)
India Today
18-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Shivraj Singh Chouhan exclusive podcast with Preeti Choudhry
In this episode of UnPolitics, Union Agriculture Minister and former four-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, discusses his long political career. He recounts his first protest for labourers' rights at the age of 13 and shares anecdotes involving senior leaders like LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Chauhan recalls defending then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against international criticism, stating that "the Prime Minister of India can never be an underachiever." Now focused on his new portfolio, he talks about his mission for farmer welfare and connecting the lab to the land. On his political future, he says, "The work that the party has given me, I am doing it with a lot of prudence. I live only for today. I don't worry about tomorrow." The interview also touches upon his personal life, including his arranged marriage and his fondness for old Hindi songs.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From India to Britain and back: The cartoonist who fought censors with a smile
"It's unfair to lift censorship suddenly," growls a grizzled newspaper editor into the phone, a copy of The Daily Pulp sprawled across his desk. "We should be given time to prepare our minds." The cartoon capturing this moment - piercing and satirical - is the work of Abu Abraham, one of India's finest political cartoonists. His pen skewered power with elegance and edge, especially during the 1975 Emergency, a 21-month stretch of suspended civil liberties and muzzled media under Indira Gandhi's rule. The press was silenced overnight on 25 June. Delhi's newspaper presses lost power, and by morning censorship was law. The government demanded the press bend to its will - and, as opposition leader LK Advani later famously remarked, many "chose to crawl". Another famous cartoon - he signed them Abu, after his pen name - from that time shows a man asking another: "What do you think of editors who are more loyal than the censor?" In many ways, half a century later, Abu's cartoons still ring true. India currently ranks 151st in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders. This reflects growing concerns about media independence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Critics allege increasing pressure and attacks on journalists, acquiescent media and a shrinking space for dissenting voices. The government dismisses these claims, insisting that the media remain free and vibrant. After nearly 15 years drawing cartoons in London for The Observer and The Guardian, Abu had returned to India in the late 1960s. He joined the Indian Express newspaper as a political cartoonist at a time when the country was grappling with intense political upheaval. He later wrote that pre-censorship - which required newspapers and magazines to submit their news reports, editorials and even ads to government censors before publication - began two days after the Emergency was declared, was lifted after a few weeks, then reimposed a year later for a shorter period. "For the rest of the time I had no official interference. I have not bothered to investigate why I was allowed to carry on freely. And I am not interested in finding out." Indira Gandhi's Emergency: When India's democracy was put on pause Many of Abu's Emergency-era cartoons are iconic. One shows then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signing the proclamation from his bathtub, capturing the haste and casualness with which it was issued (Ahmed signed the Emergency declaration that Gandhi had issued shortly before midnight on 25 June). Among Abu's striking works are several cartoons boldly stamped with "Not passed by censors", a stark mark of official suppression. In one, a man holds a placard that reads "Smile!" - a sly jab at the government's forced-positivity campaigns during the Emergency. His companion deadpans, "Don't you think we have a lovely censor of humour?" - a line that cuts to the heart of state-enforced cheer. Another seemingly innocuous cartoon shows a man at his desk sighing, "My train of thought has derailed." Another features a protester carrying a sign that reads "SaveD democracy" - the "D" awkwardly added on top, as if democracy itself were an afterthought. Abu also took aim at Sanjay Gandhi, the unelected son of Indira Gandhi, who many believed ran a shadow government during the Emergency, wielding unchecked power behind the scenes. Sanjay's influence was both controversial and feared. He died in a plane crash in 1980 - four years before his mother, Indira, was assassinated by her bodyguards. Abu's work was intensely political. "I have come to the conclusion that there's nothing non-political in the world. Politics is simply anything that is controversial and everything in the world is controversial," he wrote in Seminar magazine in 1976. He also bemoaned the state of humour - strained and manufactured - when the press was gagged. "If cheap humour could be manufactured in a factory, the public would rush to queue up in our ration shops all day. As our newspapers become progressively duller, the reader, drowning in boredom, clutches at every joke. AIR [India's state-run radio station] news bulletins nowadays sound like a company chairman's annual address. Profits are carefully and elaborately enumerated, losses are either omitted or played down. Shareholders are reassured," Abu wrote. In a tongue-in-cheek column for the Sunday Standard in 1977, Abu poked fun at the culture of political flattery with a fictional account of a meeting of the "All India Sycophantic Society". The spoof featured the society's imaginary president declaring: "True sycophancy is non-political." The satirical monologue continued with mock proclamations: "Sycophancy has a long and historic tradition in our country… 'Servility before self' is our motto." Abu's parody culminated in the society's guiding vision: "Touching all available feet and promoting a broad-based programme of flattery." Born as Attupurathu Mathew Abraham in the southern state of Kerala in 1924, Abu began his career as a reporter at the nationalist Bombay Chronicle, driven less by ideology than a fascination with the power of the printed word. His reporting years coincided with India's dramatic journey to independence, witnessing firsthand the euphoria that gripped Bombay (now Mumbai). Reflecting on the press, he later noted, "The press has pretensions of being a crusader but is more often a preserver of the status quo." After two years with Shankar's Weekly, a well-known satire magazine, Abu set his sights on Europe. A chance encounter with British cartoonist Fred Joss in 1953 propelled him to London, where he quickly made a mark. His debut cartoon was accepted by Punch within a week of arrival, earning praise from editor Malcolm Muggeridge as "charming". Freelancing for two years in London's competitive scene, Abu's political cartoons began appearing in Tribune and soon attracted the attention of The Observer's editor David Astor. Astor offered him a staff position with the paper. "You are not cruel like other cartoonists, and your work is the kind I was looking for," he told Abu. In 1956, at Astor's suggestion, Abraham adopted the pen name "Abu", writing later: "He explained that any Abraham in Europe would be taken as a Jew and my cartoons would take on slant for no reason, and I wasn't even Jewish." Astor also assured him of creative freedom: "You will never be asked to draw a political cartoon expressing ideas which you do not yourself personally sympathise." Abu worked at The Observer for 10 years, followed by three years at The Guardian, before returning to India in the late 1960s. He later wrote he was "bored" of British politics. Beyond cartooning, Abu served as a nominated member of India's upper house of Parliament from 1972 to 1978. In 1981, he launched Salt and Pepper, a comic strip that ran for nearly two decades, blending gentle satire with everyday observations. He returned to Kerala in 1988 and continued to draw and write until his death in 2002. But Abu's legacy was never just about the punchline - it was about the deeper truths his humour revealed. As he once remarked, "If anyone has noticed a decline in laughter, the reason may not be the fear of laughing at authority but the feeling that reality and fancy, tragedy and comedy have all, somehow got mixed up." That blurring of absurdity and truth often gave his work its edge. "The prize for the joke of the year," he wrote during the Emergency, "should go to the Indian news agency reporter in London who approvingly quoted a British newspaper comment on India under the Emergency, that 'trains are running on time' - not realising this used to be the standard English joke about Mussolini's Italy. When we have such innocents abroad, we don't really need humorists." Abu's cartoons and photograph, courtesy Ayisha and Janaki Abraham
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Emergency: The Indian cartoonist who fought the censors with a smile
"It's unfair to lift censorship suddenly," growls a grizzled newspaper editor into the phone, a copy of The Daily Pulp sprawled across his desk. "We should be given time to prepare our minds."The cartoon capturing this moment - piercing and satirical - is the work of Abu Abraham, one of India's finest political cartoonists. His pen skewered power with elegance and edge, especially during the 1975 Emergency, a 21-month stretch of suspended civil liberties and muzzled media under Indira Gandhi's press was silenced overnight on 25 June. Delhi's newspaper presses lost power, and by morning censorship was law. The government demanded the press bend to its will - and, as opposition leader LK Advani later famously remarked, many "chose to crawl". Another famous cartoon - he signed them Abu, after his pen name - from that time shows a man asking another: "What do you think of editors who are more loyal than the censor?"In many ways, half a century later, Abu's cartoons still ring true. India currently ranks 151st in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders. This reflects growing concerns about media independence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Critics allege increasing pressure and attacks on journalists, acquiescent media and a shrinking space for dissenting voices. The government dismisses these claims, insisting that the media remain free and vibrant. After nearly 15 years drawing cartoons in London for The Observer and The Guardian, Abu had returned to India in the late 1960s. He joined the Indian Express newspaper as a political cartoonist at a time when the country was grappling with intense political later wrote that pre-censorship - which required newspapers and magazines to submit their news reports, editorials and even ads to government censors before publication - began two days after the Emergency was declared, was lifted after a few weeks, then reimposed a year later for a shorter period."For the rest of the time I had no official interference. I have not bothered to investigate why I was allowed to carry on freely. And I am not interested in finding out."Indira Gandhi's Emergency: When India's democracy was put on pauseMany of Abu's Emergency-era cartoons are iconic. One shows then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signing the proclamation from his bathtub, capturing the haste and casualness with which it was issued (Ahmed signed the Emergency declaration that Gandhi had issued shortly before midnight on 25 June).Among Abu's striking works are several cartoons boldly stamped with "Not passed by censors", a stark mark of official one, a man holds a placard that reads "Smile!" - a sly jab at the government's forced-positivity campaigns during the Emergency. His companion deadpans, "Don't you think we have a lovely censor of humour?" - a line that cuts to the heart of state-enforced seemingly innocuous cartoon shows a man at his desk sighing, "My train of thought has derailed." Another features a protester carrying a sign that reads "SaveD democracy" - the "D" awkwardly added on top, as if democracy itself were an afterthought. Abu also took aim at Sanjay Gandhi, the unelected son of Indira Gandhi, who many believed ran a shadow government during the Emergency, wielding unchecked power behind the scenes. Sanjay's influence was both controversial and feared. He died in a plane crash in 1980 - four years before his mother, Indira, was assassinated by her work was intensely political. "I have come to the conclusion that there's nothing non-political in the world. Politics is simply anything that is controversial and everything in the world is controversial," he wrote in Seminar magazine in also bemoaned the state of humour - strained and manufactured - when the press was gagged."If cheap humour could be manufactured in a factory, the public would rush to queue up in our ration shops all day. As our newspapers become progressively duller, the reader, drowning in boredom, clutches at every joke. AIR [India's state-run radio station] news bulletins nowadays sound like a company chairman's annual address. Profits are carefully and elaborately enumerated, losses are either omitted or played down. Shareholders are reassured," Abu a tongue-in-cheek column for the Sunday Standard in 1977, Abu poked fun at the culture of political flattery with a fictional account of a meeting of the "All India Sycophantic Society".The spoof featured the society's imaginary president declaring: "True sycophancy is non-political." The satirical monologue continued with mock proclamations: "Sycophancy has a long and historic tradition in our country… 'Servility before self' is our motto." Abu's parody culminated in the society's guiding vision: "Touching all available feet and promoting a broad-based programme of flattery."Born as Attupurathu Mathew Abraham in the southern state of Kerala in 1924, Abu began his career as a reporter at the nationalist Bombay Chronicle, driven less by ideology than a fascination with the power of the printed word. His reporting years coincided with India's dramatic journey to independence, witnessing firsthand the euphoria that gripped Bombay (now Mumbai). Reflecting on the press, he later noted, "The press has pretensions of being a crusader but is more often a preserver of the status quo."After two years with Shankar's Weekly, a well-known satire magazine, Abu set his sights on Europe. A chance encounter with British cartoonist Fred Joss in 1953 propelled him to London, where he quickly made a debut cartoon was accepted by Punch within a week of arrival, earning praise from editor Malcolm Muggeridge as "charming".Freelancing for two years in London's competitive scene, Abu's political cartoons began appearing in Tribune and soon attracted the attention of The Observer's editor David Astor. Astor offered him a staff position with the paper."You are not cruel like other cartoonists, and your work is the kind I was looking for," he told 1956, at Astor's suggestion, Abraham adopted the pen name "Abu", writing later: "He explained that any Abraham in Europe would be taken as a Jew and my cartoons would take on slant for no reason, and I wasn't even Jewish."Astor also assured him of creative freedom: "You will never be asked to draw a political cartoon expressing ideas which you do not yourself personally sympathise."Abu worked at The Observer for 10 years, followed by three years at The Guardian, before returning to India in the late 1960s. He later wrote he was "bored" of British politics. Beyond cartooning, Abu served as a nominated member of India's upper house of Parliament from 1972 to 1978. In 1981, he launched Salt and Pepper, a comic strip that ran for nearly two decades, blending gentle satire with everyday observations. He returned to Kerala in 1988 and continued to draw and write until his death in Abu's legacy was never just about the punchline - it was about the deeper truths his humour revealed. As he once remarked, "If anyone has noticed a decline in laughter, the reason may not be the fear of laughing at authority but the feeling that reality and fancy, tragedy and comedy have all, somehow got mixed up."That blurring of absurdity and truth often gave his work its edge. "The prize for the joke of the year," he wrote during the Emergency, "should go to the Indian news agency reporter in London who approvingly quoted a British newspaper comment on India under the Emergency, that 'trains are running on time' - not realising this used to be the standard English joke about Mussolini's Italy. When we have such innocents abroad, we don't really need humorists."Abu's cartoons and photograph, courtesy Ayisha and Janaki Abraham
NDTV
05-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Advani Went To Missionary School, Can We Doubt His Hindutva?" Raj Thackeray
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday targeted the Centre over its alleged imposition of Hindi across the country, including Maharashtra, and sought to know if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart LK Advani's education at a missionary school raised any doubts on his Hindutva. Even Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray studied in an English school and worked for an English newspaper but "never compromised on the status of Marathi", Raj told a massive joint rally of MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) workers, as he reunited with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray after almost 20 years. "We studied in Marathi medium. Our children studied in English. They say we love English, how can we like Marathi? My father and uncle studied in the English medium. Can you doubt them?" he told the crowd. "LK Advani studied at St. Patricks High School, a missionary school. Should we doubt his Hindutva?" he added. The developments came days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti government amended its April 16 order that directed making Hindi a compulsory third language for students in Classes 1 to 5 studying in English and Marathi medium schools. Amid a backlash, the government on June 17 made Hindi an optional language. "The Maharashtra government rolled back the decision on the three-language formula due to the strong unity shown by Marathi people. This decision was a precursor to the plan of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra," Raj said. "We won't let the government impose Hindi on us," he added. Many politicians and film stars in South India have studied in English schools but are proud of Tamil and Telugu languages, the MNS chief said. "Jayalalithaa, MK Stalin, Kanimozhi, Udhayanidhi, Pawan Kalyan, Nara Lokesh, Kamal Haasan, AR Rahman, they all studied in English," he told the crowd. "Your bitterness doesn't depend on where you studied, it has to be in you. They say one language binds you, what was the problem till now?" he added.
