Boycotts and balcony beating won’t chase the dragon away

If we all stop eating Chinese food as of this minute, will the Ladakh problem go away? If we all stand on our balconies this Sunday, beat thaalis, light diyas, and shout as loudly as we can, “Go China, go!” will the fierce dragon spewing fire at Galwan meekly turn tail and flee in fear? If our movie stars and cricketers stop endorsing Chinese products, will that bring back our 20 soldiers who died at Galwan?
There’s something terribly off about the narrative citizens are being fed after the nation went into collective mourning. Fact is, we have lost 20 brave soldiers in what sounds like a ill-thought-through operation. Then there is the even trickier and more sensitive question of intelligence failure. The heart-breaking sight of two little boys saluting their courageous fathers at their respective funerals (Colonel B Santosh Babu’s son, three-year-old Anirudh Teja in Suryapet and Havaldar Sunil Kumar’s son Ayush in Patna) has raised several awful questions about what exactly happened during that barbaric encounter with Chinese murderers (cannot dignify those men by referring to them as ‘soldiers’).

The same criminals who bludgeoned Indian Army heroes in what can only be called a shameful act by thugs in uniform. But the more critical debate is this: why were our men unarmed in the first place? There have been strenuous official denials on that score, but who can vouch for the real story? Surely, someone at the very top authorised such a strange and unconventional meeting? Shouldn’t that ‘someone’ have known better? Can the Chinese ever be trusted? Have we not learnt our lessons over five decades of deception? Their ‘friendship’ is as fake as their merchandise.
What took place in eastern Ladakh is being called the “biggest military confrontation” in 50 years. Serious enough, right? Our men certainly weren’t going over to share a bowl of chopsuey. So, what were they doing there and how were they caught off guard? In this day and age, where surveillance is more advanced and sophisticated than at any previous time in history, it is a shocking lapse that needs to be explained to the people of India by the Prime Minister himself. There were similar concerns raised after Pulwama, but the people who raised them were effectively silenced. It would be a pity if the same tactic is employed once again.

When we see grisly footage and hear the most sadistic stories of hand-to-hand combat, we ask ourselves — are we still living in the middle ages? Retired generals have issued strong public condemnation about this flawed and clumsy operation. Our men came face to face with monsters armed with primitive weapons — nails, clubs, sticks and stones. No amount of lofty talk can possibly soothe the outrage of citizens who are anxious to know the truth. We have a 3,488km LAC. We get to hear what we are meant to hear — is the Galwan river water really being ‘disturbed’? And if a road is being built — has been built — by the Chinese, was it built overnight? How come nobody knew about the existence of such a road that seriously compromises India’s security?

What will future chroniclers of this terrible Galwan tragedy write about India’s handling of it? What will we tell those two little boys when they grow up — that their heroic fathers lost their lives in a fight that was uneven, unfair and completely weighted against them from the word go? How do we extend comfort to their grieving widows, fathers and mothers, family members during their darkest hour?

When Union minister Ramdas Athawale advises Indians to ‘boycott’ Chinese food as a form of protest, does he not know how foolish he sounds? The ‘Chinese food’ we enjoy in India has nothing to do with China! I love Chinese dosas, for example. As also that perfectly disgusting dish called chicken Manchurian, which nobody in China has heard of. There is the other question being tossed around — like stir-fried vegetables in a wok — can India afford an economic boycott of China? Arrey bhai — why don’t you turn that question around and ask — can China afford to lose the massive Indian market? The answer is obvious! Our mistake was to play ‘Enter the Dragon’ on a loop for all these many years and go along with the empty bhai-bhai nonsense. The evil Chinese dragon should be shown zero mercy. China should be shunned, not just by us, but the rest of the world. Meanwhile, I am cooking gobhi Manchurian for dinner — my small but intensely personal revenge for what those beasts did to our heroes in Galwan Valley. Let the Chinese eat crow, for ever more.