In the last seventy-seven years, Bharat has made tremendous progress in various fields despite numerous internal and external challenges. Bharat, with the seventh largest area in the world, is also the most populous country and has a favourable demographic profile. According to World Population Prospects (2024 Revision), the average age of an Indian is 29 years compared to 37 years for China and 48 for Japan. It is the world’s fifth largest, fastest growing economy and is positioned to become third in the next 2-3 years. Yet, it has very complex security challenges.
Warfare today is not only limited to the battlefield but transcends domains using kinetic, non-kinetic, contact and non-contact means impacting national security.
Our National Security Advisor has said that new areas of warfare have shifted from territorial frontiers to civil societies. War is fought by other means, i.e., social engineering, misinformation, cyberattacks, along with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
Bharat’s growing economy, its global standing and its march on the path of Viksit Bharat have to wade through numerous challenges that are home-grown and fueled by external inimical forces. US-led ecosystem, driven by its desire for global dominance has dismantled with impunity governments that followed independent foreign policies and refused to be remotely controlled by them.
After the setback in Vietnam, the USA decided not to use its soldiers and spill blood. Instead, people of the target country were exploited to destroy their own nation-state. Many allege that the weaponisation of masses to bring about civil disobedience and eventually plunge a nation into anarchy has been mastered by the West, and in particular, the USA. A number of NGOs, social media and technical giants like Google, Facebook, X, etc. , think tanks, print media, and some of opposition leaders work in cahoots to gradually inject the poison of anti-government resentment in the masses.
Mohammad Gaddafi was a strong leader of Libya, who was working on an ambitious plan to have a United States of Africa. Libya was a fairly modern state and was working against extremist elements like Al-Qaeda, yet Gadaffi was targeted. In hindsight, it is clear that bringing democracy to Libya was only a fig leaf to hide the real reason that Gaddafi did not take that movement further and Africa remained fragmented. Saddam Hussain was another strong leader who had started using Euro instead of dollar for the oil trade. He was also eliminated on the false Western pretext of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction.
Artificial intelligence, social media algorithms and bots are used to change the grounds against the government and make the country believe in a particular narrative that is pushed relentlessly in a subtle manner. Any contrary view is termed as authoritarian or fascist.
The bourgeoisie have now become new revolutionarys and believe that overthrowing their own government will solve all problems. From 2010 onwards, the Arab Spring became a new weapon to dismantle governments in a number of West Asian and North African countries. Only a few states like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait and a few more were left intact, but not without major bloodshed. In Europe, too, Ukraine witnessed a mass uprising from the Orange Revolution to Euromaidan in 2015. Governments which were pro-Russia were changed.
Closer home, events in Bangladesh and removal of Sheikh Hasina is a stark examples of how mass movements are triggered on false pretext, supported by anti-national elements within the country and external powers. By now it is quite clear that despite reservation for jobs issues having been accepted by their Supreme Court and Sheikh Hasina, agitations carried on till she was ousted. Now, the de-facto power is with Jamat-e-Islami supported by the Army, with a weak caretaker leader who will do bidding for the West and a semblance of young students in the government.
Role of Technical Giants
Recently, during an ongoing investigation by the Judicial Committee of The House of Representatives regarding the alleged Biden administration & technical companies’ collusion to censor free speech online, Mark Zuckerberg confessed that the Biden administration “Pressured” Facebook to censor free speech on a number of occasions, especially during COVID-19. Also, after conducting a fact check, Hunter Biden’s laptop story was demoted by Facebook and passed on as a Russian disinformation campaign. The Cambridge Analytica’s harvesting of users data from Facebook without their consent and use to influence voter’s behaviour in the 2016 in US election and 2019 Bhartiya election is well known. What is the guarantee that Facebook and other social media companies did not play a similar role in the recently conducted Bhartiya elections and will not continue to meddle in our internal affairs at the behest of US Deep State.
Recently, Rakesh Tikait, a farmer leader, claimed that just as opposition leaders were jailed by Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, the same is happening in India. He added that people are angry and our Union Government will meet the same fate as that of Sheikh Hasina. He also added,”when we took tractors toward the Red Fort during farmer’s movement, if we had headed towards Parliament, the entire issue would have been resolved that day.” A few days earlier, senior congress leader Salman Khurshid stated in an event that, on the surface, everything may seem normal, but what is happening in Bangladesh can happen in India as well. Farmers protest and CAA protests were probably trial runs. Another point to be noted is that George Soros, a billionaire connected to U.S deep state, had announced a 100 billion dollar fund to overthrow nationalist governments worldwide and made extensive efforts to prevent Narendra Modi from coming to power but failed. US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said last year that he is ready to help to resolve Manipur problem. This gained significance after a particular group in Manipur approached USA and EU to help them. Recently, the Counsellor General (ConGen) of the USA from Hyderabad met NDA allies in Andhra and Bihar. He also met opposition leader Owasi ostensibly to have a discussion on shared values and concerns, not with-standing their contrary stand on Palestine issue. Also, immediately after J&K election was announced, a delegation of US Embassy went to Srinagar to meet National Conference leaders. Their intentions remain questionable.
In addition, Bangladesh and Myanmar are in turmoil, and various players there are being controlled by the USA and China-Pak nexus. This situation does not augur well for peace in our North Eastern Region, especially in view of the conflict in Manipur, where military-grade drones, rockets and long-range weapons are being used against civilians. The proxy war in J&K and Maoism in Central Bharat continue. Some political leaders continue to make divisive statements in and outside the country and leave no opportunity to create fissures in the society for their vote bank politics. Their efforts are to attack Indian strengths, viz, economic institutions like SEBI, big Corporates etc, Army, social cohesion by dividing people on caste basis, democratic institutions like judiciary, election commission, ED, CBI, police, etc and sabotage infrastructure like railways. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report released on 19 Sep 2024 says, interalia, that the Left Wing Extremism is trying to dislodge the Union Government in India, and the Government and its agencies have done a lot to check illicit financing. However, more needs to be done in this field.
What needs to be Done?
A few suggestions may be considered:-
– All efforts must be made to make people aware of the modus operandi adopted by anti-national elements both inside and outside the country so that they do not fall prey to their hidden agenda and are used as pawns. This, along with nationalistic fervour, will be a potent bulwark against nefarious designs of such elements.
– Social media, big tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions will have on Bharteyas. These companies need to be made accountable without compromising freedom of speech, and should be made to follow Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rule 2021, as amended in 2023. Any proposition/statement which divides people on caste basis and creates fissures in the society must be condemned.
– Strict rules to carry out peaceful protests must be implemented, and any damage to the property should be stringently punished as per the law of the land.
– Also, a sluggish justice delivery system is discouraging for the people and forces them to resort to other unfair means, which is not in the national interest. A swift, sure and just delivery of justice not only acts as deterrent for culprits but also inspires people. Long overdue police and judicial reforms, therefore, must be implemented.
– The Government also needs to stabilise the situation in Manipur. The Army should be given the responsibility to disarm everyone with weapons and effectively fence borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh to prevent flow of drugs, weapons, miscreants and illegal migration. The long international border with these countries be suitably guarded utilising technology to have minimum strain on additional manpower resources.
– Government has taken numerous actions and followed a multi prong strategy to reduce area of influence of Left Wing Extremism. However, this needs to be eliminated.
– The concerned Government agencies like ED, NIA, CBI, police, Army, CAPF need to synergise their efforts to eliminate the menace of terror financing and drug trafficking.
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