It was meant to be Narendra Modi’s moment of glory. Now it looks like a sham.

India’s military raid across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on Sept. 29 has become a matter of deep political bickering and crass opportunism. The Indian Army called it a surgical strike. Two weeks later, India’s politicians are still doing the autopsy.

“I have been holding this portfolio for two years now. To my knowledge, there were no surgical strikes in the past. Those actions can at best be called covert operations where action was taken first and the government informed later. But the Sept. 29 strikes were a result of a government decision,” Parrikar said yesterday (Oct. 12) in what looked like an attempt to redefine the word covert.
Thirty years of steam had been finally let off, the minister claimed.

The defence minister had even planned a “victory rally” in his home state Goa, which goes to polls in early 2017. Following criticism, he postponed it. Now, in his presence, UP BJP leaders are talking about using nuclear bombs against Pakistan.

Parrikar says the political leadership should get credit. Before the prime minister’s orders to tone it down, Parrikar had compared the Indian Army to Hanuman, the powerful monkey god. In the epic Ramayana, Hanuman, who could move mountains, had to be made aware of his capabilities by Jambawan, the bear king.

The surgical strike was presented by the Modi government and media as a first: Finally, India had crossed the LoC, giving up its policy of strategic restraint in dealing with Pakistan. At long last, the country had shown that it was capable of “responding.” Not even during the 1999 Kargil war had India crossed the LoC

BJP leaders in UP are already reminding us that prime minister Modi’s chest is “56 inches wide.” Posters have appeared in UP celebrating the surgical strike, juxtapositioning the prime minister’s photo with the image of the silent soldier and some handy text threatening Pakistan. In some of these, Modi has been portrayed as Lord Ram and his Pakistani counterpart as the demon king Ravana. “We will go to the people with this issue—because every responsible party should motivate the army,” BJP president Amit Shah has said.