Disclaimer: This article is in no way trying to absolve the present dispensation of any social mistake or administrative overreach they have displayed during their tenure but to demonstrate how vulnerable India or any democratic nation is while dealing with the deep state. This article cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval from the writer.
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Coming 15 June would mark the fourth anniversary of the Galwan Valley backstabbing by China. That date is significant because not only did the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) get humiliated and lose a significant number of soldiers, but the Galwan Valley clash also accelerated many dormant border infrastructure projects in India, infuriating China. On the other hand, the Western deep state was unable to digest India’s improved relationships with major powers in the West, the Middle East, East, and Southeast Asia. Both China and the Western deep state saw India’s rise as a major world power and the promise of the world’s leading GDP contributor, as a threat to their agendas. Sabotaging the Indian general elections was the only way to stop the unstoppable India.
The Story Begins
Soon after the colossal loss in the general elections, in 2015 Indian National Congress (INC) Vice President Rahul Gandhi went away to Southeast Asia for 60 days. He was mocked by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) for running away from the election loss. It was an immature assumption. While away, most significant parts of his stays were spent in two China-friendly countries, Myanmar — 21 days and Cambodia — 11 days.
Myanmar is completely under the Chinese grip while in Cambodia they threw out the United States (US) military proving the mettle of Chinese influence in the region. There is no record of who Rahul Gandhi was meeting and discussing with, in those countries. Despite being an SPG (Special Protection Group) protectee he allowed the SPG to accompany him only to Bangkok. This further proves that INC didn’t want his schedule and activities to be disclosed through any source.
In June 2015 he visited the United Kingdom (UK) and in September 2015 the US and the UK. In June 2016 he visited Turkey and in September 2016 once again the UK. In March 2017 he visited Italy and in July 2017 the UK. Between 2015 to 2019 Rahul Gandhi made 257 trips to foreign lands while the IT cells of BJP were busy making memes and videos to make him look unfit for Prime Ministership. Even his mother Mrs. Sonia Gandhi made 27 foreign trips to undisclosed destinations during the same period. Modus Operandi was similar, SPG was notified just 5-6 hours before the departure making it impossible for them to provide the cover.
However, finally, the Indian security agencies got alarmed when Rahul Gandhi met with Chinese envoy Luo Zhaohui in July 2017, forcing the BJP to question his intentions. What was their matter of discussion? This meeting took place at the peak of the India-China Doklam standoff. Soon thereafter Rahul Gandhi met the Bhutanese envoy. What did he convey to him is anyone’s guess?
In March 2023 Rahul Gandhi visited the UK and launched a vicious attack on the BJP. He also urged the US and the UK to intervene in restoring democracy in India. He spoke with students from the University of Cambridge and held meetings at the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons painting India in a bad light. This infuriated the ruling party in India. On the contrary, after getting thrown out of power Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and India’s former prime minister, Indira Gandhi also visited the UK in November 1978. She was frustrated but remained much more responsible and avoided painting India in a bad light in a foreign land.
In May 2023 Rahul Gandhi once again visited the US. In September 2023 he visited the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels followed by France and Norway. In October 2023 he visited Uzbekistan. Even in December 2023, just months before the general elections Rahul Gandhi was planning to visit Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The trip was canceled at the last moment, but the question remains, what was the urgency?
The Narrative Building
The above-mentioned hundreds of foreign jaunts were not all public gatherings. Rather, most of them were closed-door meetings. Every visit was followed by a barrage of anti-India articles across the world but especially in the West. Articles with similar agenda:
“Will the outcome of India’s election increase intolerance” – Deutsche Welle
“Modification of India is almost complete” – TIME Magazine
“India’s election: fixing a win by outlawing dissent damages democracy” – UK Guardian
“Is India’s BJP the world’s most ruthlessly efficient political party?” – Financial Times
“Narendra Modi Is Preparing New Attacks on Democratic Rights” – Jacobin Magazine
“With democracy under threat in Narendra Modi’s India, how free and fair will this year’s election be?” – The Conversation, Australian Research Council
“Progressive South Is Rejecting Modi” – Bloomberg
“Billionaire Raj Is Pushing India Toward Autocracy” – Bloomberg
“India’s Voting Machines Are Raising Too Many Questions” – Bloomberg
“Modi’s Sledgehammer Politics Are Battering Indian Democracy” – Bloomberg
“The ‘mother of democracy’ is not in good shape” – Financial Times
“Modi’s Temple of Lies” – New York Times
After Rahul Gandhi’s March 2023 visit to the UK, the BBC came out with a documentary where it was depicted as if there was a Muslim genocide taking place in India. The documentary referred to the Gujarat riots that took place 21 years ago and had no relevance to the present governance. The frustrated government, unable to stop such anti-India propaganda made the cardinal sin of sending Central agencies to investigate the BBC India offices, adding fuel to the fire.
Foreign media understands the fault lines in Indian society. Therefore, exploiting the history of communal riots and division in society in India was a soft target. While at the topic, let us have a look at the exploitation of this fault line by the British colonizers. Following is a comprehensive list of riots under the British Raj: Mumbai 1832, Mumbai 1851, Broach & Mumbai 1857, 1874, Salem 1882, Peshawar 1910, Shahabad 1917, Saharanpur 1918, Malabar 1920-21, Bengal, Punjab, Multan 1921-22, Kohat 1924, North India 1924-25, Kolkata, Mumbai, Gujarat 1925-26, Delhi, Bengal, Mumbai 1926-27, North India 1927-28, Nagpur 1927, Mumbai & Punjab 1928-29, Mumbai 1929-30, Bengal & Mumbai 1930-31, Kanpur 1931-32, Varanasi, Kanpur, Lahore 1933-34, Firozabad 1936, Panipat 1936, Varanasi & Kanpur 1939, and Bengal 1946.
Out of the above-mentioned list most disturbing was the Malabar rebellion of 1920-21, where the forcible Hindu conversion and genocide took place. The genocide killed over ten thousand, displaced over a lakh while hundreds of women were raped. From the above, it is also evident that there was nonstop communal tension in India and the British Raj was the sole benefactor of those riots.
In independent India under the Congress government, over ten major communal riots took place. Ahmedabad 1969 (512 deaths), Jalgaon 1970 (100), Moradabad 1980 (1500), Bhiwandi 1984 (146), Delhi 1984 (2733), Ahmedabad 1985 (300), Bhagalpur 1989 (1161), Delhi 1990 (100), Hyderabad 1990 (365), Surat 1992 (152), and Mumbai 1993 (872). Three major disturbances took place under the President’s rule while the Congress party was ruling at the center — Assam 1983 (1819), Kanpur 1992 (254), and Bhopal 1992 (143).
Compared to this under BJP’s ten-year rule, only the Northeast Delhi riots took place in 2020 when US President Donald Trump was visiting India. 54 people lost lives in the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protests-related riots. Who instigated those riots during a foreign dignitary’s visit is another topic altogether. However, this allowed the Western media to publish a barrage of articles on how under the fascist Indian government humanity was under threat.
However, the same publications were mum on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman, who never accept any refugees. They were mum on the role of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic who outright refused asylum seekers on the grounds of threat to law and order. They were mum on China where state-sponsored genocide was taking place in Tibet and Xinjiang, under the guise of re-education. The media refused to talk about how in 2023 Australians had roundly rejected greater rights for Indigenous citizens and in New Zealand how 180 years old dozen policies that provide for Māori were under threat. Above all none of the publications talked about the genocide of Indigenous people of Canada.
The Great Game
While the term ‘Great Game’ was coined by a British Indian Army officer focusing on the British and Russian rivalry in the 20th century, the rise of India has renewed focus on this term. The coming decades would see rising competition between the West, India, and China. China being a dictatorship could physically insulate itself from the external world using harsh national security laws. The Great Firewall of China isolates its populace from the influence of external media inputs. That leaves India, a democracy and an open society, vulnerable to attacks from the vested interests in the West and China.
But why India? After all magazines like German ‘Der Spiegel’ paint India as overcrowded and underdeveloped. The reason is economic. As per the World Economic Forum, India could be the world’s third-largest economy anytime between 2027-29. A Bloomberg study reveals that India could become the world’s number-one GDP contributor as early as 2028, overtaking China. With 142.86 crore population India is also the world’s most populous country and a huge market for western goods. As the developed world’s population is shrinking, India would be the world’s leading source of skilled and disciplined manpower. Therefore, an amenable, malleable, and inexperienced leader in India would be an ideal candidate to further the Western agenda.
This aspect was very well summarized by the late former President of India Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee in her book ‘Pranab, My Father’. In the book, she states how her father was disappointed in Rahul Gandhi. He found Rahul incapable of running the Prime Minister’s office (PMO), anytime soon. He wanted Rahul to join the cabinet and gain experience in governance. But his advice was ignored.
Therefore, Rahul Gandhi, or a person of similar capabilities becomes the most suitable candidate to take forward the Western agenda. This becomes the sole reason behind foreign governments and organizations jumping into the fray to present a distorted image of India to the world and an avalanche of propaganda within India.
The Europe-based Disinfo Lab has published an 85-page analysis of foreign influence in the Indian general elections 2024 — The Invisible Hand. Among many the report blames two organizations and one individual in particular for peddling a specific narrative — the US-based Henry Luce Foundation (HLF), George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF), and the French Indologist and political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot. As per the report, the propaganda peaked in the six months leading up to the 44-day-long general elections.
It is no surprise that Christophe Jaffrelot’s brainchild ‘Caste Census’ in India was part of the Congress Party’s election manifesto. Both Congress and Christophe Jaffrelot exploited the fault lines in the Indian society and Indians fell for it. Christophe Jaffrelot’s other project was ‘Muslims in a Time of Hindu Majoritarianism’. In addition to others, Christophe Jaffrelot was being funded by HLF.
HLF also funded many other anti-India projects to paint India in a bad light — ‘Hindu Nationalism: From Ethnic Identity to Authoritarian Repression’, ‘Religion, Citizenship, and Belonging in India’, ‘Religion-as-Ethnicity and the Emerging Hindu Vote in India’, are some of their funded anti-India projects. Among many anti-India writers California-based activists Angana P. Chatterji and Rutgers academic Audrey Truschke are prominent in spreading the anti-India narrative and are funded by HLF.
Billionaire George Soros’ OSF also funded many anti-India foundations and individuals. Prominent among them are Canadian activist Ricken Patel’s Namati Foundation and Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in addition to the usual culprit Christophe Jaffrelot.
It Is Not Over Yet
After the BJP’s sub-par performance in the general elections, the Chinese media professional Hu Xijin commented on the diminished powers of the Indian Prime Minister — “Indian Prime Minister claimed victory for the third term, but it seems more like a loss. Once Modi becomes weak, Washington may assess his long-term value. The election marks a turning point for Modi from strong to weak”.
To an untrained eye, it might look like a statement of jubilation, but in reality, this statement displays frustration and disappointment over the partly successful attempt. After all, billions were spent to create an anti-India and anti-Modi narrative.
Most suitable way to bring in illicit funds into India is using the hawala route. Another effective method is donations to legitimate but unscrupulous entities in India by multinational companies. As per an estimate, a decade ago Indian exchequer was losing over ₹10 lakh crore every year due to Hawala. Today the amount in question would be much bigger. These funds are used to spread civil unrest, to aid terrorism, or to disrupt elections. The disturbed peace in Northeast India and Punjab in the recent past was part of this game plan. But the big question is would India be lucky the next time?
In the era of the internet, social media, and deep fakes, going forward would be tough. If India doesn’t safeguard itself from these visible internal and invisible external forces today, a new wave of colonization is not a distant reality.
Insightful Geopolitics 
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