H-word, M-word & fading K-word

If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

Much as I would've wanted to use "khota sikka", the challenge of finding an exact translation brings me to the usual bad penny. Let's say, therefore, that like a bad penny, the dreaded H-word is back with us — H, as in hyphenation with Pakistan.

And its return is dreaded because our successive governments have laboured for three decades to rid us of what we see as the equivalence the big powers (read the United States) used to draw between us and Pakistan. Three things follow.

Let's call the first the "zero-sum game". If Washington sees the subcontinent in a hyphenated manner, then it must balance the relationship. Gain for one is loss for the other. It brings an equivalence India detests. It believes it stands in a class by itself and linking with Pakistan demeans it.

The second can be called "stature denial". Given its growing comprehensive national power (CNP), India believes it deserves a sphere of influence. If Washington, an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it's unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it.

This is double trouble as China is already working hard at denying India that pre-eminence. And whereas India would expect US backing in this competition, it is galling when the US keeps saying sweet somethings to Pakistan. We thought we were partners in a project to contain China through Quad.

And the third, this means the return of the M-word that so triggers us — M for mediation. For Indian public opinion, American President Donald Trump has undone the work of the past decades by continuing to insist that he mediated the India-Pakistan ceasefire. Now, we know that his interest isn't in any mediation but in getting credit: "Nobody gives me credit for stopping a nuclear war", "I stopped a nuclear war and I haven't seen any stories about it", and so on.