PERILS OF SOCIAL MEDIA & FOREIGN CONSPIRACIES

A couple of videos from Leh, Uttarakhand and Assam that went viral over the last few days forced me to think deeply.

- SHASHI SHEKHAR

What was common in the videos was angry young people going berserk. A few months ago similar videos appeared from Manipur where a tense calm prevails today.

Is it a coincidence that discontent against the government is brewing in four border states?

Before dwelling on this question let me take you back to 1972. After breaking Pakistan into two, Indira Gandhi was riding a popularity wave and the country was awash with nationalist fervour. Feeling slighted by the US president Richard Nixon’s rebuff, she cozied up to Soviet Union's Leonid Brezhnev leading to a strategic alliance. The alliance meant that in case of an attack on one, both will fight together to ward off the aggressor. That’s the reason Pakistan didn’t dare to openly attack India till 1999 in Kargil.

Those were the heydays of the Green Revolution and Indira Gandhi missed no opportunity to push the vision of India as an industrial powerhouse. She enjoyed brute majority with 352 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress was in power in 15 states. Kerala had a Communist government supported by the Congress, reflecting India’s close ties with the Soviet Union.

However, what was the outcome of this bonhomie?