Power with no sensitivity

The border may be contested, but the message sent by bulldozing a Hindu god was unmistakableand damaging.

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On Dec 22, a viral video showed Thai military engineers using a backhoe to topple a statue of Lord Vishnu in a disputed area near Preah Vihear. The military described it as part of area management. Thai television treated it as a spectacle. International audiences saw something else entirely.

India did not mince words. Its foreign ministry swiftly issued a rebuke, saying such acts hurt the sentiments of believers worldwide and should not take place. It reminded Thailand that Hindu and Buddhist traditions are part of a shared civilisational heritage across the region.

That point matters. This was not about archaeology or the age of the statue, which was built in 2014. It was about meaning. Religious symbols do not lose their power because they are new. Faith does not come with an expiry date.