13 December 2023 has opened in full view of the public a vista into the world of Election Interference in the 21st century, writes Prof. Madhav Das Nalapat
Among the strongest electoral planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the efficacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, assisted by Home Minister Amit Shah, in ensuring that acts of violence against innocent citizens and terrorist atrocities get reduced and finally eliminated in Bharat, i.e. India.
Some of the over 46 million potentially discontented youth across the country have the potential to provide tinder for activities designed to achieve hidden objectives, usually without them understanding the actual purpose of their hidden persuaders.
In several instances, the actual masterminds may be far away, sheltering in countries hostile to the potential emergence of India as a superpower. The six who released yellow gas inside and outside Sansad Bhavan on 13 December shouted slogans against youth unemployment and atrocities against women. Youth and women have been key constituencies of Prime Minister Modi in both the 2014 as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and could well be the decisive factor in the soon-to-beconducted 2024 polls.
India has an impressive national security team led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, together with an active Home Ministry helmed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and both would be aware of the covert moves that are being operationalised by external players in order to reduce the BJP Lok Sabha tally in the coming 2024 Lok Sabha polls to 220 seats.
MPS NEED TO BE CAREFUL
Given the imminence of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, there needed to have been a clear consciousness among BJP functionaries about the possibility of hostile efforts at involving them in events designed to discredit the party and its leader and vote-getter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Passes to enter the Visitors’ Gallery of the Lok Sabha were given by a rising star in the BJP to elements who were totally opposed to the ideology of the BJP.
This indicates that consciousness of the need to exercise substantial caution in such matters now that the country is moving into fullscope election mode is less than universal even among BJP MPs. Giving several passes to individuals on the implicit premise that they shared the “Good Citizen” traits of the parent of one of them was to carry trust to a level potentially harmful not just to the BJP but to national security.
It serves as a warning to other MPs to exercise a high degree of caution in giving such passes. That those in charge of Parliametary security ignored the fact that the perpetrators of the attack had visited the venue multiple times in the past is a reflection of their lack of alertness.
BULLETPROOF GLASS SHIELD NEEDED
While the design and architecture of the new parliamentary complex is of exceptional quality, the fact remains that those who carried out the gas attack inside the chamber of the Lok Sabha could easily leap down from their seats in the Visitors’ Gallery without any physical damage.
Given the absence of adequate protective height to prevent such actions, a shield of bulletproof glass needs to be placed that would separate the MPs from the visitors sitting above them. Audio from within the Parliamentary arena could be piped into the Gallery, thereby enabling visitors to witness and to listen to exchanges between the MPs and with the Chair.
Given that the Lok Sabha is the fount from where authority to rule flows in our democracy, the highest level of security apparatus needs to be installed within the premises, on the chance that individuals with the intent of causing mayhem or worse do not go far before being identified and stopped.
The silver lining behind this unfortunate episode is that (i) such measures have been or are being taken post-attack, and (ii) additional vigilance will now get exercised, especially on the part of ruling party MPs.
A heightened awareness of potential mischief has been shown to be essential during the sensitive period just a short while away before LS polls are to be held.
HOME MINISTER NEEDS TO GET FACTS
At the same time, it is important for all MPs, including those in the opposition, not to make the demand for an “instant statement” by Home Minister Amit Shah a reason for stalling the other work of Parliament. Unlike media commentators, the Home Minister does not by the very position he holds have the luxury of making instant statements in the absence of sufficient facts, especially in the privileged precincts of Parliament.
HM Amit Shah needs to speak only after the full facts behind the 13 December gas attack are made available to him.
In the meantime, the other business of Parliament needs to go on, given the range of pressing issues that confront the nation. That there has been a severe security breach is selfevident.
That the marshals as presently led and constituted were practically bystanders during the episode was clear from the live footage of the incident. Instead of individual marshals who in some cases seem physically and by training unable to deal with even a minor threat, those who function at the level of skill of the NSG commandos need to be deployed.
Such steps may include Marshals in mufti sitting in the Visitors’ Gallery in the way Air Marshals are present on aircraft flying routes where there is an elevated risk of terror incidents.
The need is to look at enforcing accountability and making needed changes in equipment, staff and procedures within a short period of time, issues that must be engaging HM Amit Shah’s attention already.
In the meanwhile, as such activity that by its very nature needs to be done with care and caution and not “instantly” gets taken, so should the regular business of Parliament. As for those who are boisterous beyond a point, in all except the most extreme cases, training the cameras on them and showing the nation their behaviour may be a better way of ensuring better discipline in future than suspension.
EFFORT TO CHANGE ELECTORAL FORTUNES
What took place inside and outside Parliament has almost certainly given a glimpse of an operation that began more than two years ago. An operation essentially focussed on election interference is intended to work towards ensuring that the Lok Sabha tally of the BJP in 2024 falls substantially below its 2019 figure, to a target level of 220.
Investigation needs to focus not just on the perpetrators, who may be unaware of the roots of the spruces that planned and motivated the attack, but also on the negligence of the Parliamentary security staff, including those higher up who placed individuals in sensitive positions who seemed paralysed as the terror attack got initiated.
This was dealt with not by the Marshals but by a few intrepid MPs themselves. Given the need to ensure that the young be occupied in ways that promote national welfare, programmes such as Agniveer and National Service need to be expanded to ensure that youth in depressed areas in particular not fall prey to forces responsive to external inducements from known and unknown foes.
These are hostile to not just of the present dispensation but to Bharat, i.e. India itself. The more than 46 million underprivileged youth who are the targets of such forces need to be taken care of through national and regional programs that equip them to lead productive rather than disruptive lives.
13 December 2023 has opened in full view of the public a vista into the world of Election Interference in the 21st century.
Given the centrality of India in any alliance designed to secure the Indo-Pacific in future, and the manner in which India has been working to ensure that frameworks be created to take care of actual and potential threats, there would be in the pipeline many more such incidents planned to get carried out before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls take place.
These must get extinguished before being operationalised, in order to ensure the health and future of our democracy. The fortunately non-lethal incident revealed the existence of efforts to alter geopolitical reality through interference in elections and intrusion into the doings of political parties and other sensitive entities by those out to derail democratic choice in such a way that their own identities remain masked.
The warning bell sounded in the precincts of Parliament on 13 December 2023 is a wake-up call for all citizens of Bharat.
We are in a world where warfare is hydra-headed and encompasses adverse activity designed to sway the minds of several population segments. Countermeasures need to be put in place so that the 2024 verdict does not get materially altered through a planned series of events designed by external powers to discredit a section of the domestic political community.
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