By Kumkum Chadha
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi named India’s retaliation against Pakistan Operation Sindoor, it was a masterstroke. Even his bitterest critics could not fault the choice of nomenclature, which resonated with right-minded Indians across the board.
If reports are anything to go by, the name was chosen by Modi himself. It was symbolic and significant, given that husbands were killed in the presence of their wives. The spilled image of the sindoor put out by the armed forces was loud and clear: India is avenging the loss women suffered. It was also a tribute to the widows of the victims of Pahalgam.
Among Hindus, sindoor or vermillion powder is a symbol of marriage. Worn in the parting of the hair, it is worn by married women and wiped off if one is widowed.
On April 22, in Pahalgam, women were widowed: the terrorists targeted men and spared women and children. In essence, the sindoor of many was wiped out. A video that went viral was Himanshi Narwal’s, who was on her honeymoon. Her image next to her husband’s slain body became a symbol of the dreadful militant attack in Baisaran Valley, a few kilometres off Pahalgam in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Apart from amplifying the tragedy, the nomenclature also signifies the resolve of avenging the deaths and seeking justice by bringing the perpetrators to justice—in this case not individuals, but India’s neighbour, Pakistan. In essence, the nomenclature symbolized tragedy, grief, and a resolve to hit back in greater measure than the attack. On that count, India did well, despite misgivings in the minds of hundreds and thousands of people about the government giving in too soon to the call of ceasefire. That apart, handpicking two women officers also touched a chord.
The press briefing giving details of the operation was addressed by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a helicopter pilot, alongside India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. Again, it was the messaging, more than the details, that stood out: two women—one a Muslim—was a signal that when it comes to India, Hindus and Muslims stand and fight together. It is significant that in the Pahalgam terror attack, the victims were Hindus. In fact, they were targeted after ascertaining their religion.
It is another matter that a BJP minister stoked the fires by using “their own sister” terminology for Qureshi, or another saying that women who lost their husbands in the terror attack lacked courage, resulting in a high death toll.
The context: Addressing a rally a few days after Operation Sindoor, a state minister said that India taught a lesson to Pakistan using “their own sister”. He did not name anyone, but was obviously referring to Colonel Sofiya Qureshi—a Muslim, and by the minister’s inference, more Pakistani than Indian. This mindset, wherein nationalism is overshadowed by religion, is commonplace among the BJP leadership and its rank and file.
Ditto a BJP MP’s remark that women who lost their men in Pahalgam lacked the warrior spirit: “Veerangana ka bhav nahin tha, josh nahin tha, jazba nahin tha, dil nahin tha”, he is reported to have said, wishing that the women witnessing the killings were like Malwa queen Ahilyabai Holkar, who led her army into battle.
Had this been an off-the-cuff remark by an MP or a state minister, it would perhaps have passed off as one being more loyal than the king. But what does one do when the king himself leads the pack? Read Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said “not blood but hot sindoor runs in my veins”—whatever that is supposed to mean.
The prime minister was speaking at a rally in Rajasthan where he used Operation Sindoor to the hilt: “Whenever a direct war happens Pakistan has to bite dust. That is why Pakistan has made terror a weapon in its fight against India. This has been going on for decades after Independence. But now Pakistan has forgotten that Ma Bharati’s sena Modi is standing here. Modi’s head is cool, but his blood is hot. Now in Modi’s veins, not blood, but hot sindoor is flowing,” he said, exactly a month after the terror attack. A few days later, in his home state Gujarat, women in red saris and caps with the Operation Sindoor imprint queued up to welcome him during his road show.
In West Bengal, Modi linked the operation with sindoor khela, a ritual that marks the end of the ten-day Durga Puja festivities by women besmearing each other with vermillion. In the poll-bound state of Bihar, Prime Minister Modi said that he had delivered on his promise of avenging the terror attack: “Pakistan and the world saw the power of the sindoor of Indian daughters.”
It is a long list where rhetoric has come handy for electoral gains. Assembly elections are scheduled in Bihar by the end of this year. Next year, the states of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry go to polls.
Whether the BJP will be able to sustain the Operation Sindoor narrative for months on end remains to be seen, but the exercise has begun in earnest: the word and symbolism of sindoor being the key. However, the Opposition has thrown a spanner in the works by targeting the prime minister personally as also the party and the government for besmearing the sanctity of vermillion.
On the personal front, it was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who hit Modi where, perhaps, it hurt the most: “Every woman has respect, they accept sindoor only from her husband… you are not the husband of everybody; why are you not giving sindoor to your Mrs first?” Banerjee said, targeting the prime minister’s strained relationship with his wife. For the record, Modi has been living away from his wife, Jashodaben, for many years. His marital status has often been a subject of political controversy, with opponents and critics taking a jibe. Reacting to Banerjee, BJP’s Sambit Patra said that Banerjee should not have said what she did. On this, Patra was right. Banerjee did cross the line. The BJP, she said, is trying to accrue political gains ahead of the elections.
Banerjee apart, the Congress also took on the BJP on its plans to distribute sindoor “door to door”. In reports that are yet to be confirmed, the BJP had planned to go door to door to give sindoor to women. Slamming it as “government vermillion”, the Congress chose to remind the BJP that sindoor is applied only by the husband.
That the BJP is hell-bent on the politicization of the sindoor symbol for electoral gain is a given. The prime minister himself led the charge, playing on the sindoor emotion and projecting himself as a leader who dared to take on Pakistan: “Agar tum goli chalaoge, goli ka jawab gole mein diya jayega”—fire a bullet and we will respond with a cannon, he said at another rally.
Quite upbeat on cashing in on national sentiment, the BJP needs to tread with caution. It may be deft at exploiting both the grief and emotion, but it is a formula that is kind of double-edged. On the one hand, it can bring in dividends, which the BJP hopes it will. On the other, it can backfire—like it has on the plank of the “door to door sindoor” distribution.
Equally, there is the issue of a time lag. Given that the elections are scheduled by the end of this year or the middle of the next, the BJP may find it difficult to sustain the rhetoric for months on end. And even if it does, it could stumble—like it did on the sindoor distribution spiel.
The lesson: the BJP and the government—prime Minister included—should desist from overplaying the sindoor sentiment, lest it backfires and offends those it is meant to woo electorally.
—The writer is an author, journalist and political commentator
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