Kashmir and India's Centre of Gravity.

Byline: Imran Malik

The Union of India's ostensible Centre of Gravity (COG), its Unity, is under direct threat by multiple forces; the two most critical ones being the brazen imposition of the divisive, fascist, supremacist and racist Hindutva ideology by the present Modi Government and the plethora of separatist/independence movements raging within. Its importance in a multiracial, multi-ethnic, multireligious, multilingual conglomerate of vastly distinct nationalities cannot be overstated.

The COG is generally defined as the source of power that provides a nation or its militaries the moral or physical strength, freedom of action and/or will to act. In other words, it is the source of all strength. A nation's COG is determined by considering whether destroying, neutralizing or substantially weakening or degrading it will create a 'ripple or cascading effect' resulting in the progressive deterioration of its morale, cohesion and will to fight and thereby prevent it from accomplishing its objectives.(Wikipedia).

India's apparent COG could thus be converted into a critical vulnerability too; there are fissures within the Union as many states/peoples seek independence. Furthermore, this critical vulnerability can morph into a fatal vulnerability when attacked and destroyed from within; deliberately or by default. The RSS-BJP-Modi Government is doing exactly this while fanatically implementing its divisive and contentious RSS-Hindutva ideology.

Hindutva is the guiding ideology of the Sangh Parivaar with which the RSS, BJP, Bajrang Dal, VHP and Shiv Sena are closely associated. It has been defined as a majoritarian political ideology and far right ethnonationalist movement that uses religion as a justification for atrocities against all non-Hindus, including Muslims, Dalits (the Untouchables), Christians, Sikhs, Ravidassias, Buddhists etc. It uses the claim to faith to distract from its economic agenda to concentrate power and resources in the hands of the upper oppressor castes. (Alliance for Justice and Accountability, Wikipedia).

The original paradigms of erstwhile India's union are crumbling under the weight of PM Modi's (mis)rule. A massive shift is already underway with divisions on religious, ethnic and linguistic fault lines emerging emphatically. PM Modi wants to forcefully redefine the paradigms that will henceforth determine the contours of the Indian society and lay down a new order of precedence within it. Hindutva does not seek...