The massacre has reignited calls for retribution and nationalist bravado—but behind the noise lies a deeper challenge: Can India’s leaders hold the line against communal rupture and resist falling into Pakistan’s strategic trap?

Judging by the avalanche of angry traffic in community WhatsApp groups—baying for vengeance and retribution in response to the massacre at Pahalgam—it is clear that the ruling establishment faces a formidable challenge in statecraft: how to resist the temptation of a full-fledged civil war along Hindu-Muslim fault lines. Sample this provocative message doing the rounds, one of dozens that agents provocateurs are circulating so as to extract political mileage from a national tragedy:

Shradhanjali
Aaj se shuru karo jo unhone kiya,
Naam poocho, pet par laat maaro,
Naam poocho, kaam se nikaalo,
Naam poocho, samaan mat kharido,
Naam poocho, taxi cancel karo,
Naam poocho, aur poori tarah se bahishkar karo.
Ek se do hafton ki pareshani hogi,
Lekin nateeje bahut acche aayenge.

(Homage)
Start today what they did;
Ask the name and strike where it hurts the most;
Ask the name and remove them from your employment;
Ask the name and refuse to buy anything from them;
Ask the name, cancel the taxi;
Ask the name and boycott them completely.
We shall face inconvenience for a week or two,
But the results will be very good indeed.

This is not the first time such a provocation has tested the wisdom of the Indian state and its seasoned apparatchiks. But the challenge today is even more consequential because the impresarios of the incumbent government have trapped themselves in a 56-inch-deep hole. Having long accused previous non-BJP governments of lacking the “will” to “sort out Pakistan,” the Modi government is now under immense pressure to at least replicate something akin to a “Balakot.” The ruling party has made the idea of a “surgical strike” its political signature. Senior ministers have casually spoken about walking into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir at a moment of our choosing. Such rhetoric has only whetted the collective appetite for a more “muscular” response, beyond the so-called “diplomatic surgical strike” decided by Prime Minister Modi’s Cabinet Committee on Security on April 23.
How Islamabad might react if the Modi regime succumbs to this frenzy is of little concern to the ruling party and its “core” constituency. Inflicting “pain” on Pakistan has become an emotionally satisfying pursuit. Since the Kargil war, the BJP has routinely tried to convert military martyrdom into electoral capital. The pretence of being “uncompromising” in our “determination” to roll back terrorism has yielded rich dividends at the ballot box. Now, the ruling coterie feels obliged not only to send a message to Pakistan and other terror-vendors but also to satisfy its supporters’ craving for fireworks.
Whether or not Pakistan can endure this “pain” without escalating matters into a broader conflict is a question best left to defence analysts. If New Delhi and Islamabad blunder into a limited war, both establishments might even find such a confrontation a useful distraction from pressing domestic and economic challenges.
Yet, even a limited war will not solve the fundamental issue: how to prevent the widening Hindu-Muslim chasm in India. If three or four terrorists can push us into communal delirium, transforming every village and kasba into battlegrounds of inter-community strife, then they would have succeeded brilliantly in their goal—to weaken India. A socially fragmented nation can never achieve greatness.
True to form, the Muslim community has responded with wisdom. Despite long-standing grievances, ordinary Kashmiris too have raised a united voice against the Pahalgam horror. Prominent Muslim groups and individuals have unequivocally condemned the attackers and their agenda – pre-empting the demands the right-wing makes of them and of no other community. Still, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that an irresponsible media might elevate one or two fringe maulanas to create a divisive counter-narrative. Indian Muslims have long struggled to resist being painted as proxies for Islamabad’s “thousand cuts” policy. Incidents like Pahalgam and the attempts by hot-headed Hindutva social media warriors to exploit them make that resistance far more difficult.
Even under normal conditions, our social harmony remains precarious—and it has been steadily undermined over the past decade. The RSS has pursued a campaign of “Hindu consolidation,” urging caste-ridden Hindus to overcome internal divisions as a prerequisite for national unity. Only the other day, Mohan Bhagwat called for “one temple, one well, and one cremation ground.” While seemingly innocuous, such messages carry implicit calls for unity against a perceived “enemy.”
Meanwhile, the BJP’s electoral strategy—particularly in Uttar Pradesh—has aimed to politically marginalise Muslims. Remember the atrocious slogan, ‘batenge to katenge’? This tactic has paid off electorally, but it has deepened the psychological and social divide between communities. Entrepreneurial babas and godmen have even concocted absurdities like “sharbat jihad” to further inflame majoritarian paranoia. Now, it’s easy to imagine local BJP strategists working to fold “Pahalgam” into their political pitch.
Encouragingly, there are signs that some sober voices within the ruling establishment recognise the dangerous implications of worsening Hindu-Muslim relations for national security and prosperity. Presumably, such voices may have been the ones who persuaded the prime minister to launch his “Saugat-e-Modi” outreach last month. However motivated, such gestures are better than overt rejection and ostracism. Yet after Pahalgam, these voices may find themselves on the back foot.
The national challenge in the wake of Pahalgam is to break free from our stunted imagination, limited by the empty slogan of “political will.” We will do ourselves no favours by allowing Pakistan to provoke us into a civil war between “us” and “them.” This is the real test. Let’s see if our national leadership has the wisdom to thwart Pakistan’s game plan.

Courtesy: The Wire