These olympics

The big red ring in the East is China.

Two columnists at Hindustan Times argued from either sides of the Olympic debate. Karan Thapar believed that it’s time to stand up for the Tibetans’ cause and boycott the games; Vir Sanghvi argued that India doesn’t have a case for boycott. A good thing was that both of them restricted themselves to local (Indian) perspectives, instead of giving in to the temptation of presenting grand global opinions. I hold both of them in high regards and their articles together sum up the entire situation, the way we see it.

In general, I am against Chinese repression of their neighbours, and nor I am a fan of the way Indian state engages in its neighbourhood. Karan Thapar delves on both these issues. I can see his lament about India giving in to high-handed Chinese manouvres and lack of political will to draft a consistent and independent foreign policy. At present we’re indeed stuck between our sympathy for Tibet and China’s tall stature – and it seems it’s going to remain this way for a while. But Mr. Thapar misses one point, and that’s exactly where Mr. Sanghvi scores.

In his objective treatment of this debate, Mr. Sanghvi produces one clinching argument. No matter how much we resent it, India has officially recognised Tibet as an integral part of China. Crackdown on protesting monks then completely becomes China’s internal matter. I also see his point in justifying a possible secession of all sporting ties with Pakistan for what they’ve done to us over decades, but that’s beside the point for now. He concludes:

…I believe that any sports boycott should be linked either to India’s interests or to a campaign against some completely immoral policy. I can see the argument for boycotting a country that sends terrorists to India. And I can understand why an immoral system of government based on racial superiority (as apartheid was) must be brought down by a global boycott.

Neither of these conditions apply to China.

We have to either officially endorse Tibet's fight for freedom or at least condemn China's crackdown on unarmed ethnic minority protesters before we can even think of making a political statement at the Olympics. Unfortunately, we've done neither. Therefore, to Mr. Thapar’s due credit, I agree that we can do with much dignified and independent stance on issues pertaining to India's neighbourhood. Should that involve taking China head on? That’s not for me to decide or influence, but the least I expect our government to do is not let China treat us condescendingly. We must all admire Bhaichung Bhutia for speaking up for what he thinks is correct. As a nation though, instead of spanking Aamir Khan for not following suit, we must rally to set our house in order. A far more tangible battle for us would be to get the government’s perspective aligned with our view of right and wrong. Until then we’re only bound by the stated policy and everything else should be consistent with that.