#56InchRocks turns into 50 Shades of Red: PM Modi's Obama moment unravels in Myanmar

If Narendra Modi had been a master at anything, it was about spectacle, PR and messaging. His spectacles were always masterfully choreographed down to the last hologram. His spokespersons were always on message and Modi had the ability to even turn something as dull as Teacher’s Day into a must-watch television drama. A successful #ManipurRevenge #MyanmarRaid should have been a sixer for the government. All this looks more and more like a self-goal. Not the actual raid conducted by the Army, but the packaging of the raid, which is unraveling by the day while there is radio silence from Modi himself #DespiteBeingThePM. [caption id=“attachment_2292766” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] The Myanmar raid had all the hallmarks of that Osama assassination. Like America, India wanted to prove that someone who brought terror to it was not safe no matter where they were holed up. Like America, India wanted to show they could conduct a daring operation with speed, precision and without any casualty on their side with top-notch intelligence. And while the SEALs got the credit for the operation, Obama reaped the benefit of being the one who took the risk in greenlighting it. India’s junior I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore seemed to say exactly that when he said while the Army carried out the strike, “our PM ordered hot pursuit in which two camps were completely annihilated.” This looked like it would have been Modi’s Obama moment. But instead the government is forced to do damage control on multiple fronts. The Army Problem: The government stands accused of trying to steal the Army’s thunder and as an Indian Express editorial writes trying to “harvest political capital out of the Army’s success”. The Army had merely said it had conducted strikes “along the border”. It was hashtag friendly Rajyavardhan Rathore who shot off his mouth about “our Special Forces crossing the border and going deep into another country”. His boasting actually forced more attention on the operation and compelled Myanmar to publicly display its annoyance. Now the Economic Times reports that the government is unhappy with Rathore’s braggadocio. “Rathore’s statement was avoidable,” one minister tells ET. Another says “Rathore should not have spoken like that… what was the need?” But there is a bit of shooting the messenger here. Rathore did not rush in front of television cameras. He was chosen to do so precisely because he is a former military man. The Indian Express says “it was because it felt he could send the message across louder and clearer than the Army could. Sources said a political intervention was felt necessary at the ‘highest level’ and that’s how Rathore, a retired Army colonel, was chosen to give out details the Army couldn’t." Unlike V K Singh, the other minister who landed the Modi government in a soup with his tweets, Rathore was not doing any of this for himself. It was entirely about buttressing the PM’s strongman image. Now the PMO is distancing itself from Rathore but let’s not forget Rathore was not bragging about his own #56inch chest. And he was chosen to go before the media AFTER those tweets. The Diplomacy Problem: Narendra Modi came to power with unprecedented SAARC bonhomie by inviting all the neighbouring leaders to his swearing in. He has played prompt and kindly big brother to Nepal after the earthquake. Thought social media slammed his ‘Despite Being A Woman’ comment in Dhaka, his Bangladesh visit was in general successful. K Anis Ahmed commented in Scroll “In words and gestures, Modi’s visit seemed designed to signal the one thing that many Bangladeshis have felt missing from their bigger neighbour: respect.” Now Myanmar is complaining vociferously that New Delhi is not showing them that same thing: respect. Rathore bragged that the Indian Army “went into” Myanmar to target militant camps and initial reports talked about how the Myanmar army provided the intelligence and then turned a blind eye to the operation. Even if that was true, diplomacy demands both countries do not go to town talking about it. Certainly Washington and Islamabad have not admitted to any collusion even though Seymour Hersch alleged that they worked very much in tandem. But Rathore’s braggadocio has forced a normally tight-lipped Myanmar to say categorically “we will not allow foreign troops to enter our territory.” Rathore did not stop to think how India would feel if the tables were turned and Myanmar wanted to claim credit for an operation conducted on the Indian side of the border. So now suddenly India and Myanmar, who are allies and partners, are putting out embarrassingly different scenarios of what happened. Happymon Jacob, an international affairs expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University tells The Telegraph “If you do not treat these things with a certain kind of secrecy and sensitivity, it could impact how Myanmar and other countries treat similar requests from India in the future.” Meanwhile Pakistan which had no reason to get involved in the story, has decided to adopt a sanctimonious tone and lecture India about a “moral high ground” and how they would continue their “quest for a peaceful neighbourhood” despite “irresponsible” and “imprudent statements” from India’s leaders. Basically Nawaz Sharif wants to use Manohar Parrikar’s statement that the operation in Myanmar was about sending messages to India’s other neighbours to rally his country together with some India-bashing. The Photo Problem: Then there is the photo goof up that has left everyone with more questions than answers. Two photographs allegedly from the operation started going around social media and media outlets. It showed the soliders carrying guns in front of an army helicopter flashing victory signs. ANI carried the pictures with the faces blanked out to protect their identities. But then the defence ministry tweeted it had “NOT issued any photo relating to the Indian Army action along the Indo-Myanmar border in the North East, so far.” ANI claimed the photos were authorized by the Additional Directorate General of Public Information which said it had done no such thing. Then the whole affair blew up further when the images were found via Google as being from 2009-13. Now the Army is back pedaling saying according to The Hindu that the photographs were only approved as a “representative picture” not an “operational picture.” That’s even more ridiculous because why should the Army be in the business of giving media outlets “representational pictures” anyway? Especially pictures that were already out there and available. Whether the pictures were an honest mistake or a deliberate attempt to jazz up the story and make it more front-page worthy, someone royally goofed up along the way. The Bodycount Problem: Now it seems the death toll from the strike is in dispute as well. The Army had kept mum about the casualties inflicted though in background briefings it had suggested 20 dead and 11 injured though some in the media have floated the claim that 100 insurgents were killed. But Indian Express says only seven bodies have been recovered and about a dozen militants were injured. More damningly Rathore’s #ManipurRevenge did not hit the perpetrators of the 4 June ambush that cost India 18 lives. Express also says that Niki Sumi, the head of one of the camps destroyed left it with 40 of his cadres before the Indians attacked. If Sumi is the Osama equivalent in this story, he it seems got away. And IE claims SS Khaplang, the aging patriarch of the NSCN-K insurgent group, is undergoing medical treatment safely in Yangon. So now questions are being raised as to the strategic value of the attack beyond providing some high-octane television drama and an ego stroke to India about its military prowess. When President Obama placed the killing of Osama bin Laden at the centre of his re-election campaign, he too was accused of politicizing the event and making it a campaign slogan by his opponents. But Modi’s Obama moment seems to be unraveling not because of his opponents but because those around him were too greedy and too hasty to turn it into a PR-spectacle tailor-made for television. As Modi maintains an uncharacteristic silence, his minister’s #56inch Rocks boast is turning into 50 Shades of Red .