STATEDLY, understandably, comprehensively, decidedly, unitedly, India is getting ready for war with Pakistan. In the past few days since the Pahalgam attack, the whole nation is waiting for the Government to take decisive military action against the rogue State of Pakistan. And now, with the Ministry of Home Affairs ordering nationwide civil defence drills, the atmosphere appears ripe for ‘action’ which may come any time, given the signals emanating from corridors of power. The moment of reckoning appears to be nearing. Though the people want a direct and no-nonsense military action against Pakistan, every Indian person is conscious of what war entails -- hard times in every which the way. For, when the nation goes to war, it invites a State of Emergency upon itself.

 

In that condition, everything is in short supply -- since everything or anything may be needed for war effort and will be provided. In that case, the people will have to be ready fully to make every sacrifice possible -- from common comforts to uncommon but highest sacrifice of life if the moment calls for it. No matter all those ominous yet inevitable possibilities, the entire nation wants to teach Pakistan a lesson it would never forget. When the nation starts going through civil defence exercises, people will have to train themselves to be on high alert all the time -- morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night. At any moment of the day or night, there may be an air-raid siren, so to say, and everybody will have to run for shelter, or duck under heavy beds etc in the house (for example).

 

The moment siren starts blaring especially after evening, everybody will have to douse every light in the house or office or restaurant or railway station or bus stand or market ... ! Medical teams will have to be snapped to alertness round the clock. In short, the entire social edifice will have to be on high alert all the time. For, when war begins, there is no guarantee that the enemy would not approach this or that point in the vast Indian landscape. The enemy can hit at any place and at any moment. In that case, there will be no time to complain, but to time enough to reach safety points so as to minimise damage if the raid really takes place. In its 77 years of Independence, India has not seen such a comprehensive war that would affect every part of the country. But this time, things may be different -- and far more fierce than we might have imagined. So, the nation will have to be high alert and be ready to be at the point for long stretches of time. Of course, everything will depend on what kind of action the Government may be planning.

 

True, it will try its best to keep the damage to the larger society at the minimum. But, when the enemy is as rabid as Pakistan, things could be far more challenging that we know. Knowing this, perhaps, the Government is preparing the nation for hard challenge ahead in a slow, patient and step-by-step manner -- which is evident from the firm steps Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is taking in the right direction. Of course, the people wanted a swifter action, no doubt. But then, as a strategic thinker said, wars are not waged just because people want those. Wars are waged, he said, when the nation cannot do without those. For, India is a peace-loving nation -- and not a war-mongering one. But it has established in the past seven decades that India’s collective response to the situation of war is always exemplary. This time, too, it would be on those lines. India might not have what is described as strategic culture. But there is no doubt that the Indian nation has an innate ability to stand as one man when matters come to crunch. That is India’s real strength.