The border tension between China and India took a new turn on August 21. At last India’s home minister, Rajnath Singh, stopped issuing threats and warnings to China and expressed his hope that China would soon agree to talk with India to ease the strained relations.

Rajnath Singh appears to be an interesting personality. Son of a Hindu Rajput farmer in Uttar Pradesh (UP), he struggled hard to get a master’s degree in Physics. But apparently his higher education in sciences did not have much positive impact on him, and he remained a Hindu fundamentalist throughout. He was one of the youth who nurture religious hatred right from an early age. He continued his association with RSS even after becoming a lecturer in physics at a university in Mirzapur, UP. This position enabled him to spread his Hindu fundamentalism to his students.

Looking at Rajnath, it becomes clear that if science education is imparted without any social understanding and without teaching respect for humanity, even highly qualified people give precedence to religion over humanity. Such people keep disseminating the seeds of hatred and they are aplenty in all countries and religions. In recognition of Rajnath’s services to Hindu fundamentalism, in 1974 just at the age of 23 he was appointed secretary of Jan Sangh in Mirzapur. Jan Sangh was supposed to be the political wing of the RSS. Rajnath climbed the ladder quickly and became a member of the UP legislative assembly in 1977.

By 1984, he had become the president of the youth wing of the BJP in UP; becoming its national president in 1988. When the BJP formed its first government in UP in 1991, Rajnath Singh was selected as its education minister. As expected, right after assuming the charge of education ministry in UP, he initiated distortion of history books, as we have been doing in Pakistan. It is interesting to note that whenever a government takes sides with a caste or creed, rather than being disinterested in these matters, it first tries to reduce the role and importance of other castes and creeds in the textbooks.

Such rulers try to enhance the importance of their own caste and creed through the textbooks and that’s what the BJP does whenever it comes to power. It has always tried to impose Hindu fundamentalism on the Indian society and Rajnath Singh has been at the forefront leading these attempts. Now they are even trying to Hinduize mathematics and sciences by introducing ideas such as ‘Vedic mathematics’ and ‘Hindu science’.

Similar attempts have been made in Pakistan when under the Zia regime a religious tinge was given to the textbooks. Even now the PTI-JI coalition government in KP and the PML-N government in the centre has tried to add more religion into mainstream education.

Anyway, Rajnath Singh became a Rajya Sabha (senate) member in 1994, and when the BJP formed its government in 1999, he was appointed Union Minister for transport. In 2000, he took charge as the chief minister of UP and remained there for two years. Then from 2005 to 2009, he was the national president of the BJP and to this post he was reelected in 2013. Just after one year, when the BJP won elections and formed the government under the premiership of Narendra Modi, Rajnath was appointed home minister. Though he is home minister, he loves to issue statements on all issues under the sun.

Especially on the matters of foreign affairs, his statements carry a sinister message. About the recent Sino-Indian tensions too, Rajnath Singh has been using threatening language. It appears that the rulers in the subcontinent have a gift of the gab in the use of boastful statements. Even if they are incompetent in the basics of diplomacy, at least they can vent their anger by crying hoarse at the neighbouring countries. Such, threats proved useless with China, so now Rajnath Singh has shown an about-face by using relatively moderate language. China has not been amused and has stood fast with their initial stance.

China has been demanding that India must withdraw all its forces from Doklam, before any talks could be initiated. Doklam is a Bhutanese territory that has been a cause of disagreement between China and India. Just last week, China has completed military exercises in the nearby region. India has also increased its forces in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Though this region is disputed for long, it is after many decades that the situation has become so tense. Precisely this increased strain has prompted Rajnath Singh to change his tone to express hope that China would soon agree to talk and reduce tensions.

Initially, China was just demanding that India should withdraw its forces, but now China expects a complete removal of all military hardware from the region. This has caused a serious rethink in India because a rapid infrastructural development by China has already put the Indian security in danger.

According to India, Doklam belongs to Bhutan, while China disputes this claim; and Bhutan remains silent. According to some latest reports, China has installed hundreds of tents in that area, probably for the Chinese soldiers. China has also confirmed that it has concluded its military exercises in the nearby region where Chinses air force and ten units of troops have participated.

Chinese central TV has also shown a video recording of tanks bombarding the mountains and helicopters targeting land targets with missiles. Apparently, China has been able to convey a strong message to India. Though these exercises were not conducted in Doklam, their location appears to be nearby mountains. In similar exercises by China in July, live ammunition was used; then last week in Ladakh, the troops of the two countries had minor skirmishes, throwing stones at each other, and even using fisticuffs; but they refrained from escalating it further. Afterwards, Rajnath Singh gave his recent statement while addressing a function of Indo-Tibet Border Police of India.

This police force guards the 4000-km long border from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. Lately, Rajnath Singh has appeared to be hopeful about reducing tension. A couple of weeks ago in Lucknow, he set a deadline of 2022 to solve both the Kashmir and Naxalite problems. Perhaps, by such statements he is trying to enhance the BJP’s chances of winning the next general elections in 2019. Pakistan should welcome these statements and, irrespective of Rajnath Singh’s inherent Hindu fundamentalism, hope that he would nurture a certain tolerance in his domestic policy and a realistic approach in the foreign matters.

Rajnath Singh must accept the fact that border problems -- be it with China, Nepal, or Pakistan -- cannot be solved by stubbornness, threats, and warnings. In a similar vein, the speech by Narendra Modi on the Indian Independence Day needs attention. He has acknowledged that the Kashmir issue cannot be solved by blames and bullets, and rather can only be solved by embracing each other.

Let’s hope that the recent statements by the Indian prime minister and home minister are based on an honest appraisal of the situation and reflect their true desire for peace. Now other countries in the region, especially China and Pakistan, should respond positively and at least through their statements initiate a rapprochement. In this regard, Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s suggestion to accept Kashmir as an independent country is not out of place. It certainly is one of the options to let Kashmir alone, and allow it to prosper as an independent country.