​Persuasion strategy: on the civil defence preparedness drills  

For the first time in over 50 years, India has been told that it is on the threshold of a full-scale war. The drills seek to bring that war into the people’s consciousness, not as a media event but as a way of preparing them for what could unfold in their lives. Civil defence preparedness is a key element of war strategy. These drills will help to take stock of how common people, those responsible for key civil assets and trained personnel, will interact and act in a war-like situation. Defence preparedness is another matter altogether. The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not baulked at national, war-like mobilisations. From demonetisation through Swachh Bharat to the lights off during COVID-19 that also tested electric grid resilience, there have been many projects that have sought to tell the people that they have to be in mission-mode. Grid resilience is once again being tested by the drills through blackouts.

Wars and war-like simulations can serve to bring up consciousness and produce more social cohesiveness and a focus on common, larger goals. They can prepare the people for hardships without their losing morale. The other side is, of course, destruction. In the eyes of many, including possibly the government, Pahalgam was India’s 9/11, if not in its scale but in the response. This view holds that Pakistan is the Afghanistan of 2001 — a nation coming apart with only religious zealots holding it together using terror as the only statecraft. George W. Bush’s “I hear you” in the rubble of the World Trade Center was followed by a blitzkrieg that sought to bomb the nation into the Stone Age. The U.S. had zero risk of any retaliation then. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to pursue terrorists to the end of the earth comes with the risk of a furious retaliation if the pursuit means full-fledged war. While testing civil defence preparedness is one thing, a real war is a highly dangerous escalation that will do little good to the narrative of India being an economic powerhouse ready to take its place in a multipolar world as a true and responsible leader. The government must keep its options open so that Pakistan may be persuaded to walk back from the brink by agreeing to hand over terror leaders of the LeT, JeM and fringe outfits. India’s non-muscular response to 26/11 brought much shame to Pakistan and the Pakistani media willingly brought more shame to its government by turning its focus on Ajmal Kasab’s village and family. Perhaps the civil defence preparedness drills will serve as psy-ops, signalling India’s intent that could make Pakistan see the folly of using terror as a tactic in geopolitical disputes.