China-India border row: why Narendra Modi won’t let fire and fury ignite a war
- Modi has taken an aggressive stand in the bloody territorial dispute but he will not risk an all-out conflict, observers say
- The anti-China protests and the tough talk do not reflect broader public sentiment or the realities of a military campaign, they say
Anti-China protests erupted throughout the country, from the burning of effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping, to demonstrations calling for an “economic war” against China.
Analysts say Modi’s aggressive tone fits the public mood and the policies of his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has given a freer rein to the army since taking power in 2014, but he will not risk an all out conflict with his larger and better armed neighbour.
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Until the BJP’s rise to power six years ago, Indian politics had been dominated by the centre-left Indian National Congress party. The party stressed socio-economic development and a policy of engagement with China after 1947, when India gained independence from Britain.
However, the two countries did clash in a brief border war in late 1962, resulting in an embarrassing defeat for India and expansion of Chinese territory in the Himalayan area of Aksai Chin.