India Judiciary may have finally set an example by giving a 20-year imprisonment to Gurmeet Ram Rahim under the charges of rape. But that doesn’t stop Chinese Media from taking a dig on India regarding the matter.
China’s publication Global Times has related the matter of riots due to Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s conviction with Doklam standoff issue and has suggested working on the internal issues first.
In the article titled “Riots over sect head conviction expose India’s woes”, they said-
“It is India’s internal affairs to settle the riots, and China hopes the Indian government can quell the unrest soon.”
Even though the topic of Doklam has not been very hot in India, they alleged that Indian government may use it to divert public attention from internal problems.
“But, as Beijing and New Delhi have been locked in the Doklam standoff for some time, we have reason to worry that India may use the border disputes to divert public attention away from the domestic conflicts if the riots escalate.”
Further taking a dig on India’s ethnicity and tradition they said-
“Indians always regard their country as a bastion of purity in the world, but this superstitious and outdated traditional spirit has fettered India’s modernization.”
Talking about the large clout and impact Godmen manage to have in India and reason behind this, they said-
“Indians always worship gurus. God-men are business tycoons in India as well. With tremendous clout in his country, Singh has his own hotel, cinema and school, and is depicted as a hero in a movie that he starred in.
After his conviction, tens of thousands of Singh’s followers flooded into his headquarters in Panchkula to protest, and some of them even attacked police with clubs and stones.
The guru phenomenon also suggests the public’s disappointments toward the country’s traditional politics. Dissatisfied with reality, an increasing number of Indian citizens are turning to these non-traditional religious groups.”
It is quite ironic that modernization in the means of communication by these so-called gurus has become the barrier that impedes the Indian public from spiritual modernization. The phenomenon also exposes the country’s serious political and societal problems.”
Comparing India with an elephant stuck between tradition and modernization they reported-
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of a social welfare and spiritual group, has over 60 million followers, according to media reports. The god-man’s high popularity highlights that India is like an elephant mired in the furious struggle between traditions and modernization.
In the end, they suggested India to withdraw army from Doklam border-
“India is perplexed by a number of ethnic and societal problems. Fostering consensus through religious means is not a good way out, but will only escalate the already-tense crises. We hope India can withdraw its troops from Chinese territory as soon as possible, and focus its attention on domestic development. Utilizing the border disputes to alleviate domestic conflicts will only lead to lose-lose results.”
Looks like they are getting nervous regarding the Doklam issue and just finding excuses to save their nose by diverting their public’s attention on extra matters.