Imran Khan in India

This time

Imran has always been big in India. He was the toast of not just the cricketing fraternity but also Bollywood and the Indian media back in the day. And the Sonia Gandhis and such would parley with him, at length on occasion, even when he went as Imran the politician. But the surprise meeting with Prime Minister Modi has, quite appropriately, been surprising. For one thing – though this is not the surprise – it is still not clear who invited whom. PTI’s information department has, typically, not done the best job of providing straight forward information. According to media reports, New Delhi said Imran requested the meeting while Shireen Mazari claimed Modi sought the audience.

The surprise is the meeting itself, regardless of the invite. Modi is known for his posturing. And lately he’s been shifting gears. First his government bent over backwards to create further hostility with Islamabad; to the extent of going to Dhaka and resurrecting the ’71 nightmare. Then there was unprovoked, unprecedented hostility across the LoC and Working Boundary. But then the Bihar drubbing, and considerable intra-BJP revolt, seemingly triggered a timely revision of the needless provocation, which had clearly backfired. So there was the ‘breaking of the ice’ in Paris and a ‘step forward’ in Bangkok, followed by the ‘landmark’ resumption of what is now the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.

In this backdrop Modi chose to meet the face of Pakistan’s most potent right-of-centre political movement and the biggest thorn in the prime minister’s side. But, sadly, Khan sb was not as front-foot when playing Modi as he used to be when he played cricket, or as he usually is at his dharnas and jalsas. Sure, he pressed for the cricket series, but he got just an “enigmatic smile” in return. And, as the leader of what he considers Pakistan’s rightful ruling party, he didn’t mention the K-word till he landed back in Lahore. Even when in India, this time, Khan sb caused controversy back home. Maybe if he is more coherent in his politics, his party can be more steady at the polls.