Foreign hand bogey is wearing thin. Bury it

Why in the News

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief’s Dussehra speech at Nagpur spoke of a “western storm”, a global conspiracy to destabilise regimes, naming India alongside France, Albania, Bangladesh and Nepal. It came as student protests resumed over the Chief Election Commissioner’s conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a fresh house to house verification of voter lists. The speech revives the old “foreign hand” explanation for domestic unrest.

What is the “foreign hand” theory, and why has it returned?

1. What it is: The theory blames domestic protest on secret plots hatched abroad and malevolent external forces. It works like blaming an outside agitator for a strike instead of hearing the workers’ complaint.
2. Origin in the 1970s: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used the “foreign hand” theory to delegitimise mounting unrest against her government. Ruling elites have recycled it ever since against Opposition agitation and public resentment.
3. Revival now: The RSS chief and members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government now use the same alibi. Student protests had wound up in July before resuming.
4. Outreach versus alarm: In August, on a three nation tour in the RSS’s centenary year, the RSS chief spoke in America of India’s “destiny”, “duty” and “diversity”. The Nagpur speech struck the opposite note.
5. The takeaway: Calling protest foreign-made lets a government skip the harder question of why its own citizens are angry.

Why does the theory weaken democratic accountability?

1. Denial of agency: The theory treats protesters as tools of outside forces, so it disrespects their legitimate concerns.
2. Delayed reckoning: It postpones an honest reckoning by the government with its own blind spots and abdications, meaning duties it has failed to perform.
3. Political and intellectual bankruptcy: Blaming domestic turmoil on plots abroad shows the government has no answers of its own. It does not prove a plot.
4. Contradicts its own record: Falling back on the “foreign hand” goes against the government’s own success in engaging with a changing world and handling global change.

What really drives the unrest, at home and abroad?

1. Global pressures: All nations, India included, operate amid global pressures, foreign interests and constraints. These do not explain why citizens feel anxious and alienated.
2. Domestic causes: The principal reasons sit at home, in plain sight:
   • economic mismanagement;
   • rising corruption;
   • the closing of channels of communication;
   • the clampdown on forums of accountability.
3. Lesson, not conspiracy: Protests in India and other countries share one lesson. Complacent leaderships practise politics as usual, so they lose touch with the people.
4. Youth and social media: Young people feel this disconnect most, and social media amplifies their frustration across countries.

Challenges

1. Delegitimised dissent: The “foreign hand” label is being used to put down young protesters on the streets instead of engaging them.
2. Closed institutions: Legislatures and parties retreat behind denial and self-serving stories, so protesters find no forum to be heard.
3. Blurred threat assessment: Blaming every protest on foreign plots makes genuine external interference, which security agencies must track, harder to separate from ordinary dissent.

Way Forward

1. Open institutions: Political institutions, legislatures and parties should rethink their roles and open their doors to protesters.
2. Fix domestic causes: The government should address the grievances behind the protests, from corruption to weakened accountability forums.
3. Resist glib narratives: The government should reject easy stories that tie tariffs, the protests at Jantar Mantar and unrest in Dhaka, Kathmandu and Paris into one foreign plot.
4. Evidence for attribution: Any claim of foreign involvement in unrest should rest on evidence placed before accountable institutions, not on speeches.

Conclusion

The “foreign hand” explanation gives a ruling establishment an alibi, but it leaves the grievances of young protesters unanswered and the protests unresolved. What to watch is whether the government engages the protesters over the electoral roll revision or keeps casting their protest as a foreign plot.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2021, GS3, 15 marks] Analyse the multidimensıonal challenges posed by external state and non-state actors, to the internal security of India. Also, discuss measures required to be taken to combat these threats”