Is the Narendra Modi government intent on not letting its left hand know what its right hand is doing? Contradictory statements between different segments of the government have been transformed into a form of fine art by this dispensation. Recently, the Union defence minister, Rajnath Singh, seemed to endorse a report by a foreign newspaper that India had eliminated terrorists in Pakistan by saying that the country would not hesitate to enter the western neighbour’s territory and kill militants seeking shelter there. Incidentally, the prime minister has repeatedly expressed similar sentiments. But India’s external affairs ministry appears to have heard of no such thing. In January, when Pakistan’s foreign secretary said that his country had credible evidence of links between Indian agents and the killing of two Pakistanis allegedly associated with proscribed terrorist groups, New Delhi had said, dismissing the charge, that this was yet another instance of Pakistan peddling malicious and false information. A different kind of charade plays out in the context of the Chinese incursions into Indian territory. In this case, the prime minister has denied the encroachment even as the military leadership is engaged in repeated and fruitless negotiations to resolve the crisis.

However, in the case of Pakistan, it must be said that it is the Indian external ministry, unlike the government’s political leaders, that is playing the game by the book. Cross-border operations have taken place before Narendra Modi’s government came to power. These are matters of extreme sensitivity and secrecy. Both the political and the diplomatic arms of past governments thus chose discretion over valour on the matter. Mr Modi’s regime, however, has chosen to be less furtive. Thunderous claims of cross-border strikes can be heard often from podiums, with an eye on fetching electoral dividends. Mr Modi has seldom had any qualms about the domestic political agenda casting a shadow on New Delhi’s diplomatic imperatives. He must be careful about such open displays of bravado. Already, India’s ties with Canada have suffered a jolt after Ottawa accused the Indian government of having a hand in the death of a Khalistani separatist. Worse, prosecutors in the United States of America have accused an Indian national of conspiring to murder another separatist on American soil: the accused, Washington believes, is associated with New Delhi’s intelligence services. Conceited claims of cross-border intelligence operations against Pakistan by the Indian leadership should not lead the West to conclude that New Delhi has been covertly meddling on its turf as well.