Guns and butter

It has been 10 days since the People’s Liberation Army clashed with Indian Army jawans in the Tawang sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and the political furore as a consequence of the confrontation has not yet died down. Parliament has been repeatedly paralysed about the government’s response to the clashes, which the Opposition criticises as being too weak. Yet the fact is that the government is caught in something of a dilemma. It cannot at this point in time afford a high-profile clash with China along the LAC that would lead to an actual military test. The