What They Said: The Crisis at Tahrir Square
On Monday, The Hindu wrote that “the Egyptian people’s uprising is showing the world that this highly-prized western ally is utterly devoid of legitimacy,” adding that “we are almost certainly witnessing a transformative moment in the modern history of West Asia.”
The next day, The Hindu focused on how India should respond to the crisis in Egypt. The answer, according to Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, was that India “ought to have expressed sympathy and support for the people of Egypt in what is undoubtedly their great moment in history.” The opinion piece added that “It is obviously in our interest to be on the right side of the new forces that will emerge to prominence in Egypt. They will remember who supported them in their hour of history and who sat on the fence.”
The Indian Express also supported the view that history is on the side of the popular uprising: “Egypt had an efficient repressive machinery and a perfected system of muting opposition. The commonplace of the street demonstration in Cairo was the same faces turning up at tiny protest rallies to face a brute police force,” it said in an unsigned editorial called “Tahrir dream.” The piece added that despite the challenges confronting Arab countries at a time of fragile political transition, “it is the magnitude of this humanitarian moment and democratic opportunity that must be kept in mind. Not a geopolitical calculus that may be well past its use-by date.”