If there was any doubt that this government has a tin ear for how its initiatives sound, it was dispelled this week when the University Grants Commission (UGC) asked educational institutes to observe 'Surgical Strikes Day' on 29 September. The idea fell with a thud upon the unwary and struck the public as painfully as any surgery.

Soon after it came to power, this government had offended Christians (and any officials who enjoyed their holidays) by declaring 25 December to be “Good Governance Day”.

But the government has apparently learned little from its mistakes.

Not only will 'Surgical Strikes Day' be commemorated on 29 September, but Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that three days of events will be conducted around the nation from 28 September to 30 September to honour the valour of our soldiers, including parades, lectures, and a three-day exhibition at India Gate.

No government has ever been more shameless in the milking of India’s military for political benefit as this one, but this cynical exercise takes the proverbial cake.

We all know that, responding to repeated cross-border raids from Pakistan, the Indian Army had conducted what were dubbed “surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads” across the Line of Control on 29 September 2016.

This kind of pre-emptive action had been undertaken several times before by our army with no publicity, but the BJP government, anxious to live up to its belligerent past rhetoric, decided to beat the tom-toms. The evocative term “surgical strike” was used; posters and hoardings went up hailing the government’s action; the military was brazenly instrumentalised in the BJP’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections two months later.