Two days ago, I wrote about singing hymns to terrorists. Close on its heels comes this unbelievably cringy piece.

As India embarks on a long-term engagement with the Saudi Kingdom, its bureaucracy must cultivate a healthy respect for the sophistication of the Saudi elite.

Indeed.

The reasons for us to cultivate said “healthy respect” are many, for example:

And India, which hosts the world’s second largest Muslim population, would fervently hope that King Abdullah’s would emerge victorious.

Why am I tempted to ask “how does the Muslim-population factor tally with India cultivating Saudi Arabia?” And I’m equally tempted to answer: is it because Muslims are loyal first–perhaps only–to Saudi Arabia? Preposterous! Communal! you would scream.

But that’s not all.

Nehruism’s shameful byproduct, the sclerosis of self-hatred persists: glorifying the conqueror and despising that the conquest was possible because you were weak.

The charm offensive before and during King Abdullah’s historic visit to India is part of a conscious decision to showcase a new political style that the House of Saud has now adopted. It also highlights the political savvy the House of Saud has demonstrated whenever it wanted to. Much like the canny Indian bureaucratic state that has presided over a backward and diverse nation, the House of Saud too has adeptly run one of the world’s richest and most pivotal states.

Welcome Raja Mohan to the Ivy League of the Roys, Mishras, Nayars, and Thapars, which cannot stand to see a prospering India. The need to caricature it as “backward” is all the more urgent and desperate without however defining “backward.” The House of Saud is adept at among other things, theocracy, enforcing barbaric laws, stifling freedom, and spreading violence across the globe. In a hurry to lend legitimacy to a terrorist state, Raja Mohan truly crosses the line. Here, for example is one of the most appalling sentences ever written:

And for all the criticisms of its authoritarian rule, the House of Saud has been no more offensive than the Arab dictators who ran ruthless political machines in the name of republicanism and socialism.

Right. It’s okay, they all belong to the same terrorist club just some play it too hard.

Way to go, Raja Mohan.