On 8th July 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated. It was an unpredicted Friday morning when Abe was giving a speech on the street in the city of Nara. He was shot twice, 1st shot was on his neck, and 2nd on his back. The gunman and suspect were taken into police custody. During the Police interrogation, the gunman excepted the crime and said he had a grudge against Shinzo Abe.
Shinzo Abe was the leader of the LPD (Liberal Democratic Party) and known for his aggressive stance in Japanese politics. He was campaigning for his candidate for the upcoming elections. At 11:30, the gunshots were heard, the people and the security personnel around Shinzo Abe were shocked. The killer, 41 years old, Tetsuya Yamagami and worked in Japan navy. A shocking reality was that he said “the crime I did was not a political motive and doesn’t lie under any political circumstances, the reason behind the killing was. My mother got bankrupt because she donated a healthy amount of money to some religious group and I resented it. But that group was already running under the support of Shinzo Abe and I have seen several times he promoted that group, I wanted to kill the head of that religious group but I couldn’t succeed. So, I played out against Shinzo Abe”. In this ruckus situation he tried to slink away but the guards were expeditious enough and caught Tetsuya Yamagami there only. The suspect taken under police custody accepted the crime.
He fired the shots with his homemade weapons for the assassination. Several other homemade weapons were found in the suspect’s residence, police officers apprise in a news conference.
Japan – A peaceful country where the people of the country obey the rules and disown all the negative functionalities which might disturb the tranquillity and stableness of the society.
The alarming incident shook Japan, as well as left several people distressed. The global leaders from different countries showed condolences for this terrifying act. The sudden death of Abe, affected and disturbed the bilateral relations between several countries connecting with Japan.
It is “shocking” because this kind of impudent behavior was witnessed after a very long time, and happened in a very developed country. Japan is a stable country where norms had given priority and maintained its significance on top, in the list of most peaceful countries in the world.
Most people are in sorrow because of this heavy loss, whereas China and South Korea celebrated Shinzo Abe’s assassination.
The Current Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida said “it is a Barbaric and malicious act which cannot be tolerated…it is an act of brutality that happened during the elections the very foundation of our democracy and is absolutely unforgivable”. The people and the Japanese social media commence a trend which said, “We want democracy not violence in the country”.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted “I am shocked and saddened beyond words at the tragic demise of one of my dearest friends, Shinzo Abe. He was a towering global statesman, his life to make Japan and the world a better place”. Abe was “an outstanding leader, and a remarkable administrator”. He said they were about to have tours and about to discuss world issues. Modi continued his statement by saying that Japan helped India grow.
Shinzo Abe became the Prime Minister in the year 2006 and in August 2007 he came to India and addressed the parliament of India. Later, the QUAD group was established with India, Japan, Australia, and the USA as members. He gave his famous speech “confluence of the Two Seas”. It is considered a legendary speech at this time also, where he demonstrated the vision of the future and growth in the relations between Japan and India and wanted the spirit of tolerance in India should be established in the future and followed by every country. He became the Prime Minister again in the year 2012, and is one of the most important leaders to India who visited India most of the time, then any other leader of Japan. The relations step up to a higher level where both countries stand with Japan’s special strategic and global partnership. It helped in the developing phase of India, it talks about the civilian nuclear energy, bullet trains, and act east policy.
Among these health dealings and a hopeful vision for the future of both countries was upheld. Most countries wouldn’t be liking it. China is the biggest obstacle for every country at the very moment. To counter the influence of China, they planned out several projects which left China irritable. The most significant movement between India and Japan was when Shinzo Abe was awarded the 2nd highest civilian award in India, the “Padma Vibhushan Award in the year 2021”. Not just because Japan proved to be a good friend of India, but also because the ideologies of both the countries and the quality of work make a standard on an international platform. This in effort to maintain peace, grow and step towards a protective environment for both the countries. Also, creating a bag of opportunities for future development and growth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is with all the brothers and sisters of Japan and motivated to stand strong in these difficult times and I a good friend of Shinzo Abe will cherish the memories and remember the talks with Shinzo Abe. PM Modi also discussed that “I had been knowing Shinzo when I was the CM of Gujrat. The relationship has always been significant since then. The friendship between us had always laid an impression on international standards.” Various Indian political leaders have come up and described their sadness on such a big loss of such a great and positive political personality.
Shinzo Abe himself was a very dynamic personality in the politics of Japan. Abe’s family was part of the Japanese government and served to the fullest to establish Japan which it is today. The Foundation of LDP (Liberation Democratic Party) was done in the year 1955 under the leadership of Nobusuke Kishi, Maternal grandfather of Abe who was the first ever prime minister who visited India for the very first time. Nobusuke Kishi was a very aggressive leader who worked under the emperor of “Show” and Kishi was known as the “Monster of the Showa Era”. Later, he signed the declaration of war against America which resulted in the World War I where the American armed men used the nuclear weapon on the two Japanese states – Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That was the most disastrous period for Japan to overcome. There were several diseases from which the people still suffered after the war, for many years the Japanese children were born with some dysfunctionality in their bodies. But at that time the leaders were different, their ideologies were different which created aggression. Now that time had flown away current Japan has grown a lot and both countries Japan and USA have worked together for peace by signing several treaties which resulted in very positive routes.
About the Author– Ansh Nagpal, BA JMC student at MERI (Management Education and research institute) Affiliated with IP University. You may connect with him at nagpalansh2003@gmail.com or anshnagpal_15 (Instagram account)
