My Opinion

Yesterday when BJP leader Dayashankar Singh had made an irresponsible comment about Mayawati, every party and every leader had condemned him and consequently he was expelled from the party. He is also likely to face arrest soon. However the language that Mayawati’s supporters are using in retaliation is equally condemnable. Instead of giving justifications, Mayawati should explain to her supporters to stop using such language since such exchanges and such comments bring down the level of politics and political discourse in the country.

The situation is Kashmir is slowly improving. Mehbooba Mufti in trying hard to work out a solution with all parties. Till the other day, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was raising questions on why an all party meet was not being called and why other parties were not being consulted. Today when Mehbooba Mufti summoned an all party meeting, Omar Abdullah’s party, the National Conference decided to boycott the meeting. It is clear now that the former CM only wants to attack Mehbooba and when the times comes, refrains from taking responsibility!

The whole world knows that the elections in POK are just a sham. The party that enjoys the support of the Army forms the government. In a bid to boost his stake in POK, Pak PM Nawaz Sharif has been consistently raking up the Kashmir issue and has sided with the Army with the hope that his party, PMLN would form the government there.

India has done the right thing by sending out a stern message to Pakistan to vacate Kashmir which it has forcibly occupied. It is a known fact historically that Pakistan has not just illegally occupied Kashmir but has also used the region to promote terror camps and train militants to carry out attacks against India. It is now time for India to undertake necessary steps to reclaim that part of Kashmir.

Even though BJP leader Dayashankar Singh may have apologised for his comments on Mayawati but what he said is deplorable and has crossed very limit. Arun Jaitley quite rightfully expressed his condemnation and promised action against him. The BJP immediately removed Dayashankar Singh from the post of the party’s Vice President in Uttar Pradesh. However in order to set an example legal proceedings must be initiated against him.

The horrific manner in which the Dalits were beaten up as seen in the video should never have taken place with any person. What is more hurtful is when such acts are committed against Dalits who have been discriminated against and victimised for years. Everything else become worthless if even after 68 years of independence Dalits have not been accorded a life worth living. However instead of playing politics over this contentious issue, people should come together, awaken the society and work out a solution.

The RSS has said that in a 1949 Court Judgement it was proved that the organisation did not have a hand in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The RSS has also claimed that the Kapur Commission instituted by the Congress Government had given them a clean chit in the matter but the Congress has opined that Sardar Patel through his letters had held the RSS responsible for Mahatma’s death. With Rahul Gandhi having held the RSS responsible, the organisation has decided to nail him for his irresponsible statement. A defamation case has been filed against him. Any apology from Rahul now would be an embarrassment for the Congress. The case is therefore likely to linger long and Rahul Gandhi will now defend himself in the matter.

Navjot Singh Sidhu has tendered his resignation from the Rajya Sabha but is yet to spell out his own future course of action. His wife Navjot Kaur who has been very vocal so far has also opted to remain tight lipped and left it to Sidhu himself to throw light on this. The Aam Admi Party is yet to confirm whether he would be joining their party or not. The Media has been speculating that Sidhu is likely to be the face of AAP in Punjab but what is surprising is that Sidhu who is generally known to be verbose on every topic has remained mute about himself. Perhaps there is some kind of negotiation work-in-progress between Navjot Singh Sidhu and the Aam Admi Party.

The Maharashtra police is of the opinion that it would be difficult to slap charges and build up a case against Zakir Naik since there is no evidence of any anti India sentiment in his speeches. However what has unearthed in the midst of these investigations is that Zakir Naik had received sizeable funds from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries to run his channel, Peace TV. The contributions he received were done without the knowledge of the Government. This could result in technical irregularities against him and he could be charged under FEMA or the Foreign Exchange Management Act. However it would be difficult to prove that he is an anti national or establish his terror links.

While it is true that old vehicles running on diesel cause pollution but to deregister them overnight as ordered by the National Green Tribunal is not a solution. What is necessary is to create awareness amongst people and give them enough time so that old diesel vehicles can be gradually phased out.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation has baffled the BJP. However Sidhu’s resentment is directed more against the ruling Akali Dal rather than the BJP. Sidhu had wanted the BJP to break ranks with the ruling Akali Dal and fight the elections on its own in the upcoming Punjab Assembly Polls. But how can BJP sever ties with the Akali Dal given their long association in the State? During the Lok Sabha elections one may recollect that the Akalis were opposed to Sidhu being given a ticket from Amritsar and sensing that the Akalis would be instrumental in defeating Sidhu, the BJP fielded Arun Jaitley from Amritsar. Under such circumstances, Sidhu would be more suited for the Aam Admi Party because neither does Sidhu have a party of his own, nor does AAP have a Sikh leader to project of their own.

The situation in Kashmir is very grave. People are out on the streets and are targeting the police and the forces. While it is a free for all on part of the protesters, for the police and the security forces it is about maintaining calm. It may be easy to ask the police to treat the protesters with kid gloves and come down heavily on the militants, in reality it is extremely difficult to put this into action. On the one hand when people are expressing their solidarity with militants and making a hero out of them, the police and the army have to exercise restraint and also face Pakistan which is taking full advantage of the situation. These are the biggest challenges for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in such difficult times.