My Opinion

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed an acrimonious debate on the Rafale fighter deal, with Congress President Rahul Gandhi initiating the discussion. He tried to stir up a fresh controversy by offering to “play inside the House” an audio clip purportedly between the Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and a local journalist, in which the former is said to have referred to the Rafale deal. Both Rane and Goa CM Manohar Parrikar have denied this.

Pointedly when asked by the Speaker whether he was ready to authenticate the audio conversation, Rahul Gandhi backed out. It seems he was not sure whether the audio clip was genuine or not. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later rightly said that Rahul declined to authenticate because he knows that the tape is “false and fabricated”.

In his speech, Rahul repeated the same allegations that he had been making for nearly 600 times in the last six months. He repeated his allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a bounty of Rs 30,000 crores to industrialist Anil Ambani, after buying Rafale aircraft at, what he called, inflated prices.

In the last six months, PM Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have explained the Rafale deal in details both inside and outside Parliament, but Rahul continued to repeat his allegations. The matter went to the Supreme Court, where experienced luminaries like Yashwant Sinha, Prashant Bhushan and Arun Shourie took part in the hearing. After hearing all the parties, the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the deal. And yet, Rahul Gandhi is persistently repeating his allegations.

Till Tuesday, Rahul had been alleging that the government was running away from a debate inside the House, but on Wednesday, he was given full freedom to make his points in the debate. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later succinctly replied to each and every allegation levelled by Rahul Gandhi. In the evening, Rahul again addressed a press conference and repeated the same allegations. He had nothing new to add.

The question now is why Rahul Gandhi is doing this. There seems to be one valid reason. In the last 2014 parliamentary elections, the BJP had decimated the Congress at the hustings on the issue of corruption. Prime Minister Modi says, there has not been a single major charge of corruption against his government in the last four and a half years.

By repeating his allegations, Rahul is trying hard so that at least one corruption charge against the Modi government could stick. I personally know several senior Congress leaders who have confided to me in private that the Rafale controversy is having no effect on the electorate, and it would be difficult to make any corruption charge stick against Modi. They want a change in the party’s poll strategy.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his wide-ranging interview given to ANI, spoke on all major issues and did not duck a single question. He has practically set the tone for the crucial Lok Sabha elections that will take place after a few months. There were many who said that the PM did not look aggressive in the interview, but I personally feel that Modi was only giving an account of what his government has done so far. While doing so, he did not refrain from attacking the Congress, and his tone was certainly aggressive.

On Ram temple, Modi said, Congress should withdraw its lawyers from Supreme Court, who were delaying the hearing; on CBI, RBI and the judiciary, he explained how the Congress weakened these institutions in the last 70 years; on farmers’ issues, he alleged how Rahul Gandhi’s farm loan waiver idea was a fraud on farmers who are loaded with debts; on cross-LoC surgical strike, Modi reminded how Rahul tried to politicize the army action; on issue of corruption, the PM recalled how Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are out on bail. All these remarks were made aggressively.

In the next 100 days, the Prime Minister will be going to the people to explain how his government has provided LPG and electricity connections to poor families, gave lakhs of crores worth loans under Mudra scheme, held a tight leash on inflation and helped the middle class. In the same vein, Modi will be targeting what he called ‘doublespeak’ and duplicitous stands taken by the Congress. Modi already seems to have started his campaign with this wide-ranging interview and he will now be addressing 100 rallies to convey his message to the masses. His message to the anti-Modi opposition is clear: this is just the beginning.

And now, each of the major issues on which the PM spoke.

One, Ram temple. Modi’s supporters, BJP workers, RSS volunteers and devotees of Lord Ram had been asking, if the temple cannot come up with Modi at the Centre and Yogi in Lucknow, then when will it be built? RSS leaders Mohan Bhagwat and Bhaiyyaji Joshi had been demanding an ordinance to clear the way for building the temple. Their argument was: if an ordinance for banning Triple Talaq can be brought, then why not on the temple? Only Modi could have answered this question. He said, the law banning Triple Talaq was brought after the Supreme Court gave its verdict. And any step to fulfill the wishes of millions of Hindus can be taken only after the judicial process in the apex court is over. Modi made it clear that he would not be going to do things in a hurry, but he will keep the aspirations of devotees of Lord Ram in mind.

Two, on Pakistan and cross-LoC surgical strike. Modi did not speak on how to deal with Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan. Presently, this would have been certainly immature. What he said was, It will be a huge mistake to believe that Pakistan will mend its ways after one conflict, and it will take a lot of time to make Pakistan mend its ways. Modi explained in detail how the surgical strike decision was not taken in a hurry, though it was a huge political risk. The PM reminded how Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal tried to politicize the issue by raising doubts about the surgical strike and using language which suited Pakistan.

Three, on Rahul Gandhi’s favourite issue Rafale, Modi spoke. Rahul Gandhi had been going around the country levelling charges and challenging Modi to speak. The PM said, he had already given details about the Rafale deal in Parliament, and the Supreme Court went into the nitty-gritty of the deal before issuing a clean chit to the government. Modi said, questioning each and every defence deal tends to lower the morale of our jawans. He alleged that for the last 70 years, middlemen had been active in most of the defence deals, and this can end only with the ambitious Make in India plan.

Four, on demonetization and economic offenders, Modi said, the decision to demonetize currency notes in 2016 was not taken in a hurry. For one whole year, people hoarding black money were given opportunity to come out with disclosures, and the decision to demonetize was taken as a last resort. Modi said that prices of real estate fell drastically because of demonetization. On economic offenders, Modi explained how efforts are afoot to extradite Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, who had taken thousands of crores from banks as loans and had fled India. He described the extradition of Agusta Westland middleman Christian Michel as a big achievement, and pointed out that Michel’s sensational disclosures are surely going to hurt the Congress.

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The nation should wake up to the fact that the rot has set in deep inside our judicial custody system, where a gangster in UP has the gumption to get a Lucknow businessman kidnapped, brought to Deoria jail, and thrashed by his goons inside the gangsters’ barracks. Nobody can even imagine about a gangster hijacking a jail administration in this manner. Earlier we had seen how gangsters in some jails manage to get VIP facilities and organize parties inside their barracks, but this one takes the cake.

Let me recapitulate from the beginning. Former Samajwadi Party MP and Allahabad gangster Atiq Ahmed was in Deoria jail, facing multiple cases of murder and other heinous crimes. He got a Lucknow real estate businessman Mohit Jaiswal kidnapped on December 26, brought to Deoria jail the same day, and his henchmen beat him black and blue in front of other inmates and jail staff.

According to Mohit Jaiswal, he was forced to sign on blank papers and cheques, and his finger bones were broken. He alleged that policemen and jail staff stood silent, when he was being brutally beaten up. He was let off with a warning from the gangster asking him to either pay up or face death. According to the businessman, Atiq Ahmed told him that he could have eliminated his entire family, had he been staying out of jail.

After he was let off, the businessman went to the police and filed his FIR, and it was then that senior police officials sat up and took notice. Mohit Jaiswal also submitted audio recordings of his conversations with Atiq Ahmed over phone prior to the kidnapping, in which the don was heard threatening to eliminate his entire family.

According to the businessman, Atiq Ahmed had demanded money from him two years ago, and at that time he had paid the extortion money. Two months ago, two of Atiq’s henchmen again demanded extortion money, but the businessman refused. The henchmen forcibly took possession of his office, and forced Mohit and his sister to give digital signatures to ‘approve’ the inclusion of the names of the henchmen in his company.

On Sunday, the DM and SP of Deoria went with more than 200 policemen to the jail, and searched every nook and corner for evidences. It was found that all the CCTV cameras placed inside the jail were working on the day of the raid, but were found switched off on the day the businessman was beaten up inside the barracks. The DM said that the remaining CCTV footage that was available had been tampered with. The Deputy Jailor, Head Warden and two other jail staff were suspended, and Atiq Ahmed was shifted from Deoria to Bareilly jail. The Jailor has been transferred and departmental action has been initiated against some other staff.

Atiq Ahmed is notorious for indulging in heinous crimes like murders, extortion and kidnapping, whether he stays inside the jail or outside. He has been an MLA and an MP. He was earlier in Samajwadi Party and later joined the BSP. He fought the Phoolpur byelection as an independent, but lost.

Atiq Ahmed entered the world of crime at the age of 17. The first case filed against him was that of a murder. There are more than a dozen cases slapped against him under Gangsters Act. Once inside the jail, the gangster secured help from jail staff to run his network. The manner in which he got the businessman abducted, then brought to jail and thrashed in front of him, speaks volumes about the rot that has set inside our system. Time to ponder.

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“The Accidental Prime Minister” could be the coming new year’s most controversial movie, as it is completely focused on how former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh ran his UPA government for ten years. The film gives you the inside story of the events that took place in the corridors of power. The film is slated for release on January 11, and I was one of those privileged who watched the entire movie a few days ago. After watching the film, I can share with you the important scenes to underline why its trailer became controversial once it was circulated on social media.

Actor Anupam Kher had a challenging role to do in and as The Accidental Prime Minister. He has enacted on screen the exact modulated voice, gait and mannerisms of Dr Singh. It was more challenging because the character is not imaginary, nor is it of a historical figure. We watch Dr Singh in real life every day.

The film is based on the eponymous book written by Dr Singh’s former media adviser Sanjaya Baru. The book was released before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and the movie will now hit the screens, months before the nation will go to the polls to elect a new Lok Sabha. The Central Board of Film Certification cleared the movie on Friday.

One thing I want to underline is that there is nothing indirect or symbolic about almost all the characters in this movie. The get-ups of most of the characters are almost similar to those of the leaders in real life. Anupam Kher has really toiled a lot in studying the gait, mannerisms and voice modulation of Dr Singh closely, and has enacted them on the screen. Akshaye Khanna has donned the role of media adviser Sanjaya Baru. German actress Susan Barnett has done the role of Sonia Gandhi. Being a European, she has exactly replicated the acquired Hindi accent of the leader. Ahna Kumar is Priyanka and Arjun Mathur is Rahul Gandhi.

All these actors have tried their best to portray the characters as they appear in real life. The trailer of the movie clearly shows there was some sort of tussle between Dr Singh and Sonia Gandhi on some major issues. The movie portrays to what extent Dr Singh had to withstand pressure from within his party over the India-US nuclear deal. The movie also shows how Dr Singh was prevented from taking major decisions which were in the national interest, and when charges flew thick and thin over major scams, how Dr Singh’s honesty and integrity were projected to shield the Gandhi family from accusations. The movie practically touches almost all controversies that took place during 10 years of UPA rule.

Sanjay Baru is shown as the narrator throughout the film. In some parts of the film, he appears more as a political adviser instead of a media adviser. In the movie, Susan Barnett, ably portraying the role of the then Congress President and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, clearly depicts the mannerism and accent of the leader. The movie reveals how Sonia Gandhi scuttled several decisions taken by Dr Singh, and how the party chief was trying to groom her son Rahul Gandhi to take over the mantle of Prime Minister.

At one point in the movie, the party chief is shown telling the Prime Minister, what would be left for her son to decide, if he starts taking all the decisions. At another point, when Dr Singh offers to resign, Sonia Gandhi is shown telling him how her son could take over, with all the scams that have taken place.

Most of the happenings had been duly recorded by Sanjaya Baru in his book that was published five years ago, but the impact seems to be more on the screen. The movie also showcases the famous event at the Press Club of India, when Rahul Gandhi tore up a copy of the ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet, in front of the media. It also shows an incident where Sonia and Dr Singh are involved deeply in a discussion over a policy issue, and Rahul Gandhi, appearing disinterested, seems to be playing a game or watching a video on his cellphone.

Actors who have played the roles of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Ahmed Patel and P. Chidambaram have also portrayed the characters well in the movie.

Anupam Kher is happy with his portrayal of Dr Singh in the movie. He told me in an interview on Aaj Ki Baat that this has nothing to do with politics, the main opposition party Congress has strongly protested. Congress leaders have demanded that the release of the movie be stalled, as, according to them, there are many objectionable scenes denigrating some particular characters. The BJP is gleeful, and its official Twitter handle, which posted the movie trailer, garnered more than 3.84 lakh views within a few hours.

Maharashtra Youth Congress chief has sent a letter to the film producer, threatening to obstruct the screening of the movie. Congress leaders are alleging that this movie is part of a propaganda by the BJP. I know the film director Sunil Bora personally. He seems to have no political connections, and even if he has, nobody can deny him the right of free expression.

I will like to remind Congress leaders how they had opposed restriction on screening of the movie Udta Punjab. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had himself opposed restrictions on the Tamil movie Mersal by tweeting: “Mr Modi, Cinema is a deep expression of Tamil culture and language ..Don’t try to demon-etise Tamil pride by interfering in Mersal.”

Instead of staging protests, the Congress should allow freedom of expression, and the party should do some serious introspection.

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India’s holiest river Ganga, which provides water to more than 50 crore people across 11 states, is also the world’s sixth most polluted river. Over more than a century, the river has been contaminated by industrial pollutants and human and animal waste. For millions of Indians, Ganga is not only a river. It is our lifeline. Hindu religious scripts (shastras) extol Ganga as the holiest of all rivers.

When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister from 1985 to 1989, he initiated the Ganga Action Plan. Rs 863 crores were spent, but most of it went down the drain, and the river continued to be the filthiest. The National River Ganga Basin Authority was set up by the previous UPA government in 2009 and the World Bank approved $ 1 billion in 2011 for this authority to clean up the river.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014, he initiated the Namami Gange and Aviral Ganga projects. After Nitin Gadkari took over as Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister, he promised to clean up the Ganga at a great speed. Gadkari has promised to clean most of the polluted parts of Ganga by March, 2019.

In order to conduct reality checks, India TV reporters fanned out to Varanasi, Prayagraj and Kanpur and their reports were shown on Tuesday night in Aaj Ki Baat show. In the Prime Minister’s constituency of Varanasi, the holy city itself is undergoing massive transformation, with all overhanging power cables removed, and the bathing ghats of Varanasi cleaned up. Steps are being taken to divert or stop most of the 30 drains that discharge crores of litres of waste into the Ganga.

Prof. B.D.Tripathi, chairman of BHU’s Mahamana Malviya Ganga river development and water resources management research centre, says that there has been improvement in Varanasi and most of the drains have been diverted. The Shahi Nallah near Rajghat has been closed, but during monsoons when the drains get clogged, waste water overflow and fall into the Ganga. In the coming weeks, the Assi Nallah will also be closed, but Prof Tripathi says, the basic solution lies in bringing greater flow in the Ganga river at Varanasi. Even now, waste from three big drains fall directly into Ganga, and there are no sewage treatment plants to treat this waste. Our reporter found the sewage pumping station at Assi Nallah not working.

In Prayagraj near Sangam, our reporter found the sewage treatment plant operational. Arrangements for Kumbh Mela is going on at a feverish pace, and the Ganga is being cleaned up on a war footing. There were 64 drains in Prayagraj city throwing waste into the Ganga, but with the setting up of seven sewage treatment plants, the flow of waste into Ganga has reduced. 32 drains in the city have been closed down so far.

The biggest transformation of Ganga river has taken place in its most polluted stretch near Kanpur. The Sisamau drain, said to be Asian’s biggest drain, which used to discharge 14 crore litres of effluents into the river, has been permanently closed. Sixteen drains in the city used to discharge waste into Ganga in the past, but now most of them have been closed down or diverted.

Most of us Indians pray to our holy river Ganga, but there are many among us who have the mistaken belief that praying means offering or throwing waste into the holy river. This superstition has been prevalent since centuries. All credit goes to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for trying to execute the Namami Gange and Aviral Ganga projects at breakneck speed. Gadkari brought about a sea change in the thinking and style of working while executing these projects.

Time has now come for we Indians to bring about transformation in our thinking too. Let us resolve not to throw any waste material in our rivers, if we want our rivers to sustain and breathe. We have the shining examples of the people of London and Paris, who came forward to clean up their rivers Thames and Seine. The Narmada river bank in Ahmedabad should be a model for many of us. Let us all participate in this national endeavour to clean up our rivers.

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Long queues of farmers outside urea distribution centres since early dawn have become a common feature in large parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. India TV on Monday night in Aaj Ki Baat, did a reality check through its reporters in Raisen, Rajgarh and Ashok Nagar, and found that while farmers were lining up for urea, profiteers and black marketers are making a quick buck by selling urea in black.

The result: farmers who are returning disappointed are staging protests and blocking roads. Farmers say, they have already sown their ‘rabi’ crops and if urea was not made available in time, their crops would just wither away this season. There was a demand for 3.70 lakh metric tonnes of urea in MP in December, but only 2.25 lakh tonnes have been supplied so far. With a shortage of 1.45 lakh tonnes of urea, political parties, fresh from recent electoral battles, are engaged in accusations and counter-accusations.

The Congress, fresh in power after a 15-year break, is alleging that the BJP government at the Centre is deliberately creating shortage to antagonize farmers. BJP leaders in the state allege that there is rampant black marketing of urea in connivance with local Congress leaders.

Farmers in Raisen, after making futile rounds of farmers’ cooperatives and marketing federation centres, are alleging that urea stocks have vanished from godowns, but are openly being sold in the black. At several places, farmers gheraoed offices of Markfed, engaged in distribution of urea. Local officials had to open godowns and show to agitating farmers that there was not a single stock of urea left.

In Rajgarh, farmers returning empty-handed after queuing since 5 am in biting cold, blocked highway traffic in protest. In Ashok Nagar, angry farmers gheraoed the district collectorate and blocked traffic. Local officials have rationed the issue of urea, two bags each for a farmer, in order to stem hoarding.

Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has alleged that there was no shortage of urea. He claimed that supplies of urea this year have been more compared with last year, and that profiteers were taking advantage of shortcomings in the system. He also alleged that the shortage was man made.

The crisis could have been avoided through timely forward planning, which was non-existent. The state administration was busy in conduct of assembly elections for the whole month, and the Code of Conduct was in place. The problem with our politicians is: they may excel in levelling allegations, but they spend less time on providing solutions.

The fastest train of Indian Railways, Train 18, on Thursday made history by touching a speed of over 180 km per hour, on its trial run between Delhi and Agra, and back. It cost Rs 100 crore to build this gleaming blue-nosed train, which has been fitted with amenities on par with the best in the world.

With onboard WiFi and GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points, this train has a climate control system that adjusts the temperature according to occupancy and weather.

Train 18 has two executive compartments with 52 seats each, and trailer coaches with 78 seats each. Each seat can be rotated to match the direction of the train. The inaugural run will be from New Delhi to Varanasi, which it will cover in eight hours. The tentative date for inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been fixed for December 29.

And now the bad news. During its first trial run between Delhi and Agra on Thursday, some vandals thew stones at this prestigious train, breaking the glass window of a coach. Police is now on the lookout of vandals, but it appears to be a difficult task.

Such vandals are enemies of our society. On Friday night, we showed visuals of the broken glass pane of this train in the show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’, to give our viewers a feel about such a shameful incident. It reflects the mindset of a section of our countrymen.

Whenever Indians travel abroad, they marvel at the nice and clean look of trains, and wonder why we cannot have similar trains in India. And when we, in India, create such a beautiful train, some sections of our countrymen vandalize it.

I have never seen or heard such acts of vandalism abroad. This is not the first time such incidents have happened. Stoning of trains have taken place at regular intervals on the Mumbai suburban routes, and recently on Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express. A few years ago, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated Mahamana Express between New Delhi and Varanasi, which was fitted with latest gadgets and fittings. Hardly a week after the inauguration, it was found that soap dispensers, lights, headphones were vandalized, and some worthies even sliced the seat covers with a knife.

People having such a vandalizing mindset should be arrested and punished. Acts of a handful of people bring India and Indians a bad name. There may be some who can argue why we are raising such a hue and cry over a broken glass. This is not about a broken shard of glass. It mirrors the mindset of some sections of our countrymen, who derive sadistic joy in carrying out such acts.

This is the age of social media, and pictures and visuals of such acts of vandals are forwarded across the world, which bring India a bad name. My appeal to all of you is: let us join hands in stopping such vandalism.

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India TV on Wednesday night in its investigative report on the slaughter of cows in Bulandshahr, UP, described how a political conspiracy was hatched to incite communal riots by slaughtering cows in a village. Three persons involved in cow slaughter were arrested by the Special Task Force and they are being interrogated about their political and mafia connections.

Earlier in the day, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that the Bulandshahr incident in which a police officer Subodh Kumar Singh was killed by a frenzied mob, after the cow slaughter came to notice, was part of what he called “a political conspiracy”.

Yogi Adityanath said: “This is a conspiracy by the same people who were trying to take innocent lives by manufacturing illicit liquor. This was a political conspiracy and political conspiracies are plotted by cowards who cannot take a challenge head on. Feeling threatened, they are embracing each other and want to target innocents. This government will not allow it. The administration has taken stern action. Those who wanted to create unrest and lawlessness by killing cows, have been stopped.”

The incident took place on the concluding day of Iztema, a big congregation of Muslim devouts in Bulandshahr. Clearly, the plot was to incite communal riots by slaughtering cows in a village. UP Police had said on December 3 that the slaughtering of cows during the Iztema points to a diabolical plot to incite communal riots. The state police also admitted that it had arrested the wrong persons, who were named in the FIR after the police officer was murdered.
Normally police never admits mistakes, but it goes to the credit of UP police that it admitted that it had arrested the wrong persons. Now that the police has exposed the cow slaughterer gang, it needs to probe deeper and expose those who were hatching a bigger plot to incite communal riots.

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On Monday, soon after taking oath as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Kamal Nath promptly signed a file waiving farmer loans up to Rs 2 lakhs, and told the media that his government would give incentives to those industries which employ 70 per cent local people. Up to that point, his comment was alright, but in order to put more emphasis, he added that migrants from UP and Bihar take up most of the jobs of local people in his state.

This remark caused consternation among politicians of all hues in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Politicians from BJP, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal criticized Kamal Nath for making this remark.

To put in a nutshell: Kamal Nath’s intentions were clear and acceptable, but his choice of words was wrong. He could have avoided mention of UP and Bihar migrant workers.

Kamal Nath is, after all, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, and it is his government’s responsibility to give jobs to youths from his state. A chief minister is morally bound to think about the welfare of people of his state, and Kamal Nath was doing just that. But he should also understand that migrant workers from Bihar and UP in his state are not a liability, but an asset to his state, since they form part of those who are striving towards creation of growth.

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I was a reporter in 1984 when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated and thousands of Sikhs were targeted in Delhi and other places by murderous mobs. I along with another reporter Tavleen Singh visited pockets of East Delhi, where the dismembered bodies of Sikhs lay in the open.

I can never forget the sense of horror in the eyes of the relatives of those who were killed in cold blood by the mobs. Over the last three decades, these relatives of the victims were fighting a protracted battle in courts against powerful politicians who were openly being given protection by successive governments of their political party.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots shall always remain one of the dark spots on the face of independent India. Those were the days, when even the President of India the late Giani Zail Singh lived in fear. Almost all the Sikh bureaucrats and police officers were fearing for their lives. Most of them were looking forward to the new Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to bring sanity in an atmosphere of anarchy and hate.

But the then PM Rajiv Gandhi’s remark — ‘when a big tree falls, the ground will shake’ — shattered the hopes of millions of those who were yearning for justice. One felt that political shades were being drawn over a grim tragedy of gigantic proportions.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court gave its verdict in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case, and ordered that Congress leader Sajjan Kumar be jailed for life for instigating murderous mobs to kill Sikhs in a Delhi locality. Sajjan Kumar was earlier acquitted by a lower court, but the High Court quashed that verdict and remarked that “criminals responsible for the mass crimes have enjoyed political patronage and managed to evade prosecution and punishment. ”

In its verdict, the High Court also observed that the riots “were engineered by political actors with the assistance of law enforcement agencies”.

After 34 years, we need to think about the lacunae in our legal system, because of which the major perpetrators went scot free in the absence of a strong prosecution. In 1984, 2733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and in all, nearly 3,350 Sikhs all over the country were brutally murdered. It took 34 long years to punish the perpetrators in a single case. There are three more similar cases pending against Sajjan Kumar.

I want to ask some serious questions: Are those politicians not guilty who tried to shield and protect the perpetrators? Are they not guilty for staying silent despite knowing the hands of perpetrators were covered with the blood of innocent people? These killings were witnessed by hundreds of people in Delhi and many of them wanted to come forward and depose. Who prevented them from becoming witnesses?

So long as we do not punish the killers of humanity, history will never forgive us.

The Supreme Court in its verdict on Friday practically gave a clean chit to Narendra Modi’s government in the matter of acquisition of 36 fully loaded Rafale fighters in flyaway condition from French company Dassault Aviation. The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said there was no irregularity in the decision-making process, pricing mechanism and selection of Indian Offset Partner. The bench said, “perception of individuals can’t be the basis of a fishing and roving inquiry by this court”.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi had levelled serious charges of “favouritism” shown to a particular industrial group and “overpricing” in the purchase of fighters. He had levelled these charges over and over again in the last several months, and on behalf of the government, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad replied to all these charges in public. And yet, Rahul Gandhi continued to make these charges in his election rallies and press conferences, and raised the slogan “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. All the charges made by Rahul Gandhi formed part of the PILs filed by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan, and all these PILs were dismissed by the SC on Friday.

The apex court during its hearings, sought details about the pricing of Rafale fighters from the Centre in a sealed envelope, sought details about the acquisition process, and questioned senior Indian Air Force officers in court about the quality and requirements of fighter planes. After carrying out detailed questioning, and perusing all evidences, the apex court gave its verdict, saying there were no irregularities in pricing, acquisition and quality. The court clearly said that charges cannot be probed by the court on the basis of individual perceptions or newspaper clippings, in the absence of clear evidences.

We should all respect the verdict of Supreme Court. It is the ultimate court of law, as per our Constitution. The Chief Justice of India himself headed the bench that gave its verdict. It is, therefore, surprising that Rahul Gandhi repeated his charges on Friday and questioned the verdict.

No individual or party is bigger than the Supreme Court. Does Rahul Gandhi want that the people of India should not trust the Supreme Court’s verdict and believe in his allegations? It seems to be a difficult proposition.

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The political spectacle that is being witnessed in the state capitals of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh makes one thing very clear. Congress President Rahul Gandhi cannot afford to make mistakes while choosing his chief ministers. In all the three states, there are serious contenders for the CM’s post.

While the BJP had no such problem in these states, because it relied on its incumbent chief ministers, the Congress has a problem of plenty. For the first time, in his year-old tenure as Congress President, Rahul Gandhi is facing a dilemma while selecting his three CMs. He has to select chief ministers, who can deliver in next year’s crucial Lok Sabha polls. BJP’s number of seats may have declined in MP and Rajasthan, but it still continues to remain a major political force. Any leader who takes up the mantle of chief minister in these two states will have to face the challenge from BJP.

For Kamal Nath, who has been selected as chief minister in Madhya Pradesh, this has been a victory of his labour and experience. He will be facing the biggest challenge of taking all factions with him, as the Lok Sabha elections are hardly four months away. The Congress needs a leader who can win for the party as many seats as possible from MP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 27 out of 29 seats, a landslide win. The assembly elections this time were closely fought and the result could have gone either way. Voting percentage wise, BJP polled more votes than the Congress this time but lost many seats. Hence, the challenge is a bigger one for the Congress.

Kamal Nath has wide experience in the political art of fielding candidates and winning elections. He has worked with Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and now, at the age of 72, he is working with Rahul Gandhi. The Congress has returned to power in MP after 15 years, and it surely needs an experienced leader like Kamal Nath to face the new challenge.

Deciding who will be the chief minister of Rajasthan was a difficult one. For the last five years, Sachin Pilot, as the state party chief, tirelessly toured the length and breadth of the state, and infused energy among his party workers. His workers are with him, and it was no mean achievement for him when his party won 99 seats against a formidable rival party. Sachin Pilot is a fresh face, leagues apart from the traditional leaders in the party. He can bring a fresh air of energy in his party ranks as chief minister.

On the other hand, is the tried and tested Ashok Gehlot. He has been CM for two terms, is an experienced administrator, and has old guards of the party on his side. The independent MLAs, who are supporting the Congress, also understand his style of functioning better. Given the present political situation in Rajasthan, Gehlot’s experience of running the administration can come in handy. It is because of this that the Congress party leadership is on the horns of a dilemma.