My Opinion

On Monday, the last day of campaigning in UP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi remarked at a public rally that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become old and he should now take rest. Rahul is 46 years old and Modi is 66 years old.

If one makes a comparison, Prime Minister Modi has been working almost 20 hours a day and he has not taken a single day’s leave in the last two and a half years.

And yet, Modi never looks tired. On the other hand, Rahul, comparatively young, only addressed two rallies a day in UP, and he often goes on holidays abroad for relaxation.

Compared to Rahul, his poll ally Akhilesh Yadav addressed 205 election meetings in UP, while Rahul addressed 51 rallies. BJP president 52-year-old Amit Shah is older than Rahul.

Shah addressed 153 public rallies in UP. So, judging by the number of rallies these leaders addressed, Rahul’s remark about the PM’s age seems to be unjustified.

The seizure of Rs 56 lakh face value worth fake Indian Rs 2000 currency notes in Kolkata on Thursday, alongwith the emergence of Malda in West Bengal as the entry point for fake Indian notes, has raised concerns in the minds of Indian establishment. According to official sources, Pakistan has restarted printing of new fake Indian currency notes and is sending them via Bangladesh. When the Centre demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8, all illegal trading in fake currencies came to a halt, but it has now restarted. It appears that Pakistan believes in the doctrine of waging war, not only through terror, insurgency, guns and bullets, but also by pumping in fake currencies to weaken India’s economy.

On Wednesday, when schools in Kashmir valley opened after a gap of nearly eight wasted months due to strikes and protests, school children voiced their concerns. These children clearly said they wanted politics to be kept out of education. Children want to study, but separatists want to keep schools closed. In some incidents, they even set fire to school buildings. Separatists in the valley may claim that they are fighting for the future of children, but they should understand that keeping schools and markets shut will not help children and shopkeepers. It is ironic that separatists fail to understand what the school children have realized. Let us hope the separatist leaders will listen to the call of schoolchildren, who want peace to be restored in the valley.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was correct when he said in Rajya Sabha today that former PM Dr Manmohan Singh was part of the ruling establishment for nearly 35 years, as RBI Governor, as Finance Minister and as Prime Minister, and yet he remained unstuck in the era of scams. But the manner in which Modi made a jibe by saying that Dr Singh knew the art of taking a bath wearing a raincoat, was something like hitting below the belt, even though it was made in jest. One can question Dr Singh’s capabilities on governance, one can rue his compulsions, but none can raise a finger about his honesty. It is also true that Dr Singh had made a caustic remark in the last session by describing the demonetization move as a ‘monumental blunder’. Normally, Dr Singh never uses such harsh words.

The very fact that Samajwadi Party’s maverick leader Azam Khan has indirectly compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Ravana clearly indicates that development issues have been put on the backburner by most of the politicians in Uttar Pradesh. Politicians of all hues are presently engaged in running down their rivals as the electoral cauldron gets hotter in UP. BJP leaders have been raising the Ram temple issue, but their party president Amit Shah told me at the Aap Ki Adalat show last weekend that the courts will decide the Ram temple issue, and the promise of building a Ram temple has been there in the party manifesto every time. At the other end is BSP supremo Mayawati, who has her own solid vote bank, but her speeches at the rallies indicate that her self-confidence has been somewhat dented. Mayawati is now promising that she would not build parks, memorials and statues any more and would concentrate on development. As far as the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine is concerned, their rallies have been gathering good numbers, and their workers are now infused with fresh vigour, but the ouctome remains to be seen, when votes will be counted on March 11. Meanwhile, party patriarch Mulayam Singh, for the first time in 50 years of his public life, is completely out of the nitty-gritty of electoral battle, though he has decided to address a few rallies in support of his son. It appears, Mulayam Singh has now decided to accept the harsh political realities as they exist now, mainly because of his old age.

This year’s Union Budget was pathbreaking on several counts – one, it was presented a month before the due date, two, Railway Budget was merged in Union Budget, and three, the Finance Minister did not mention each and every item on which duties were being reduced or raised. Arun Jaitley confined himself to broad policy decisions. But the facts that he mentioned about tax evaders in India were revealing. Jaitley said, Out of 130 crore Indians, only 3.7 crore individuals filed income tax returns, 99 lakh people showed their income below the exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh, meaning a little over 2.5 crore people pay income tax. Out of these, 1.95 crore people show income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, 52 lakh show income between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, and only 24 lakh people show income above Rs 10 lakh. Out of the 76 lakh individuals who declared income above Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakhs were in the salaried class. The number of people showing income more than Rs 50 lakh in the entire country is only 1.72 lakh. He contrasted this with the fact that in the last five years, more than 1.25 crore cars were sold in India, and more than 2 crore people flew abroad in 2015. These facts will surely make the people of India think about tax evaders. But to expect that tax evaders will disclose their real income and pay tax, is presently a tall order. Because most of the people feel once they file returns they will be questioned by income tax. Now the Finance Minister has promised transparency in assessment of Income tax , it will take a while for public to accept it.

It is true that Pakistan put Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed under house arrest on Monday because of US pressure, but there are many people inside Pakistan who believe this action is only meant to hoodwink the world. Earlier, after the Mumbai terror attacks, Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest. Pakistan, under US pressure, had even put restrictions on telecast of Hafiz Saeed’s speeches, but this lasted only for a few weeks. This terror mastermind openly spews venom on Pakistan’s news channels, addresses meetings in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore in the name of ‘defence of Pakistan’, openly takes responsibility for terror attacks inside India, but Pakistan chooses to overlook all these acts. The common assumption now is that, this house arrest, too, will be a repeat of earlier such actions. Pakistan government will then take a plea that it does not have sufficient evidence to nail Hafiz Saeed, and the Pakistani courts will allow him to go scot-free.

Over the decades, Pakistan had been a spawning ground for terror outfits, aided, abetted and nurtured by its army intelligence agency, ISI. The United States has been aware of this fact, but it took only selective action and never prodded Pakistan seriously. India has been consistently saying that there cannot be any differentiation between ‘good’ and ‘bad terrorists’, and action must be taken against all terror outfits based in Pakistan. The new Donald Trump administration has now clearly indicated that it may bar the entry of Pakistani nationals into the US, an action that it has already taken against nationals from seven Islamic countries. It is gratifying to note that the US has now admitted that Pakistan is at the root of terrorism. One hopes that the new Trump administration will take action and send a positive message across the world.

In a democracy, everybody has the right to protest, but nobody can be allowed to take law in one’s hands. This can create anarchy. On Friday, a mob of supporters belonging to Rajput Karni Sena vandalized the sets of a Bollywood film Padmavati at Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur, and roughed up noted film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The Karni Sena activists alleged that there was a “love scene” between the legendary Rani Padmini of Chittor and Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji in the film, which the director has strongly denied. The activists alleged that this was “distortion of history”, as Rani Padmini had immolated herself alongwith other women to save herself from Khilji’s army. Karni Sena could have put forth their arguments, backed by historical facts, before the film’s producer and director, but vandalizing film sets, and roughing up the film director is unacceptable. Strong legal action must be initiated against this outfit, so that this could be a lesson for others.

On Thursday, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo inducted UP gangster Mukhtar Ansari and his relatives into her party and gave them tickets to contest assembly elections. The BSP supremo is now caught in a Catch-22 situation. On one hand, she badly needs Muslim votes, and one the other hand, she may face questions over inducting leaders from criminal background. When Mulayam Singh Yadav was at the helm of Samajwadi Party, Mayawati’s hopes of gaining Muslim votes in UP were dim. But now, she is a bit hopeful about gaining a section of Muslim votes by inducting Mukhtar and his partymen. One remembers the day when Mukhtar’s Qaumi Ekta Dal was ‘merged’ into Samajwadi Party, during the father-son imbroglio, and Mayawati had then remarked that Mulayam and his son, fearing electoral defeat, were taking the help of criminals like Mukhtar Ansari. On Thursday, however, the BSP supremo gave a clean cheat to Mukhtar Ansari. The conclusion: In politics, definitions of crime and corruption can change with time and requirements.

The government’s decision to honour the brave officers and jawans of 4 and 9 Paracommandos (Special Forces) who took part in the successful surgical strikes on terror camps located inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, is a welcome step. These brave officers and jawans eliminated the terrorists in a pre-dawn simultaneous strike at several camps inside Pakistan-occupied territory, in the last week of September, without any fear or trepidation. The nation surely needs to honour its heroes. Now that assembly elections in five states are in full swing, the issue of surgical strike is bound to become a poll issue. The Opposition may complain that the government revealed the identities of its surgical strike heroes for political gain. Normally the identities of armymen who took part in such top secret operations are not revealed. The government has revealed their identities after four months. But no true Indian can question the decision to honour its heroes. The nation is proud of its brave officers and jawans. We salute them.

The question that was being asked for the last several years was: why is not Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not entering active politics? There was no official reply forthcoming. However, this time around, Priyanka has become active in UP politics and this has become a subject of animated discussions. For the first time, senior Congress leaders have admitted that Priyanka has played a major role in forging an electoral alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party. There are reports that Priyanka will campaign for the party across UP. This possibility has already galvanized the Congress workers spread across the state. The workers are convinced that Priyanka can give them a robust leadership, and this would help the party in the forthcoming assembly elections.