My Opinion

On Civil Services Day yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged bureaucrats to change their mindset and style of working. His message in a nutshell was: reform, perform and transform. Modi wants reforms. He wants new ideas, and he has been working towards that end. There are risks involved while transforming. It needs the support of the masses. And now that Modi has got the solid support of the masses behind him, the issue of how to perform becomes all the more important. Bureaucrats will have to perform, and if they do that properly, there is bound to be a transformation.

It’s a personal matter if Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi parties in a hotel or goes on a foreign trip. There is nothing wrong in it. But the question arises when the party vice-president starts ignoring his party leaders and workers, and refuses to give time to meet them. Two days ago, the former Delhi state Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely quit the party and joined BJP, and yesterday former state Mahila Congress chief Barkha Shukla Singh too resigned from the party. Both the leaders complained that Rahul Gandhi had no time to meet party leaders and workers, and he does not listen to what the leaders are saying. This could be a matter of worry for party president Sonia Gandhi, who has practically delegated most of the party work to her son.

I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking a bold decision on banning the use of red beacons by all VIPs, irrespective of designations. I consider this as a big step towards an egalitarian society. Use of red beacons by VIPs on their cars has been a symbol of the trappings of power for the last 70 years. Since independence, many Prime Ministers pondered over this issue, but none had the courage to implement this decision. The truth is, people in general are fed up of ‘red beacon’ VIP culture. Even in small towns, people, who do not hold any post worth the name, move around with red beacons and hooters on their vehicles. In big metros, the man on the street gets angry when he or she sees a car moving around with a red beacon. It is gratifying to note that PM Modi has understood the sentiments of the people and took this decision, which may not be to the liking of many leaders, who are used to such trappings of power. Modi was advised to limit the use of red beacons, at least for the President and the PM, but he refused and decided to bat front foot. The people of India hail this courageous decision.

Vijay Mallya was arrested by Britain’s Scotland Yard on Tuesday and was released on Rs 5.4 crore bond. The British court will now begin hearing from May 17, and Mallya’s lawyers will definitely try their best to prevent his extradition to India. He can also appeal, and hence his extradition to India may take time. Since there are money laundering charges against him, the matter becomes criminal, and Mallya would now have realized that he can’t go scot-free after misappropriating the nation’s money. Mallya’s arrest took place on the Indian government’s request. It was in February this year that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley went to London, and spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May over extradition of 18 Indians including Mallya and Lalit Modi. Jaitley had then clearly told the British government that its stance on this issue will make it clear how seriously it took the mutual extradition treaty with India. On February 8, the formal extradition request for Mallya was send and after that, things moved. Mallya’s extradition may take time, but it now appears inevitable.

Right from day one, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken major decisions to change the workstyle and functioning of the state government. After taking oath, Yogi had promised that ‘big changes will take place and these will be visible’. The changes are visible at the ground level. Anti-Romeo task force is in place, illegal slaughter and sale of meat has been curbed, chewing of betel at government offices has been prohibited, govt employees have been asked to put in more hours of work, and biometric attendance for employees is being initiated. These are a few changes apart from major policy decisions affecting the lives of indebted farmers and education in madrassas. It has to be noted that Yogi Adityanath, though elected five times as member of Lok Sabha, has never been appointed minister. But the manner in which he used to run his ‘math’ in Gorakhpur and address the grievances of his voters, clearly indicates that he has ideas about governance. The results are now visible.

The video of a stone pelter tied to an army jeep bonnet in Kashmir has been circulated by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on social media. He and his supporters may describe this as an excess and violation of human rights, but I want to tell these people that the army has done the right thing in teaching stone pelters a lesson in this manner. Those raising question of human right violations should first look at the earlier video of a CRPF jawan being heckled and beaten up by street goons. The CRPF jawan had an AK47 rifle with him, but he exercised utmost restraint because he had orders from the top not to use force during polls. Politicians like Omar Abdullah should first react to this video before raising the issue of ‘human shield’. He should appreciate the restraint shown by the Army in avoiding casualties by carrying out this act. My message to the youths of Kashmir is: the Army is there for your protection, but if you misbehave with our jawans at the instigation of agent provocateurs, then you should be ready to face the consequences.

With the Aam Aadmi Party candidate losing his deposit in the Rajouri Garden assembly bypoll, the writing on the wall is clear: people of Delhi have lost all confidence in the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal. People are tired of frequent quarrels between the state and the Centre, and are exasperated with Kejriwal’s arrogance. On the other hand, people of Delhi now believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work and promises. And, the most significant outcome from the bypoll result is that traditional Congress supporters, who had deserted the party and supported AAP in the past two years, have now returned to the Congress. The results of 10 assembly bypolls across India have made it amply clear that ‘Modi magic’ that was weaved in UP, has now done its work in other states too, except Karnataka, where the Congress won both the seats. Good news has come from Bengal for the BJP. The party stood second, getting 31 pc votes in Kanthi Dakshin in the Midnapur belt, a former Marxist stronghold captured by Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. The Left was relegated to third position. This indicates that the main battle in Bengal in the coming years, will now be fought between Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi.

For decades, the Marxists and Trinamool Congress have been following a policy of appeasement towards minorities in Bengal and the Hindus have been watching helplessly. But a new wind has started to blow in Bengal. There have been spontaneous processions of Hindus, mostly women, in several cities of Bengal on the occasion of Ramnavami and Hanuman Jayanti. Hindu outfits in West Bengal have been alleging that the chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been showing undue favour towards minorities, and Hindus were not being allowed to take out processions during their festivals. They point out that while Muslims were allowed to show weapons during Muharram processions, Hindus were denied permission to even bring out peaceful processions. But now, Hindus in Bengal have started asserting. In several Ramnavami processions, weapons were publicly displayed. The lathicharge by Bengal police on processionists in Birbhum on Tuesday, during Hanuman Jayanti, provoked a small-time BJP youth leader in Aligarh to declare a Rs 11 lakh reward on Mamata’s head. After a huge outcry in Parliament and outside, he had to retract his statement and apologize. The remark was atrocious, but the fact remains that for the first time in West Bengal, Hindus have started to come out on the streets to express their strong resentment towards appeasement policies.

On Tuesday, National Conference and Congress leaders and workers in Kashmir shouted ‘Indian Democracy Murdabad’ to protest the postponement of Anantnag Lok Sabha byelection. This is really shocking. Moreover, a senior Congress leader, who has been a Union Minister, Saifuddin Soz, on the same day, addressing an India-Pak intellectuals’ meet in Delhi in the presence of Pakistani ambassador and former Pakistani foreign minister, blamed India for the Kashmir problem. Both these news would warm the cockles of the hearts of the Pakistan establishment.
Contrast this with our CRPF jawans, armed with AK-47 rifles, practising utmost restraint on polling day, when militants and their supporters brandished arms and tried to disrupt polling in Srinagar parliamentary constituency. The supporters of militants hurled abuses and stones at our CRPF jawans, but the latter did not lose their temper. Naturally they had orders from above to practise utmost restraint during polling, but separatists and terrorists should know that the day orders for restraint are withdrawn, they will have to face the hard end of the stick. Moreover, the restraint shown by CRPF jawans indicates the level to which they can go to protect our Kashmiri brethren, and those levelling charges of repression in the valley, should surely watch this video.

A military court in Pakistan has given death sentence to ex-Indian Navy man Kulbhushan Jadhav on charges of espionage, but the evidence that has been shown is laughable. The so-called confessional video running to 349 seconds has 102 cuts. In most of the video, lip movements hardly match with the audio sync, meaning the audio was superimposed. The video clearly shows Kulbhushan Jadhav being forced to read from a teleprompter. Despite India’s request, no consular access to Jadhav was given. In such suspicious circumstances, if news comes out of a Field General Court Martial giving him the death sentence, it will be assumed that Pakistan is presently in a mood to spoil its relations with India. The neighbouring country is clearly playing with fire, and Pakistan may have to bear the consequences.

It is heartrending to watch Muslim women narrating their ordeals once they are given Triple Talaq by their husbands. According to Sharia customs, these women can return to their husbands only after they perform Nikah Halala, wherein they have to marry another person, get talaq and then return. Even this custom of Nikah Halala is being misused by men, which is really perturbing. This centuries-old custom undoubtedly goes against all norms of humanity. It amounts to disrespect and atrocity towards women. I admire the courage of Muslim women who are coming forth to narrate their ordeals. A large section of people in Muslim community is against this tradition. They should also come forward in solidarity with these women. Moreover, Islamic scholars, clerics, maulanas and moulvis should understand the problems of Muslim women, and come forward to stop the traditions of Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala.

When he came to power two years ago in Delhi with a huge majority, Arvind Kejriwal had promised that he would not live in a government bungalow, he would not use official cars, nor would he take excessive security. One by one, Kejriwal reneged on those promises. He currently stays in a government bungalow, uses official cars and has a big security cordon following him. Kejriwal had also promised that he would root out corruption in Delhi government, stop nepotism and wasteful expenditure. The V.K.Shunglu Committee report has nailed most of his lies. Relatives and close friends of his ministers and those in his coterie were given plum jobs at fancy salaries, bungalows and flat were allotted, party leaders were appointed in plum posts and ministers went on foreign jaunts with the public exchequer footing their bills. It is not that previous governments did not indulge in nepotism and splurging, but their leaders never claimed that they were pristine pure. On the other hand, Kejriwal presented a facade of honesty, but the Shunglu committee report has now exposed his false claims about morality in public life.