My Opinion

The more Culture and Tourism Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma says that the proposal to build a Ramayana Museum in Ayodhya has nothing to do with assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the more he says that his faith in Lord Ram brought him to Ayodhya, nobody in today’s milieu will believe his words. The reality is that Lord Ram has again resurfaced in the political lexicon of UP, the only difference this time being that while earlier only the BJP used to seek Lord Ram’s blessings, the ruling Samajwadi Party has now thrown its hat into the ring. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s plan to build a Ramayana Theme Park is also part of his poll strategy.

Till a month ago, the poll prospects for Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh were bright and the party was leading the poll stakes compared to others. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had thrown a serious challenge to his political rivals on the issue of development. He was ousting local mafia dons from important positions one by one, and this was having a desired effect among the electorate, but family feud in the Yadav clan spoiled Akhilesh’s efforts. The maximum gainer appears to be the BJP, though the party does not have a leader who can give Akhilesh a tough fight. On Monday, BJP announced that it would go into elections without a CM candidate. The party has now decided to fight the elections by projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its electoral face.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at an ex-servicemen rally in Bhopal on Friday rightly said, our army’s actions speak louder than words, the army never speaks, its acts of valour speak, and we should not doubt the brave acts of our soldiers.

I want to add one more point to this. The Indian Army is the most professional and disciplined armed force in the world. Our soldiers fight enemies with utmost valour and offer supreme sacrifices to protect our country.

That is why it is necessary that we should trust our Army’s words. We should not question our army, we should not demand ‘evidence’ of their operations.

Whatever Islamic scholars, maulanas and ulema may say, they know it in their hearts that ‘triple talaq’ is injustice to Indian Muslim women.

The ulema held a big press conference on Thursday but did not say anything clearly on ‘triple talaq’.

They only made an issue out of uniform civil code in order to put the government on the defensive. There may be divergent views on uniform civil code, but there is need to understand the issue of ‘triple talaq’.

In 22 Islamic countries, this practice has been declared illegal. Is it not injustice towards Muslim women in India? The All India Muslim Personal Law Board should clearly enunciate its stand on this issue.

Whenever Defence Minister Mohan Parrikar speaks on surgical strikes, the Congress party becomes worried. Congress leaders fear Prime Minister Narendra Modi may gain politically from the army action. On Wednesday, when Parrikar said earlier army actions during UPA rule were not surgical strikes, the Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala used caustic language (chullu bhar paani) for the Defence Minister, whereas such language is normally not used in discourse on national security. One is reminded of Rahul Gandhi, who made the “khoon ki dalaali” remark against Modi, and the party had to face embarrassment. Some Congress leaders tried to defend him saying, the word ‘dalaali’ might have slipped out of Rahul’s tongue, whereas he wanted to use some other word. Kapil Sibal tried hard to explain at a press meet by saying, ‘do not go by words, understand his feelings’, but what Surjewala said on Wednesday clearly shows what the Congress is worried about. This was clear from none other than another party leader Manishankar Aiyar, who said the army’s surgical strike may politically benefit the BJP in elections. Maybe the Congress did not like the Defence Minister being felicitated in Uttar Pradesh, but it would be better if the Congress counters it politically. The language that the party leaders are using may harm the party in the long run. Manishankar Aiyar had once remarked that if Modi lost the Lok Sabha elections, he would be selling tea at AICC meetings, and the rest is history.

Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expected him to speak at the Dussehra rally, a few words on surgical strikes carried out by the army in Pak Occupied Kashmir. Modi’s critics were also lying in wait. The Prime Minister spoke on terrorism and Pakistan, but nothing on surgical strikes. In a way, he disappointed his critics by avoiding mention of surgical strikes. On the other hand, it was after a long, long time that a senior BJP leader of Modi’s stature chanted full-throated slogans of Jai Shree Ram at the rally. The party supporters were naturally elated, the venue being Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh that is going to the polls. Modi provided invigorating tonic to his party workers through this slogan, but since it was a Dussehra event, the day Lord Rama killed Ravana, nobody could raise a finger at Modi for chanting this slogan.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘khoon ki dalali’ remark has grabbed headlines on Pakistani media. Earlier, Pakistani TV channels had made Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal their hero when he questioned the veracity about Indian army’s surgical strikes. This should be a lesson for Indian leaders. Whenever such irresponsible remarks are made, Pakistan tries to take undue advantage. Maybe Rahul Gandhi will learn this time. Though his remark has embarrassed the Congress and made people remember about Sonia Gandhi’s ‘maut ke saudagar’ remark about Narendra Modi, the most unsavoury fallout has been to bring Army into political debate. So far the Indian Army had always been kept out of political discourse, but Rahul Gandhi’s “khoon ki dalali” remark has opened the floodgates. There is still time for all parties to keep the army away from political debates.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘khoon ki dalali’ remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had three effects: one, this has embarrassed his party because normally senior Congress leaders never use such language on issues pertaining to national interest; two, Rahul Gandhi has given Pakistan a good handle to embarrass India because Pakistani channels will show what the senior Congress leader has said about the surgical strikes and Indian army; and, three, he has indirectly reminded people of how his mother Sonia Gandhi had made the ‘maut ke saudagar’ remark for Narendra Modi several years ago. On the other hand, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has replied to all doubts raised by the leaders of Pakistan, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and some Congress leaders on surgical strikes. Parrikar said he could show video proof of surgical strikes, but where is the guarantee that such Doubting Thomases would question the veracity of that video itself? I think, this controversy shoud now end here, our leader should stop giving a handle to Pakistan, and the nation should accept the Defence Minister’s assurance that if Pakistan indulged in more nefarious activities, our army can go in for a surgical strike again.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not tell his National Assembly why his country has become a hub for exporting terrorism, why his country runs factories that churn out terrorists, why terror masterminds like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar openly move around and then plan and threaten fidayeen strikes against India. The question now is: whether there is now any chance of friendship between India and Pakistan under these circumstances. It seems author Tarek Fatah was right when he said Nawaz Sharif is afraid of his Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif. Tarek Fatah had also said that Hafiz Saeed is the real Prime Minister and Syed Salahuddin is the real Defence Minister of Pakistan. It appears that Nawaz Sharif has spurned the hand of friendship offered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of this reason. Modi never imagined Nawaz Sharif would change to such an extent, and probably Nawaz Sharif, too, never imagined Modi would respond to the Uri attack in this manner. No country in the world now believes Pakistan. The present situation has been created by Pakistan itself over the years. It used to take money from the US to fight terror, even while its army was hiding Osama bin Laden, it projected itself as a friend of Afghanistan, but it was simultaneously sheltering and supporting the Taliban, it speaks of friendship with India, but has stabbed its neighbour several times in the back. The entire international community now understands the real face of Pakistan.

Two Srinagar youths interviewed by India TV have exposed the hollow claims being made by separatist leaders in Kashmir.

Five points emerge from the interviews of these two young men – one, Hurriyat leaders are playing with the fate of young Kashmiris for their own petty interests, two – Hurriyat leaders do not want peace in the valley and want young men to be killed by security forces, three – terrorists are attacking security forces in Kashmir by using young protesters as human shields, four – the common Kashmiri youths has no interest in waving the Pakistani flag but Hurriyat activists are coercing youngsters to do so, and five- people in the Valley are suffering financially as their earnings have completely dried up in the last three months because of the continued general strike and protests.

And yet the Hurriyat leaders continue to give calls for bandhs because it suits the interests of their political masters. Both the youths have given a valuable suggestion – if the government provides them jobs and guaranteed work, the separatist leaders will soon have to shut shop.

With both the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan contacting each other, Pakistan’s reported offer for talks is an exercise in deception. Pakistan is offering talks under pressure from the US, while on the ground level, it’s the Jamaat ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who is calling the shots. Post-surgical strikes by India, the Pakistan army now appears to be desperate. It has violated the LoC ceasefire at least four times in the last 48 hours, and has tried to send infiltrators twice. But each time, Pakistan army’s efforts were foiled by our valiant jawans. Our armed forces are on high alert and ready to defend our territory. On the other hand, the Pakistan army is trying to stage manage shows on its side of LoC by conducting guided tour for the media. The versions of Pakistani army officers on surgical strikes are in conflict with the versions of local villagers. Even the international media is skeptical about Pakistan’s claims. It was not for nothing that Tarek Fatah told me in Aap Ki Adalat show that the Pakistan army generals are liars and their nuclear missiles contain nothing but ‘faluda’.