My Opinion

The spate of bank robberies in Kashmir Valley in the last few days points towards one thing: terrorists are fast running out of money. Their ‘supply line’ from Pakistan seems to have broken. Those funding the terrorists seem to be in trouble. But there is one more thing that needs to be underlined. The terrorists, out of frustration, have resorted to killing Kashmiri Muslims. The Hizbul Mujahideen outfit on Tuesday claimed it killed 2 bank security guards and three policemen while trying to rob a bank, but, late in the evening, it corrected its press release to say that it did not kill the security guards. Both the security guards were Muslims, and with their deaths, they leave behind families with four Muslim orphans and two widows. Clearly, terrorists have no sympathy for either Kashmiris or Kashmiri Muslims. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is right when she says that terrorists in the valley are destroying both Kashmir and Kashmiris.

There is continued anger among the people across the country over the beheading of two of our jawans. Our hearts cry out for the next of kin of those jawans killed. But, now is the time to keep our anger and emotions under control, and steel our determination to teach the enemy a lesson. Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the anger and emotions across the nation, he also feels the pain in the hearts of people, but the decision to take revenge against the enemy must be left to our army. The Prime Minister cannot reveal such strategy on camera, or on social media. I have full confidence in our army. Pakistan will be taught a lesson soon, but as our Vice Chief of Army Staff said on Tuesday, the army will choose the place and timing on its own.

There is nationwide anger and revulsion over the beheading of two of our martyred jawans by Pakistani army soldiers near the Line of Control on Monday. The anger is justified. No civilized army on earth ever beheads the bodies of dead soldiers. It runs against all canons of human behaviour, leave alone the Geneva Convention. The time is now ripe for a swift retaliatory action. I do understand that neither the top echelons of the government, nor the Defence Minister is going to share with the world at large, what they intend to do in retaliation. But the nation expects action, and fast.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has done a commendable job in nabbing 23 persons on charges of cheating customers at several petrol pumps in Lucknow on Thursday. Our reporter says, chips had been inserted in nearly 99 per cent petrol pumps of Lucknow to cheat customers. The man who inserted the software chips had come from Delhi. I think this could be the handiwork of an inter-state gang. UP is not the only state where this nefarious activity was going on. There could be other neighbouring states like Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. Police in these states must coordinate with UP STF and nab the petrol pump owners cheating the customers.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the UDAN low-cost air travel scheme from Delhi to Shimla, and in the process, he indirectly launched his poll campaign for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, due in November this year. Shimla had no air connectivity till yesterday, but now it is on the air map, thanks to the UDAN scheme. Modi publicly said, he wants poor and lower middles class people to travel in aeroplanes. I remember, Modi once telling me in the show Aap Ki Adalat, that he was a pucca Ahmedabadi, who knows how to travel to and fro at the cost of a single ticket. Modi has worked as a pracharak in-charge of BJP for many years in Himachal Pradesh. It has been a second home to him. He knows the lanes and bylanes of Shimla, and has innumerable old friends. On Thursday, he called out the names of his old journalist friends at the rally. Himachal Pradesh is the last bastion of Congress remaining in north India, and judging by the huge turnout at his rally, it appears that the BJP is confident of returning to power.

The humiliating defeat faced by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the elections to three municipal corporations in the capital is the result of arrogance shown by party supremo Arvind Kejiwal. The Delhi chief minister quarrelled with almost every person worth the name. He quarrelled with the Lt. Governor, with the Centre, with founder-members of his own party and even denigrated constitutional bodies like the judiciary and Election Commission. Kejriwal used insulting words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, described Election Commission as ‘Modi’s agent’, questioned the intentions of judiciary, denigrated the media, and levelled baseless allegations against persons of moral repute. The result was: the people of Goa and Punjab rejected his party in the assembly elections, voters in Rajouri Garden, Delhi, made the AAP candidate lose his deposit, and yet Kejriwal and his coterie did not correct their course of action. The electoral defeat in MCD polls was so humiliating that there is hardly any space left for the party to recover. Many leaders of Aam Aadmi Party are now raising questions about Kejriwal’s leadership, his arrogance and his style of working. The fall from grace for Kejriwal in the eyes of the public in a short span of two years is, indeed, shocking.

A US Department of State report has rated India’s Maoists as the world’s fourth most dangerous terrorist outfit, after Islamic State, Boko Haram and Taliban, in that order. The manner in which Maoists mutilated the bodies of our martyred jawans in Sukma is condemnable. There is nationwide anger over the massacre of 25 CRPF jawans and people expect the Centre to launch a major operation to root out Naxalites. We have to give more leeway to our security forces in conducting this operation. Let me share with you some facts which show that more people were killed by Naxalites, compared to Kashmir and the Northeast. In the last 12 years, there were 6100 victims of terror in Kashmir, 6360 people died in violence in Northeast, and 7442 people died at the hands of Maoists. Clearly, Naxalite terror is the biggest challenge facing the State. I have more facts to show that Naxalite violence has been curbed in a better manner during Modi regime compared to the previous regime, so far. The facts: In 2016, 65 jawans were martyred and 222 Naxalites were gunned down, in 2015, 59 jawans were martyred and 89 Naxalites were gunned down. Let’s look at the figures during UPA government. In 2013, 115 jawans were martyred and 100 Naxalites were gunned down, in 2012, 114 jawans were martyred and only 74 Naxalites were killed. Clearly, the trend has changed. Our security forces are having an upper hand in the battle against Maoists, but this is not enough. The barbaric attack on Monday, in which 25 brave jawans were martyred, clearly shows there were lapses, lack of intelligence and complacence. Such mistakes need to be corrected, soon.

Sukma in Chhattisgarh has always been the nerve centre of Maoist activity. On Monday, more than 300 Naxalites ambushed and martyred 25 CRPF jawans on the Dornapal-Jagargonda road. This attack reminds us of the Naxalite attack on a convoy of Congress leaders on May 25, 2013 in Darbha ghati, in which many senior Congress leaders, including V C Shukla, were killed. Monday’s attack was the biggest one in recent years. Chhattisgarh chief minister Dr Raman Singh has said that the Naxalites’ ire was over the construction of a vital road that passes through dense forests in Sukma district. He has said that if the road becomes operational, the backbone of Naxalite movement in his state would be broken. On Monday too, the CRPF jawans had been sent to provide protection to road construction workers. Our brave jawans had to lay down their lives for the nation, but their martyrdom will steel the nation’s resolve to crush Naxalites in Chhattisgarh.

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.