My Opinion

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.

The decision of All India Shia Personal Law Board to support a ban on beef eating and cow slaughter, and its call to make strict law against misuse of triple talaq is a welcome step. The Board has said that it has issued a fatwa against cow slaughter and beef consumption after consulting its top Shia cleric from Iraq Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Najafi. The Ayatollah has asked all Shia Muslims in India not to slaughter cows and respect the sentiments of people at large in India. The Shia Personal Law Board has also called on the government to make strict law to ensure that the provision of triple talaq is not misused. It has also favoured resolution of Ayodhya Babri Masjid dispute through negotiations. Islamic scholars have a big role in bringing progressive changes in society on contentious issues like cow slaughter, triple talaq and Ayodhya dispute. On the triple talaq issue, the views of most of the Muslim women are clear. They are against this outdated practice. There are 22 Islamic countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and Morocco, where triple talaq is prohibited. Indian Muslims should also come forward to bring about this radical change.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has fulfilled PM Narendra Modi’s poll promise to the farmers to waive off their loans.

This is a welcome step. For the last three years, farmers in the state were in distress because of failed crops and mounting loans, and Tuesday’s cabinet decision will bring relief to many of them.

Looking at other major decisions taken at the cabinet meeting, it appears that Yogi Adityanath has a clearcut roadmap in front of him. He will not only be fulfilling populist promises, but also try to bring about reforms in governance.

Exodus of people from the state due to agrarian crisis and unemployment is one major problem. Yogi has sought to address this by formulating a new industrial policy that can create new jobs.

He has also tried to offer better prices for farm produce. All in all, we can say that Yogi has made a good beginning. What is required is careful implementation of these policies with the same seriousness with which they have been formulated.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is fighting a personal legal battle with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but the Delhi government wants the people of the capital to pay for his defence. The criminal defamation case was filed against Kejriwal by Arun Jaitley, and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani had appeared for the chief minister in court. It has now come out in the open that Jethmalani has sent bills for Rs 3.42 crore to Kejriwal so far, and the latter has sent it to his deputy for clearance. Documents reveal that deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has written on the file that the bills be cleared by the government. It is strange that Kejriwal first levels baseless allegations against an individual, and when the defamation case is filed by the aggrieved party, he wants the people of Delhi to pay for his legal defence. Similarly, Kejriwal campaigned for his party in several states, issued advertisments and splurged Rs 97 crore from the state exchequer. On one hand Kejriwal claims, he would not allow a single paisa of taxpayers’ money to go waste, but the question now arises: why should the people of Delhi pay for his baseless allegations and party campaigns? Let Kejriwal pay for the bills from his own pocket or from his party funds.

The former minister of UP Azam Khan is embroiled in a waqf properties scam worth more than Rs 500 crore, not only in his home district of Rampur, but also in several other cities of the state.

The Central Waqf Council has prepared a detailed report of irregularities committed by Khan and his cronies, who parcelled off several Waqf properties to trusts operated by his yes-men.

The report clearly calls for registering FIRs against Azam Khan and his cronies for these irregularities.

Till two weeks ago, Azam Khan was the most powerful minister in Uttar Pradesh, and common people were afraid of publicly airing their grievances. Now that his party is no more in power, people are coming forward with numerous charges of irregularities against the former minister.

While reacting to all these charges, Azam Khan has started to cry foul, saying he was being targeted, but it would be better if he replies to all the hard facts narrated in the report, point by point. The facts and figures speak for themselves.