My Opinion

Heavens would not have fallen had the Delhi police allowed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to meet ex-serviceman Ramkishen Grewal’s relatives in hospital.

The first mistake on the part of Delhi Police was to stop Rahul Gandhi.

The second error by police was to detain the father, son and son-in-law of the deceased ex-serviceman.

The third mistake was improper handling of political protests over the suicide.

All these mistakes compounded and complicated the issue and gave Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders a handle to criticize the government.

By evening, competition broke out between the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal’s party as to who can launch more vicious attacks on the government over One Rank One Pension issue.

As far as Grewal’s suicide is concerned, this matter needs a thorough investigation. It should be probed why Ramkishen Grewal had to commit suicide and what was the actual cause.

Why Ramkishen spoke to his son over phone soon after consuming poison, who were the persons who were with him at the time of suicide, why didn’t they rush him to hospital, why was Ramkishen’s last telephonic conversation recorded.

All these questions need logical answers so that his family can get justice.

As UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav prepares to begin his solo rathyatra, with his ‘rath’ (chariot) showcasing his government’s achievements, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is toying with the idea of a grand alliance, like the Mahagathbandhan that won the assembly polls in Bihar.

It was in this context that the Congress party strategist Prashant Kishore met Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh in Delhi on Tuesday.

However, Akhilesh wants his party to go alone in the UP assembly elections and he is ready to defy his father and uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

On the other hand, the party supremo is working on a proposed grand alliance which may include Congress, Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United.

If such a grand alliance is forged, it will effectively reduce Akhilesh’s stature and may project Mulayam Singh as a leader of the alliance.

All these efforts towards a grand alliance are meant to stem the flow of Muslim voters from SP to BSP.

Terrorists have no religion, and leaders should refrain from indulging in political mudslinging on such sensitive issues, whether from the ruling party or from the opposition.

Let the National Investigation Agency conduct its probe into the Bhopal jailbreak encounter and come to conclusions.

Premature remarks on the encounter can only demoralize our forces, who take risks to kill terrorists, and yet doubts are being cast over their role.

If one goes through all the four videos that have emerged about the Bhopal encounter, the entire sequence can be established.

Actually, the confusion arose when a brief video emerged of a policeman shooting at a terrorist who had fallen, and allegations from political leaders flew thick and fast.

This is unacceptable. Let all of us wait for the conclusions from NIA probe.

Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has rightly said that only dialogue is the way out from the current impasse, but the initiative will have to come from Pakistan. One has to understand why Pakistan is shying away from dialogue and resorting to heaving shelling on the border. There are three main reasons: one, everybody knows cross-border infiltration will come to a trickle once it starts snowing in the Valley, and that’s the reason why Pakistan is resorting to cover firing to push as many infiltrators as possible, two, Pakistan wants Kashmir issue to be internationalized, and three, domestic political compulsions for Nawaz Sharif. The Pakistani PM’s family is facing corruption charges after Panama Papers leak, he is confronting challenges from the army, and Imran Khan has planned a lockdown in Islamabad. The only way out for Nawaz Sharif is to create tension on the Indian border, to divert people’s attention from domestic issues.
Compare this with the role of Mehbooba Mufti, who has been saying that if children in the Valley resort to stoning and stop studying, what will happen to their future. Mehbooba is also raising question as to why poor kids die in clashes with security forces, and rich kids from families of Hurriyat leaders live a safe and sheltered life. For 111 consecutive days, life in the Valley has come to a standstill. While Hurriyat leaders sit safely inside their homes, the common man has lost all avenues of earnings and they are living a hand-to-mouth existence. Children of Hurriyat leaders study outside Kashmir, while the poor kids are being deprived of education, with separatists now setting fire to school buildings. Ultimately, the people will turn their wrath on Hurriyat Conference.

On Wednesday, UP Samajwadi Party chief Ramgopal Yadav expelled a minister from the party for six years, and asked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to follow suit and remove him from his cabinet, but a defiant CM has refused to comply.

It appears the two are now fighting a proxy war, using party workers to take potshots at the other. Those close to Akhilesh are out of the party, while those close to Shivpal are out of the government. It’s now clear Ramgopal controls the party, while Akhilesh controls the government.

This is a dangerous trend and it is bound to harm the party in the long run. While both Akhilesh and Ramgopal constantly say in public that they will obey Mulayam Singh Yadav, the ground reality is that neither camp is ready to listen to the party supremo.

From day one, Mulayam has been trying to solve the rift within his family and prevent the feud from spilling on to the party ranks, but he appears to have failed. The Samajwadi Party will complete 25 years of its existence after ten days, and by then it will be clear whether the party will split or remain united.

For any keen observer of Indian politics, it is very difficult to understand the full picture that emerges from the internecine squabbles that are taking place in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family and his Samajwadi party. There are too many characters, too many issues, too many past records, and an uncertain future. However, the main question that arises is: who will benefit from these squabbles? The party that was at the top position in UP elections, now appears to have slipped to the third. If the squabbles continue, Muslim voters in UP may begin to feel that the Samajwadi Party will no more be able to defeat the BJP, and in that event, they may swing towards Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. In that case, the BSP could emerge from the current third spot to the top position in the UP poll stakes.

Pakistani forces near the Line of Control are making desperate attempts to infiltrate terrorists into India as winter is fast approaching. Once snowfall begins in Kashmir, it would be almost impossible for terrorists to infiltrate. This seems to be the main reason behind continuous unprovoked firings from the Pakistani side. Pakistani forces are specifically targeting Indian posts and civilian areas to deflect our jawans’ attention. However our jawans are on full alert and are giving a befitting reply to all ceasefire violations.

The purported video of BJP MP Varun Gandhi is not new. It is an old video and some important persons in public life had already knowledge about this. On Thursday, lawyer Prashant Bhushan made it public at a press conference. Three facts emerge out of this: one, Varun Gandhi had availed of ‘escort service’, two, notorious arms dealer Abhishek Verma allegedly blackmailed Varun over this, and three, which is most important, there is no proof so far of Varun’s director involvement in any arms deal. In fact, Varun Gandhi was never in any influential post or position to swing a defence deal. Yet, one should wait for all the facts to emerge, once a probe is fully conducted.

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.