My Opinion

There are about 2500 students at NIT Srinagar. Around 1500 of these students are from states other than J&K. Despite outweighing local students in numbers, there is a sense of apprehension amongst the outstation students. They are scared of beinf at the receiving end of the Kashmiri students who have a local support base. To ensure security, the Government has now decided to deploy CRPF at NIT Srinagar. Smriti Irani will personally visit NIT and hold talks with students. Even the state government is taking this matter seriously. One can hope the situation will get back to normal and students whether local or outstation will not face further trouble. It is important to have discussions with them together.

If one were to listen to Anand Sharma and Arvind Kejriwal, it would appear as if Pakistan has defeated India in a war. Everyone has the right to attack and criticise Prime Minister Modi. But citing a Pakistani newspaper, which is relatively unknown and lacks credibility, to hit out is not correct. If Pakistan’s JIT indeed submits any such report then it must be criticised. However it would be wrong to react in such a hurry where sensitive matters like Pakistan are concerned.

There is no doubt this issue is being politicised. 49 years back in 1967 the Supreme Court had clearly stated that the Aligarh Muslim University cannot be considered a minority institute however it was vote bank politics that forced Indira Gandhi to confer it minority status in 1981. Post ‘81, many a times there have been politics over this issue. Even the Allahabad High Court agreed with the Supreme Court judgement. The government will therefore make its decision as per the law but this will again trigger off a political outcry. The Government will be termed as anti-Muslim and the party will have to do the explaining.

Mehbooba Mufti who took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir today, is faced with the challenge of fulfilling her father’s dreams. The PDP and BJP are ideologically two different parties, their support bases are different and Mehbooba in terms of running a government is yet not that experienced as her father. Her top priority will be the welfare of the people of J&K and she would have to pay less attention on the uncertainties of her electoral base for having allied with the BJP.

It is well known that in order to avoid paying taxes, people stash their black money in accounts abroad and there is always a veil of secrecy over such shell companies and overseas accounts. However this is the second time that a list of exact names who operate offshore accounts have been leaked. The account holders will either state that there is no element of truth in such leaks or will claim these accounts and companies are legitimate owing to their earnings abroad. Despite the fact that it can be difficult to establish these accounts and the names of Directors of these shell companies owing to the anonymity clause, it is noteworthy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has immediately called for a probe into these accounts. Being apprehensive of who all are involved, usually governments refrain from taking immediate action but this Government has taken the first step forward.

China may not have supported us on Masood Azhar but India today managed to get a huge boost in its fight against terrorism. The US and Saudi Arabia have joined hands to impose sanctions against outfits deemed at funding terror organisations. A joint decision was made to undertake strong action and choke the financing of these outfits acting as terror fronts for groups like Hafiz Saeed’s Lakshar. This comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit where he met President Obama and is now on his way to Saudi Arabia.

In Congress ruled states, its own party MLAs are voicing their opposition against their respective state governments causing enough headaches for the Party high command. Currently there are seven states that the Congress is in power – Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya. Of these, Kerala and Assam will soon go to polls and there is a possibility that Congress may not be voted back here. If the Congress were to lose these two states, then it would be left with only Karnataka as the biggest state. In such a situation the party will certainly want to avoid a Uttarakhand and Arunachal like rebellion in the states of Himachal and Manipur and thereby lose these two states as well.

There can never be any room for politics when such horrific tragedies occur. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot put the blame on the previous government. Even if the Left Front government awarded the contract of building the bridge to a company without much experience during its tenure, how can the Chief Minister forget that she has been ruling the state for the past 5 years? On the contrary she should have undertaken the responsibility to rectify the past mistakes. Whether the construction company is to be blamed or not for the collapse will be known only after investigations are complete. But the company’s reaction to the tragedy by calling it an act of God is certainly insensitive and irresponsible.

Till Vijay Mallya repays the banks, the Government will have to face the onslaught of the Opposition. However with the Supreme Court tightening the noose around him and the Centre coming down heavily, Mallya has proposed to pay 4000crores. He is well aware that leaving the country and staying abroad will not lessen his troubles and probably that is why he is slowly trying to get back on track.

Even if Pakistan were to repeatedly send its team to investigate the Pathankot terror attack or allow our team to visit their country for interrogations, there is not much that our Government or intelligent agencies can expect from the outcome of such visits. There are mere conjectures and posturing for the world to see. If Pakistan is sincerely committed to tackling terrorism, it would have ensured the most stringent punishments for the perpetrators after nabbing them by now instead of merely engaging in a flow of investigating agencies between both the countries.

It is not easy being a journalist in India. Those who use the media for their interests eventually turn out to be against journalists. There have been situations where the media has been found lacking and there is need for more focus on research. By and large, media has done a good job over the past few years. Journalists understand that they have to live with criticism. At a recent interaction with an enthusiastic bunch of LSR alumni from London, the participants were curious about the political narrative in India and the relationship between the judiciary and the legislature. They were particularly curious about the Media in India and the paradigm shift it has undergone over the years. Formed in 2014 with 150 members in the UK, the LSR Forum was represented by members across different fields and backgrounds who have been contributing to the British society in their own unique ways.

There is no doubt that Vijay Mallya has violated the law by not repaying his loans that he took from the banks. However if he has deposited the money in his account overseas and utilised it for some other purpose then this is indeed a very serious offence. However one would have to wait till investigations are over. Besides Mallya should refrain from making statements through the media and twitter and instead face the CBI and ED. If he has done nothing wrong he should not be scared at all.