My Opinion

Her emotional and animated speech today proved that Smriti Irani has been deeply affected by the accusations heaped against her. This was noticed both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. She even stated that she took all these accusations against her personally when someone from the Opposition that she need not get so personal. What is noteworthy is that the Opposition was completely silenced by the manner in which Smriti Irani delivered her speech today.

More people would have lost their lives in the ongoing Jat agitation had the Army and the CRPF not been rushed to maintain law and order. The situation has more or less now been brought under control. The government has also assured the protestors that it would look into their demands. However lot remains to be answered. Was the Haryana Government completely oblivious of the impending stir? Did they not have any information that the Jat agitators were preparing themselves for a such an assault? If reports are to be believed, is it true that a section of the Haryana police turned a blind eye towards the violence that followed? Did any top leader finance this entire agitation? And perhaps the biggest question remains is whether the Government will be able to identify those involved and severely punish them?

There is no doubt that anti India slogans were raised inside the JNU Campus. Slogans of diving the country were also raised. There were slogans in support of Afzal Guru. Such anti India slogans can never be supported by any citizen of the country. However the main question at the centre of this controversy is who raised those slogans? Did Kanhaiya raise them or was Umar responsible for them or those who raised such slogans were outsiders and not belonging to JNU? A thorough impartial investigation is necessary for the truth to come out and for that one would have to have faith in the police and the Judiciary.

Umar Khalid and his fellow students are facing charges of allegedly raising anti India slogans in JNU. The police want to interrogate him about the sloganeering but Umar and his associates after having returned to the campus appear to take full advantage of their situation. The police on the other hand has decided to exercise restraint. The manner in which Umar and his associates have laid conditions before the Court pertaining to their surrender, it seems as if he an iconic figure engaged in some freedom struggle. It would be better if all those involved instead of taking law in their own hands, surrender and appear in Court. It should be left to the Courts to decide whether they are guilty or not. The more they linger their surrender, Umar Khalid and his compatriots will end up weakening their own case against them.

It is amply clear that come what may, the Congress is determined to stall the Parliament proceedings this Budget session. Whatever may be the outcome of the All Party Meet and however hard the Government may try, the Congress will not be prepared to give any safe passage to it. There can be no doubt on this if one were to carefully listen to what the Congress President Sonia Gandhi had to say today at the Congress Working Committee meet.

In a democracy while every citizen has a right to protest and has a right to one’s own opinion, it does not mean that the right to protest should be at the cost of others. It does not entail the right to plunder, the right to arson or the right to block rail and road. The kind of agitation that is being witnessed in Haryana today is similar to what has already taken place in Rajasthan, in Andhra Pradesh, in Telangana or even Maharashtra over the Maratha reservation issue. Every State government has had to accept their demands and pass the quota bill. However each time the Supreme Court has rejected it on grounds of being unconstitutional. Those agitating over the Jat reservation issue should therefore realise that pressurising the government and causing inconvenience to the common people will ultimately not yield any results.

In the Pampore encounter, the Army officers and Jawans lost their lives because they were out in the open while the militants firing at them were holed up in a building. However for the Army, the biggest concern was to protect civilian lives from these insurgents who were ruthless and cared for none. Our salute goes out to the father of slain Captain Pawan Kumar who said that his son’s sacrifice for the country could not have made him prouder.

The manner in which Kanhaiya was manhandled by the lawyers in Court is shameful. Equally disgraceful is the manner in which a BJP MLA was caught beating up others. The assault on media persons in the Court premises is also very shocking. Even the video footage, basis upon which a case was slapped against Kanhaiya, has been doctored. However one cannot deny that some people did raise anti India slogans within the JNU campus, they did raise slogans of dividing the country. It is therefore alarming that those wanted by the police are not just being sheltered in the University, they are even hitting out at the police and blaming the media and with University teachers having warned against any police presence in the premises — all this seems like a mockery in the name of free speech.

A sloganeering by a handful of about 8-10 people in JNU that day has now snowballed into a major controversy. However a majority of the people whether they are from the Left or the ABVP, do not support those who have raised such anti India slogans. Even at the Jadavpur University those expressing anti India sentiments were vehemently opposed by the majority. It is therefore essential to segregate those few divisive voices and engage with those who are willing to listen and catch those who despite living in the country keep talking of dividing it.

The Jat reservation issue is nothing new. Every time there is an agitation, there are scenes of arson, of violence, roads getting blocked, trains being stopped and there is widespread damage to property and several lives are even lost in a tussle that follows. Normal life is completely thrown out of gear. The sick are unable to reach the hospital on time, people get stranded for hours, children are unable to go to school and public property is damaged. Those who are spearheading these protests must realise that this is not a political issue, this is a legal issue. Even if the government were to agree to the quota and a legislation is passed by the government, it would get rejected by the Court since it would go against the 50% cap laid down by the Supreme Court. The Jat leaders should therefore consider engaging with government and come to an understanding instead of disrupting normal life and causing inconvenience to the common people.

This issue is not about Kanhaiya or about JNU. This is about the Nation. Kanhaiya ofcourse has clarified his stand over the matter, which is a good thing. Even the student wings like the SFI and AISF have condemned those raising anti India slogans. But such similar incidents have happened in JNU in the past but somehow the JNU administration turned a blind eye towards them. Perhaps if they had adopted a tough stance then, things would not have assumed such proportions. The need of the hour is to first find out the mastermind behind such anti India sentiments, find out who is responsible for spreading such divisive ideology amongst students in the garb of freedom of expression.

Those who are lawyers should realise that they have committed a crime no less than those who raised anti national slogans. They forget that by abusing and indulging in such acts of lawlessness, they are defeating the very cause for which they claim they are fighting for. Had it just been restricted to opposing those raising anti India slogans, these lawyers would not have incurred the wrath of the people but by misbehaving with the media and others at the Court premises not only have to managed to dishonour their profession as lawyers but have also managed to divert the attention from the real issue.