My Opinion

Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking on Delhi riots for the first time, told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that action against rioters would go down as an example for future rioters across the country. “I promise no one, irrespective of religion, caste and political affiliation, will be spared”, he said.

Shah said the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court has been requested to spare a sitting judge who will head a Claims Commission that will determine the amount of damages to be recovered from those who indulged in arson, looting and damage to properties during the riots.

Alleging that the Delhi riots were pre-planned to coincide with the visit of US President Donald Trump to bring disrepute to India, Shah said, police have identified 60 social media accounts that were created on February 22 and 23, and were closed on February 26.

Shah said, police have identified nearly 1,000 rioters using facial recognition software. Out of them nearly 300 rioters had come from Uttar Pradesh. The Home Minister refused to identify the riot victims on the basis of religion saying that he considered all the victims as Indians.

I think the exemplary punishment that Amit Shah has promised will definitely have an impact on future riots, provided the policy is implemented with vigour. I also welcome the steps taken by his ministry to identify those anti-national elements who provided funds to the rioters. Three such hawala financiers have already been arrested.

The people of India will now await what exemplary action police takes against the rioters and their handlers. The most unfortunate part of the five-hour-long debate in Lok Sabha was that the main opposition party Congress walked out when Shah was replying. A walk out on such a sensitive issue does not augur well for our democracy.

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After keeping the Congress leadership on tenterhooks for an entire day, senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia sent in his resignation to party interim president Sonia Gandhi saying “it is now time for me to move on”. In his letter, Scindia said, “this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year”.

The resignation came shortly after Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in a clear indication that he, along with his MLAs, are going to join the BJP before the end of this week. In a face saving effort, the Congress leadership “expelled” Scindia with immediate effect on charge of “anti-party activities”.

So far, Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhavan sources have said, 21 Congress MLAs, all supporters of Scindia, have sent their resignations from the Assembly. There are reports of another five or six Congress MLAs ready to send resignations. Most of these MLAs are presently in Bengaluru.

In day long hectic political activity, senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached Bhopal to keep the flock of party MLAs intact. There were reports of several BJP MLAs flown out to Delhi and lodged in a hotel in Gurugram.

With a trial of strength looming large, the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse. Only 80 MLAs attended a meeting held on Tuesday at the chief minister’s house, while efforts are on to rope in others.

Jyotiraditya Scindia is not new to BJP. His grandmother Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia was a founding member of BJP, and his father Madhavrao Scindia was in Bharatiya Jana Sangh, when he switched sides and joined the Congress during the Seventies. His aunt Vasundhara Raje is a senior BJP leader and former chief minister of Rajasthan. Another of his aunts, Yashodhara Raje, has been BJP MLA for five terms and was a minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government.

This is the first time that the entire Scindia family has come into the fold of BJP. Congress leaders may have their own gloomy prognostications, but Jyotiraditya is definitely going to carve out a special place for himself in the BJP. His aunt Yashodhara welcomed his decision with a tweet in Hindi, ‘The blood of Rajmata has taken a decision in the national interest. We will work together to build a new nation.”

It is sheer coincidence that the BJP has got a big Holi gift in the form of Jyotiraditya Scindia on the occasion of his father Late Madhavrao Scindia’s birth anniversary. And for the Congress, it is a big shock from which it may find it difficult to recover. The party leadership regarded Kamal Nath as a shrewd manipulator and go-getter, but 24 of his MLAs ditched the party under his very nose.

The manner in which these MLAs left the Congress raises questions about the party leadership and its style of functioning. On Holi, one of my friends sent me a WhatsApp message saying “Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya, this means Rahul telling his mother Sonia, while you were sleeping Jyotiraditya left.”

Now that Kamal Nath is busy in last-ditch efforts to save his tottering government, let me say this. The common Congress party worker in Madhya Pradesh and in other states is feeling bewildered. When the party returned to power in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, people thought it was a message of revival for the party. But within a span of 15 months, due to lack of proper leadership and correct policies, the party will now lose power in MP.

A young leader, who always stood like a rock behind Rahul Gandhi, has left. This was plainly due to Rahul Gandhi’s incapability.

The most interesting part is that while power in a big state like MP is being recaptured by BJP, and a big leader is joining the BJP, fingers are being pointed at the weak Congress leadership. This is a serious challenge to Sonia Gandhi, who had been trying to reinforce Rahul’s leadership in the party, but with Jyotiraditya’s departure, I doubt whether party leaders will accept Rahul has their leader.

The hopes are few and Congress leaders from UP, Rajasthan and Haryana have already started raising questions about the party high command. The high command’s attitudes are being held responsible for the imminent loss of power in Madhya Pradesh. The indications are clear. After Jyotiraditya, there may be fresh troubles for the Congress in other states.

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India TV reporters on Friday conducted a reality check on anti-CAA protest venues at Shaheen Bagh (Delhi), Nagpada (Mumbai), Ghanta Ghar (Lucknow), Bhopal, Nagpur and several other cities and almost all of them found that the numbers of women protesters sitting on dharna are fast dwindling.

At Shaheen Bagh, only 10-12 women protesters were present, and the tents appeared to be desolate. On seeing India TV cameras, a hooter was sounded by the organisers and soon more women came to the venue. The protesters tried to physically stop our female reporters Meenakshi Joshi and Disha Pandey from telecasting the visuals live, prevented our camerapersons from doing their work and were very aggressive.

Shaheen Bagh was supposed to be the epicentre of anti-CAA protests across India.

Our reporters did a reality check at several other protest sites across India. At Iqbal Maidan in Bhopal, a big tent that was erected for women protesters for the last 66 days was almost empty. As news spread about our reporter arriving with a camera, a crowd of nearly 60 protesters, mostly males, collected and shouted slogans against India TV. They heckled and physically shoved our reporter Anurag Amitabh away from the protest site. Only three women along with 8-10 males were found sitting at the protest site, while the crowd had collected outside the tent.

A similar scene was witnessed at Ghata Ghar in Lucknow, where the tent for protesters was erected 48 days ago. Only a handful of women protesters was present and they gave various excuses for the dwindling number. At Mumbai’s Nagpada, it was the 41st day of protest, and there too, the number of protesters had dwindled. Some of the protesters cited blazing sun as one of the reasons for the dwindling number.

At the Commisionerate ground in Jaipur, only 21 women protesters were found present on the 40th day of protest. There were mattresses, blankets, chairs and food packets in place, but the number had dwindled fast. One of the protesters cited bad weather as one of the reasons.

For the last 83 days, there had been anti-CAA protests across India. People had been making speeches about defending the Constitution. So long as the crowds were present, these protesters revelled in publicity, but now that their numbers have dwindled, they are preventing the media from doing a reality check.

The question is: who has given these protesters the right to put others to inconvenience by blocking main arterial roads? And what are the excuses that are being offered? Some women said they had to go home to perform namaaz, some said they were busy with their children appearing for exams and some even cited coronavirus scare as the reason.

Two months ago, these protesters were insisting that they would allow reporters to come to protest sites only if it was telecast live. On Friday, it was the opposite. The same protesters were objecting to why the scenes at the protest venue were being shown live.

People who were alleging that the media was not showing the truth about their protests, were now angry over the truth that was being telecasted. Those claiming to be followers of truth and non-violence, appeared to be violent on Friday and trying to hide the truth.

Those who vowed to defend the Constitution, by holding tricolour flags and putting up pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, were themselves trying to hide the truth. Those who were speaking about freedom of expression were themselves trying to muzzle the media.

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The death toll in Delhi riots has gone up to 53 with Guru Teg Bahadur hospital reporting six more deaths on Thursday. Nearly 300 injured people are still in hospital. The grief has been compounded with the emergence of two fresh videos on Thursday which showed a 2,000-plus mob targeting Delhi policemen in Chand Bagh locality.

The videos clearly show that policemen were outnumbered, with rioters throwing stones at them and even firing, with policemen trying to shield themselves over a road divider, while trying to escape the fury of the mob. This was the spot where Head Constable Ratan Lal was shot dead by rioters, the area DCP Amit Sharma was critically wounded along with ACP Anuj Kumar and more than a dozen policemen.

The video clips show several women were part of the protest march that soon became a rioting mob. The videos may help Delhi Police in nabbing the attackers. Police have sought the help of cyber cell and forensic lab to develop the pictures in order to identify the rioters.

One of the videos was probably shot from the roof of a gym in Yamuna Vihar, while the second video was shot from Chand Bagh side. Police are trying to contact the persons who shot the video clips. There are also reports of a third video showing a rioter shooting at police. The rioter has been identified and he may be nabbed soon.

Now please try to realize the compulsions under which our policemen have to work. Our National Security Adviser says, government makes laws and policemen have to enforce them responsibly. But, in reality, what actually happened on the ground?

There was rioting and rioters had clearly outnumbered the police. The mob had put policemen on the run, and they were trying to save themselves from rioters. In any democratic country of the world, if police fires at rioters, nobody raises questions, but, in India, police is allowed to fire only in self-defence, because there are many busybodies who raise questions.

The videos clearly show that rioters had used women and children as their shield, and when they attacked the police, the women protesters also threw stones. Our policemen exercised maximum restraint. They bravely faced the stones and bullets, but did not fire a single bullet at the women and children. Their senior police officers, critically wounded, had to be taken to hospitals, and one of them laid down his life. Should we not praise their sense of restraint?

I felt sad watching our policemen cornered by mobs, stoned by rioters and shot in cold blood by assassins in this manner. Imagine what one should do in such a critical situation. Had the police used lathis or bullets on women and children, they would have been suspended, a judicial inquiry commission would have been set up, and the policemen would have to spend the rest of their lives making the rounds of courts, without getting any relief.

I think our civil society needs to decide what to do when faced with such situations. Those who allege violation of human rights must watch these videos and learn a lesson. On one hand, our brave policemen showed utmost restraint, while on the other hand, on Thursday, our opposition lawmakers threw papers at the Lok Sabha Speaker. These errant MPs have made a spectacle (tamasha) of the temple of our democracy. Time to think.

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As the number of people tested positive for coronavirus touched 29 on Wednesday, there was a rush for buying sanitizers and masks with chemists running out of stocks at many shops. Paytm has asked all its employees at its Gurugram office to work from homes for the next 15 days after an employee, who had returned from Italy, was tested positive. Most of the political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have cancelled their Holi Milan gatherings in view of the coronavirus scare.

To add to the anxiety of common people, a large number of fake news videos are circulating on social media. One of the videos, from an American news channel, reported that more than 15 lakh people in China have been afflicted with the virus and on an average, nearly 50,000 people are either dying or being shot by authorities. Nobody knows from where this news channel obtained its facts, but this video is surely going to strike fear in the minds of common people.

There should not be any panic because out of the 29 people found positive in India, 18 are Italian nationals. Two of them are being treated in Jaipur and the remaining 16 have been quarantined in a hospital in Delhi NCR. Similarly, six people in Agra were tested positive after 13 people met a man who had returned from Italy with the virus.

Rajasthan government is trying to contact 213 people who had come in contact with the group of Italian tourists who had visited tourist spots. Of them, 51 reported negative after tests, while reports are awaited for the rest. The group had visited Jhunjhnu, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Bikaner. The entire Ramada Hotel in Jaipur, where the tourist group stayed, is being sanitized. In Noida, tests of students from two private schools have been found negative but they are being quarantined as a precautionary measure.

A nationwide campaign is on to screen all passengers coming from international flights, while similar screening is on at India-Pakistan Attari and Dera Baba Nanak check posts.

Let me make some facts clear. Coronavirus is not fatal in all infection cases. Overall, only 3.5 per cent of the total number of people found positive in China and other countries have died. The only worrying point is this virus travels very fast but it does not mean that the virus is floating in the air. Only close contact with people infected with virus can cause this disease to spread. People should follow the do’s and dont’s carefully, keep sanitizers handy, avoid shaking hands with people and desist from touching their eyes, nose and face frequently.

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Five private schools in National Capital Region have been closed down till March 10 for sanitizing the campuses after the parent of a student, who had hosted a birthday party, was found positive with Coronavirus. At least 70 people came into contact with the Coronavirus patient, and among these, six were from Agra and 44 people were those who attended the birthday party.

Meanwhile, National Institute of Virology, Pune has confirmed that an Italian tourist admitted to a Jaipur hospital has been confirmed virus-positive. His wife has also been tested positive. The couple visited major tourist spots in Rajasthan as part of a group of 23 tourists from Italy and they might have put a lot of people at risk, health authorities say.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to people not to panic. “We need to take small yet important measures to ensure self-protection”, the PM tweeted. Modi also shared an advisory on basic protective measures people can take to avoid coming in contact with the virus.

These steps include: washing hands frequently, maintaining social distancing, avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth, practicing respiratory hygiene and seeking medical care at the earliest, if one has fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.

Research done on Coronavirus so far has shown that the virus is temperature-sensitive. It is not active in temperature beyond 35 degree Celsius and perishes at temperature beyond 50 degree Celsius. The virus can remain active in air for nine days. Scientists in India feel that the risk of spread of Coronavirus is there for the next 45 days when summer will set in. Once temperature rises in hot summer, the virus will stop from spreading. Yet, the next 45 days are crucial because the virus spreads very fast.

To avoid this virus from spreading, people should avoid visiting congested places, try to keep at least one metre distance as the virus spreads due to coughing and breathing, avoid shaking hands with people and do ‘namaste’ greetings from a distance, keep sanitizer to wash hands frequently for at least 20 seconds at a time, and try to wear masks for avoiding the virus.

There is no need to panic. If one is infected with the virus, it does not mean that it could be fatal. There are more than 90,000 people in the world infected with Coronavirus and, till now, only a little more than 3,000 people have died. So the fatality rate is hardly four to five per cent, but prevention is the best cure. Panicking can only lead to more problems.

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Delhi Police on Monday arrested more than 40 people on charges of spreading panic through social media about fresh communal violence in the city. All these rumours later turned out to be fake. A few of those arrested had a large number of followers on Twitter, while in several other cases, several thousand people made PCR calls to police to report about firing and violence, all of which were later found to be false.

On Sunday alone, over 2,000 PCR calls were made to police within a span of two hours from 7 pm to 9 pm reporting disturbances, but all of these calls were found to be based on fake news. 481 fake calls were received in West Delhi, while 413 fake calls were received in South East Delhi by police.

On Monday too, there was panic for some time when a rumour spread about rioters moving on M. B. Road near Tughlaqabad. Both the police and media were alert and the rumour was later found to be false. Senior Delhi police officers at the level of SHO, ACP and DCP had to take recourse to Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to assure people that there was peace in all localities of the city.

Delhi Police has now started taking action against gangs spreading rumours. These gangs have been spreading panic in areas like Khayala, Badarpur, Paschim Vihar, Kalindi Kunj, Madanpur Khadar, Dwarka, Rohini, Govindpuri, Uttam Nagar and Jasola. On Sunday evening, some Delhi Metro stations had to be closed for some time due to panic caused by rumours.

There could be many reasons behind spreading rumours. In one instance in Khayala, police had raided a den of gamblers, and while escaping, the gamblers spread rumours about rioting to deflect attention of the police.

Rumours always spread like wildfire. During the Nineties, rumours of Lord Ganesha idols drinking milk led to virtual stampedes at temples with people trying to make the god drink milk. The rumours spread so fast that Hindus in California tried to offer milk to Ganesha statues. Similarly, a rumour once spread about sea water on Mumbai coast turning sweet, and thousands of people rushed to seashores with bottles to collect ‘sweet’ sea water.

In Delhi, the perpetrators of communal riots on February 24 and 25 used rumours to spread hate and panic leading to violence, and Delhi Police was caught napping. However, on Sunday and Monday, Delhi Police effectively foiled the plans of rumour mongers, whose main aim was to create panic and cause mistrust among Hindus and Muslims.

I understand that rumours have a force of their own, but it will be better if our citizens stop forwarding fake messages and hate videos on social media. If India TV viewers get such fake news or hate videos on their cellphones, they can contact us on 93505 93505. You can also forward such messages to me on Twitter @RajatSharmaLive .

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As Friday prayers passed off peacefully in the riot affected areas of North East Delhi, the official death toll rose to 42 as four more people succumbed to injuries in hospital. Delhi Police special investigation team and forensic experts went through evidences found from former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain’s building and the nearby drain from where corpses were recovered.

The manner in which stones, bricks, petrol and acid bombs were stored on the roof of Tahir Hussain’s building, along with large slingshots kept on the terrace clearly show that the riots were pre-planned days in advance. Eyewitness accounts reveal that a large number of outsiders from a neighbouring state had come to these areas to carry out arson, stoning and murders. Most of these outsiders vanished after the riots.

Reports say there were two big criminal gangs who had infiltrated North East Delhi to execute their diabolical plan. They were experts in committing crimes and had brought a large number of country made pistols from which more than 900 rounds were fired during the riots.

The criminals who had come from outside had bigger plans to carry out mayhem for a prolonged period but for the timely intervention of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval who personally went to the riot-hit areas on Tuesday night and foiled their plans. The criminals knew that they would be rounded up quickly and they simply vanished. The rioter, Shahrukh, who was seen brandishing a pistol at a Delhi police constable also went underground along with these criminals.

Most of the residents of these riot affected areas, both Hindus and Muslims, disclosed that the rioters had come from outside and they had never seen them before. They were moving around like professional criminals who knew what they wanted to do. Police is now going through all the call detail records in the areas of cellphones that had come from outside, and what messages were being circulated via social media. The investigators want to zero in on the criminals who had come to Delhi from outside.

India TV reporters found large iron slings used on rickshaws and rooftop of a public school building for carrying out arson attacks during the riots. The slings were carved out by welding large pieces of iron to give a better effect. Similarly, bottles filled with acid and petrol were found on the rooftop of Tahir Hussain, clearly indicating that the riots were pre-planned. Two big schools, DRP School and Rajdhani School, both in Shiv Vihar were completely destroyed by rioters and later they were used as launching pads for attacks.

Pakistan’s ISI had been trying to foment communal tension and strife in India with the help of its sleeper cells. Terrorist Ajmal Kasab was sent to Mumbai with a sacred thread tied to his wrist to mislead investigators that he was a Hindu. Terror attacks were carried out on temples and mosques in order to create bitterness among Hindus and Muslims, but the people of India, irrespective of religion, have already seen through the game plan of our enemies. All efforts to sow discord and communal strife have been rejected by both Hindu and Muslim communities, who have been living in peace for centuries.

It is time for all of us to ignore provocative messages and videos being circulated on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools. The people of India must rebuff Pakistan’s plans to create misgivings and hatred among communities. Time has come to give a strong reply to those who want to defame India in the eyes of the world.

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Life is slowly returning to normal in riot-hit areas of North East Delhi, even as Delhi Police on Thursday night filed an FIR against Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain and his associates on charges of murdering an Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma. Tahir Hussain is presently evading police, though he has given interviews to news channels claiming that he was innocent.

Ankit Sharma’s brother had alleged that a mob had dragged him along with three others to a building owned by Tahir Hussain, where he was murdered and his body was found of February 26 from a drain adjoining the building.

A video emerged on Thursday in which some people were shown throwing a body into the drain flowing near Tahir Hussain’s house. The video was shot from a nearby building. An unidentified body was recovered from the drain on Thursday. This has now become a ‘drain of horrors’ as several bodies have been recovered from here after the riots. The drain flows towards Mustafabad and Gokulpuri, places where riots had taken place on Sunday and Monday.

On Thursday, another video emerged of Molotov cocktails, stones, acid filled bottles and bricks assembled on the roof top of Tahir Hussain’s building. The video clearly shows Tahir Hussain walking on the roof with a stick in his hand and peering into nearby buildings where flaming petrol bombs were being thrown. The video also clearly shows people pelting stones and bricks from the roof top.

India TV reporters on Thursday showed how all the vehicles inside a parking lot adjacent to Tahir Hussain’s building were completely charred during the riots. A family preparing sweets for a girl’s marriage in the adjoining building suffered the most with all utensils filled with sweets meant for the wedding completely destroyed.

Delhi Police has sealed Tahir Hussain’s building and is going through all the videos to ascertain the culpability of the AAP leader and his associates. The AAP councillor claimed on Thursday that a mob of nearly 150 people forcibly entered his building and kidnapped him, but his face and body does not show a single mark of scratch or injury during the interview.

Clearly, he is lying and the sooner he is arrested by the police, the better. The law courts must complete the trial at a fast pace and the murderers, arsonists and rioters must be given exemplary punishment so that criminals must not dare repeat such atrocities in future.

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National Security Adviser Ajit Doval deserves praise for the manner in which he brought the spiralling communal violence in North East Delhi under control. The decision to send Doval to control riots in Delhi was taken at the highest level hours before the US President Donald Trump was scheduled to leave Delhi.

Doval spent almost the entire Tuesday night at Ground Zero, spoke to senior police officials and interacted with local community leaders in Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur and Gokulpuri, worst hit by violence, to restore peace.

He was back in the riot-hit areas on Wednesday afternoon. Doval visited the residential localities, knocked on people’s doors and assured commoners on the streets that they were now safe. “Whatever has happened, has happened, there will be peace now”, he told people whom he met on the streets.

Doval is not a politician, he is one of the seniormost bureaucrats. He could well have sat inside his air-conditioned office, prepared a strategy and could have issued orders, but he preferred to go straight to where the action was. First, he visited the violence-hit areas late in the night to assess the exact situation, toned up the police force and assured local community leaders about steps to restore peace.

The results were evident the very next day. There was no more violence despite tense calm prevailing in the localities. By visiting the riot-hit areas, Doval gave a clear message to the people that they should have nothing to worry. He met both Hindus and Muslims and heard their grievances.

Secondly, Doval’s visit gave a big boost to the sagging morale of Delhi police, which had been battling communal violence that had escalated for three days in a row. Doval gave a message to the police force that he did not believe in sitting in his office at a time when policemen were battling the goons on the streets.

One head constable lost his life, an Intelligence Bureau staffer was killed and his body was thrown into a drain, and acid bombs were hurled at policemen. Into this cauldron of violence, Doval summoned the courage to visit, without wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest. The officers of Delhi Police needed a courageous leader who could give them the right direction, and Doval showed the way.

It has now come to notice that the violence in Delhi was part of a premeditated plan to create widespread unrest during the US President’s visit. The violence was not spontaneous. Modi baiters had hoped that the international media accompanying Trump would take notice of the violence and the US President would make comments on the issue of CAA, giving a handle to India’s enemies.

Trump preferred not to speak on CAA and said that he believed in Prime Minister Modi who can take all sections of society with him. On the issue of Kashmir too, Trump spoke carefully, disappointing Pakistan and its PM Imran Khan.

Do not for a moment think that Trump took this careful approach because of the huge ovation he got in Gujarat. In fact, he discussed these issues with Modi and was fully convinced with the policy and intentions of the Indian government. Needless to say that convincing an outspoken leader like Trump was not an easy job for Modi.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done the magic. He has shown the power of love of the people of India to the leader of the world’s most powerful nation.

US President Donald Trump was so much touched by the grand reception given to him at the world’s biggest cricket stadium that he publicly praised Modi several times during his speech. He also praised India’s democracy and the tremendous progress it has achieved since independence and also the success of the big schemes under Modi’s tenure.

In all, Trump hugged Modi seven times, shook hands with him nine times, named Modi at least 27 times and named India 55 times on Monday. You can call it the Modi effect, as a huge 1.25 lakh crowd chanted ‘Modi, Modi’. Not only Trump, any world leader would have been hugely impressed on watching this grand spectacle.

The level of affection was evident from the manner in which Trump was praising “my dear friend” Modi. Normally, Trump prefers self praise and is prone to making acerbic remarks at other leaders, but on Monday, it was a completely different tune. And the entire grand spectacle was telecast live on international news channels like Fox News, BBC, CNN and other networks.

Normally, whenever US presidents visited India, news about their visits used to get passing reference in international news channels, but this time, almost the entire world was watching the grand spectacle across TV news networks.

On Monday, the US President praised Modi’s work style and he attributed the tremendous progress that his government had achieved to the hard work and toil put by our PM. Trump described Modi as his “true friend”, described him as “a tough negotiator” and promised to do a “very major, among the biggest ever made” trade deals with India.

Trump also gave a clear warning to terrorists based in Pakistan. “The US and India are firmly united in our ironclad resolve to defend our citizens from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism”, Trump said. He also gave a personal touch in his fulsome praise of Modi, by recalling how he rose from a tea seller to become India’s prime minister through sheer hard work and perseverance. He also mentioned the landslide victory secured by Modi last year to say how much the Indian people loved their Prime Minister.

Those who keep a watch on Trump’s Twitter handle surely know the extent of self praise that he indulges in, but this is probably the first time when Trump openly praised Modi to the skies before the world’s eyes. There are nearly four million people of Indian origin in the US, and Trump knows that most of them are supporters of Modi. Trump values the support of these people of Indian origin in an election year.

For Narendra Modi, this is a moment of utmost satisfaction. The strong ties of friendship that he has forged with the US President are surely going to reflect in the official level talks that are going to take place on Tuesday.

For every Indian, Trump mentioning Pakistan while speaking about radical Islamic terrorism is a vindication of all the statements made by Modi over the last several years. That until and unless Pakistan gets rid of jihadis from its soil, there cannot be any lasting true friendship.

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In what could be a stunning projection of India-US friendship on the world stage, US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner will be accorded a grand reception in India on their arrival in Ahmedabad on February 24.

Lakhs of people are expected to line the route that the US President will take from the airport to Motera, where the world’s largest cricket stadium has been built. More than a lakh people will pack the stadium to greet Trump, a spectacle no US President has seen yet on an overseas visit.

On Thursday, Trump spoke about the huge reception he was expecting in Gujarat. He compared the massive reception that was awaiting in India with the 60,000-seat stadium in Colorado by remarking, “It’s going to look like peanuts, from now on”.

The First Family from the US will be spending the evening at the world famous Taj Mahal in Agra. The second day of the visit will be devoted to serious talks in Delhi between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with their ministers and officials.

I would like to view Trump’s visit as special on several counts. US presidential elections are due later this year, and after seeing the 50,000-strong NRI crowd at the Howdy Modi! rally in Houston, Texas last year, Trump has gauged the popularity of our Prime Minister among people of Indian origin in the USA. Trump has admitted on record that he is now habituated watching huge rallies. This time, Narendra Modi has invited almost 1.25 lakh people to greet Trump at the Motera stadium.

Normally, huge crowds rarely turn up in the US, but we know, in India, Modi has the magic to bring in 10 lakh people at a single rally. Naturally, Trump is very excited with the numbers. Earlier, he said, seven million people will turn up to greet him, and on Friday he hiked up the number to 10 million.

Trump may have confused millions with lakhs, but keeping that aside, one should try to understand the thinking behind his expectations and excitement. Trump values his personal rapport with Prime Minister Modi.

On Thursday, Trump claimed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg personally told him that he was No. 1 on Facebook. At an event, Trump said, “The head of Facebook Mr Zuckerberg came in three weeks ago. He said, Congratulations. I said, On what? He said , you’re Number One on Facebook. I said, that’s cool, I’m number one on Twitter too. …And I congratulated Prime Minister Modi. I said, but you know, you have 1.5 billion people, I have 350 million. You have an advantage.”

Facts however show that Modi is Number 1 on Facebook, as of now. He is followed by 44 million people, while Trump’s Facebook account is followed by 27 million people.

I remember, when Prime Minister Modi spoke to me last year during the Lok Sabha polls in India TV’s ‘Salaam India’ event, he had disclosed the personal rapport he had already established with Trump.

Modi then revealed how Trump personally took him on a tour of White House and showed him Abraham Lincoln’s Room and other relics from US history, and spoke extempore without taking help from notes.

This India visit by Trump and his family denotes the personal bonding that has taken place between the two great personalities. India is certainly going to derive advantage from this visit. One one hand, it will send clear signals to Turkey and Malaysia, the two countries that have sided with Pakistan, and on the other hand, China will get to know the extent and depth of India-US friendship.

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