My Opinion

Kerala, popularly known as ‘God’s Own Country’, has a tradition of bi-polar political preferences. The Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front have been dominating the political landscape in Kerala since decades. BJP, which draws its support from RSS supporters, had not been able to win a single seat  in Lok Sabha from Kerala.

It is in this context that it is surprising to notice the huge turnout of voters at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday evening. The crowd quietly listened to the Prime Minister’s speech with occasional rounds of applause. There was a similar huge turnout last week in Kerala at Modi’s rally. I spoke to several political pundits, who know about Kerala politics, and they too said the turnout was surprising. It means that the common voter in Kerala is keen to listen to Modi’s views on Kerala and national politics.

The moot question is: Will this turnout translate into votes? Will the BJP in Kerala be able to open its account in Lok Sabha? The jury is still out.

Modi also addressed election rallies in Karnataka on Thursday. The Prime Minister has the knack of changing his topics that suits his audience, based on local sentiments. In Karnataka, he spoke of how the Karnataka JD(S)-Congress coalition government is wobbling and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is facing lots of problems in running a coalition.

On the other hand, in Kerala, Modi spoke about the killings of BJP and RSS supporters, and told his audience how both the Congress and CPI(M) have been indulging in what he called “opportunism”. Modi pointed out how these two camps are rivals in Kerala but support each other at the Centre.

I think, the huge turnouts at Modi’s rallies in Kerala are indicative of a perceptive swing in the mood of common voters, and BJP may benefit from it.

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BJP leadership has decided to field Sadhvi Pragya Thakur as its candidate to take on senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh in the prestigious Bhopal parliamentary constituency. The saffron-robed sannyasin was earlier made accused in Sunil Joshi murder case and Ajmer blast, but was later acquitted. She is currently an accused in Malegaon blast case, which is presently in trial stage.

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur joined BJP on Wednesday and within hours it was announced that she would be the party candidate from Bhopal. She may be a greenhorn in politics, but if she manages to defeat former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh in the state capital, the latter will have much to answer for.

Sadhvi Pragya was and is still a saffron-robed sannyasin, but her name cropped up in national political discourse, when Digvijay Singh and several other Congress leaders coined the term “saffron terror” during UPA rule. Sadhvi Pragya was incarcerated in jail for ten years and she has last year alleged in my show “Aap Ki Adalat” how she was brutally tortured in custody, both physically and mentally.

It was Digivijay Singh who had blamed the BJP and RSS for encouraging “saffron terror” during UPA regime, but the courts acquitted Sadhvi Pragya in cases where she was charged under the dreaded MCOCA Act.

On Wednesday, BJP President Amit Shah told an election rally in Odisha that “after the Samjhauta Express blast, Congress had alleged that Hindu terrorists were behind it and sadhus were put in jail. Therefore the BJP has decided to field Sadhvi Pragya against Digvijay Singh, the person who coined the term ‘saffron terror'”.

It is an irony of fate that Digvijay Singh will now have to face the lady, whom he had blamed as a terrorist and anti-national, while for the BJP, the Sadhvi has become a symbol of nationalism and patriotism.

I may mention here that Swami Pramod Krishnan is the man who had advised Digvijay Singh to coin the term “saffron terror”. Pramod Krishnan is not a sadhu himself, but he claims to have control over several pro-Congress sadhus. He has now been fielded as Congress candidate against Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lucknow.

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On Saturday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi while addressing an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, made his usual charges about Rafale deal against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and for good measure, made this remark: “I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don’t know how many more such Modis will come out.”

Replying to this, Modi on Tuesday, while addressing election rallies, pointed out to what Rahul said about the ‘Modi’ surname. The PM said that he could well understand if Rahul made personal attacks on him, but the Congress leader has now started saying, why all the ‘chors’ have ‘Modi’ as their surname.

The PM pointed out that Rahul’s remark could hurt the feelings of all those who have Modi as their surname in different states, where they belong to different castes.

Already, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modil on Tuesday said he would be filing a defamation case against Rahul, while people having Modi surnames in different states of India are also planning to file defamation suits.

This not an isolated case about slip of tongue. On Monday, the Supreme Court, acting on a petition by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, issued notice to Rahul Gandhi for misleading the public by saying that the apex court has found the Prime Minister guilty of corruption in Rafale deal.

The Chief Justice of India said: “We did not say any such thing (Chowkidar Chor Hai). We make it clear this court had no occasion to make any view or finding or make any observation as allegedly attributed to the court by the respondent (Rahul Gandhi).”

Rahul Gandhi had said “now the Supreme Court has accepted that chowkidar has done the theft”. The apex court has asked the Congress President to file his reply by April 22.

I had already said on April 10 in ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ show and written on this blog that Rahul has done a mistake in telling a lie and misquoting the Supreme Court. He may have to face trouble, when the hearing takes place on his reply on April 23.

Rahul cannot hide behind the argument that he had no intention of misrepresenting the apex court’s order, nor can he say that his remarks were twisted and quoted out of context. Rahul’s remarks are on record in videotapes.

One thing is certain: the Supreme Court is going to take a strong view over such loose remarks that are being made in the heat of election campaign. Already the Election Commission, on prodding from the apex court, has banned UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati and SP leader Azam Khan from campaigning for 48 to 72 hours.

Our political leaders must exercise restraint while making remarks in the heat and dust of election campaign.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview to Doordarshan on Monday exuded full confidence and said that there is “an unprecedented wave of support” for BJP, the like of which, he says, he has not seen even in 2014.

Modi mentioned Uttar Pradesh in particular, where, he said, the opposition parties are so much afraid of an electoral rout that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi had to opt for contesting Wayanad seat in faraway Kerala, as he was unsure of his victory from their family borough Amethi.

The Prime Minister was highly optimistic about results from West Bengal, where, he claimed, the people of the state have made up their mind to support BJP.

Modi also spoke on Rafale aircraft deal, on nationalism, on dynastic politics and on charges of politicization of army. He said, he can understand people opposing him personally, but it is unacceptable if while opposing him they start working against national interests and speak out against the country.

The PM said, he could understand the lies being dished out on the Rafale deal, but was at a loss to find why a 134-year-old party like the Congress had to resort to this.

Modi said martyrdom of soldiers and nationalism are as much an election issue like the suicides of farmers.

He said, “the nation is suffering because of terrorism for the last 40 years, and I do not see why we cannot raise this issue in the elections. If we don’t tell the people what our views are on this issue, then what is the logic behind this?..”

“Can any country move ahead without a sense of nationalism? In a country where thousands of soldiers have been martyred, shouldn’t that be an election issue? If farmers die, it is an election issue, and if soldiers die, it should not be an election issue? How can it be so?”

On Rafale, Modi said, the people now know the truth and the lies have been exposed. “He (Rahul) is raising the Rafale issue, in order to “wash off the sins” of his father (in the Bofors issue). ”

The PM also pointed out that by raising the issue of dynastic politics, he was trying to convey to the people of India that dynastic politics was dangerous for Indian democracy.

Modi, as I have already said earlier, has already felt the voters’ pulse by consistently raising the issue of nationalism in his rallies. He hopes that his party will repeat , if not better the 2014 LS poll result. We shall have to wait for the verdict on May 23.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an astute and consummate orator-cum-politician. He has been raising the issues of national security and Kashmir in almost all his election rallies across India. Modi is questioning why the Opposition is raising doubts about the Indian Air Force air strike in Balakote (Pakistan). He is also asking why the Congress is supporting those parties which are in favour of ‘two presidents, two constitutions’ in Kashmir.

There is no doubt public anger over Congress, NCP and MNS leaders questioning the outcome of Balakot air strike. This was evident when I spoke to members of the public in Nagpur and Mumbai in our India TV show “Aap Ki Aawaaz”. People openly criticized the Opposition leaders for raising doubts about the army’s surgical strike and IAF’s Balakot air strike.

Modi has felt the pulse of the people, and he is raising this issue in almost all his public meetings. The Prime Minister is consistently alleging that the Opposition leaders have been speaking “in the language of Pakistan”.

Along with this, Modi has added the issue of Kashmir, where National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti have challenged the government to remove Article 35A and Article 370, which confer special status and legislative powers to Kashmir. These leaders have been openly advocating ‘two PMs and two constitutions”, and Modi is again tapping public anger over such statements from Kashmiri leaders. In reply, Congress and NCP leaders have been ducking these issues in their public interactions.

On Friday, nearly 150 retired officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force wrote a joint petition to the President, who is the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, protesting against what they called ‘politicization’ of the armed forces by political leaders. Though the joint letter did not name any one leader of political party, it alleged that political leaders were trying to take credit for cross-border strikes.

The moment the joint letter appeared on media, two former chiefs Gen. S. F. Rodrigues and Air Chief Marshal N. C. Suri said their consent was not taken before including their names in the letter. Another former Army vice-chief Lt Gen M. L Naidu said he had not signed any such letter. Rahstrapati Bhavan sources said, the President is yet to receive the letter.

One of the retired officers, who drafted this letter, later said that for the first time in last 40 years, the government has given permission to the armed forces to carry out cross-border strikes. Naturally, this was a brave decision taken by a strong government, and the ruling party can take the credit and seek votes from the electorate. However, to describe the armed forces as “Modi Ki Sena” and to use images of Wing Commander Abhinandan in election posters is unacceptable.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is always at his best when he appears to be aggressive. Even as polling was going on in 91 Lok Sabha constituencies across India in the first phase, Modi, while addressing an election rally in Assam, said: “Which way the winds are blowing, can be seen from your enthusiasm. Today voting is taking place in the first phase in some parts of the country. From what we know so far, a zabardast (massive) wave for ‘phir ek baar Modi Sarkar (Modi government again)’ is visible.”

Modi indicated that his government would retain power and he clearly said that he would ensure that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and Triple Talaq abolition law are passed in Parliament.

Modi’s claim apart, let us see what happened on the first day of polling on Thursday. In the eight LS constituencies that went to poll in western UP, the polarization between Hindus and Muslims appeared to be complete. This can cause problems for Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, who is contesting from Muzaffarnagar.

In several constituencies, diehard BSP voters were seen searching for their party’s ‘elephant’ symbol, whereas the contestant of the maha gathbandhan was from RLD, which is part of the SP-BSP alliance. Clearly, the message about maha gathbandhan has not percolated to the ground level. Moreover, BSP supremo Mayawati put Muslim voters in a fix when she openly appealed to them not to vote for Congress candidates.

There are 13 LS seats in UP out of a total of 50 LS seats in India, where Muslims dominate with more than 30 per cent votes. There are 38 LS seats having 21 pc to 30 pc Muslim voters.

The contest is tough between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had won 41 out of 48 seats, but the Congress and NCP had not joined hands then. This time the Congress-NCP alliance is giving the ruling combination a tough time.

The most surprising element in the first phase of poll was in the Kashmir valley.

Nearly 35 per cent voters cast their votes in this militancy-infested volatile area close to the Line of Control. I had been saying in the past and it has now been proved right that the common man in the valley wants development and peace.

By casting their votes, the Kashmiris have rebuffed their politicians who had been demanding two PMs and two constitutions. People in the valley want better roads, electricity and the youths want education and jobs. It is time that politicians in the Valley having leanings towards separatists should understand the pulse of the people.

All in all, the jury is still out as to which party is leading in the national sweepstakes.

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I was in Mumbai on Wednesday and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was the guest in our show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’. Fadnavis is young and dynamic. He has definite views about current affairs and none of his replies were evasive. He clearly said that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will “sweep” all Lok Sabha seats from his state and will also “sweep” the assembly polls due this October.

On J&K leader Mehbooba Mufti’s threat that if Article 35A was removed, Kashmir will sever its links with India, Fadnavis said, “we have been hearing similar threats for the last 50 years. Kashmir shall always remain part of India, and like Sardar Patel who merged 542 princely states into the Indian Union, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will definitely put an end to the Kashmir question.”

Fadnavis also spoke on saffron terror and said that “a Hindu can never become a terrorist, because the very essence of Hindutva is tolerance. Hindustan has given asylum to people of various religions who fled their countries because of persecution.”

The Maharashtra Chief Minister, who will be completing five years of rule this October, spoke extensively about his ally Shiv Sena, and made the audience guffaw when he made sarcastic remarks about NCP chief Sharad Pawar. He also spoke about MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

Fadnavis also pointed towards a new trend among younger generation hailing from traditionally political families of Congress and NCP in Maharashtra. He said, the younger generation from these political families is detaching from tradition and getting more and more attracted towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You can watch the Aap Ki Adalat show with Devendra Fadnavis on India TV on Saturday night at 10 pm and on Sunday at 10 am and 10 pm.

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The Indian Air Force on Monday released radar images to reject Pakistan’s claim that it had not lost a F-16 fighter jet in the dogfight with IAF jets on February 27 near the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir.

IAF Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) Air Vice Marshal R G K Kapoor said, the Air Force had “irrefutable evidence” that an F-16 fighter jet belonging to Pakistan Air Force was shot down by MiG-21 pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. “The IAF has more credible information and evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that PAF lost one F-16 aircraft. However due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain.”

A US magazine ‘Foreign Policy’ had recently published a report attributing to two unnamed US defence officials that all the F-16 aircraft in Pakistan Air Force fleet have been accounted for, but a day later, Pentagon denied that any such inventory was audited. The IAF claim comes in the wake of these developments.

Pakistan has been caught in its web of lies and deceit. On February 27, it claimed that no F-16 aircraft was sent to the LoC. It also hid the information that one of its pilots fell to the ground in an injured condition. Nobody believed Pakistan’s claims. The next day, IAF officers displayed to the media part of an AMRAAM missile which can only be fired from an F-16 jet.

The problem with Pakistan is that it cannot admit its F-16 aircraft was shot down, because according to the terms of agreement under which the US supplied F-16 fighters, these cannot be used against India for the purpose of aggression. Pakistan Air Force, therefore, staged an elaborate cover up, but its lies have been nailed by irrefutable evidences, like radar images, electronic signatures and radio transcripts that are available with the IAF.

With the release of radar images by IAF, which is normally not done, Pakistan and the US have no other option but to accept that an F-16 fighter was indeed shot down by our pilot on February 27.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala. Along with his sister Priyanka and party leaders, Rahul took out a road show in which green star crescent flags of Indian Union Muslim League appeared with the tricolour Congress flags.

IUML is an ally of Congress in United Democratic Front in Kerala, and its flag has been the original green crescent star one. IUML has a good base in Muslim dominated pockets of Kerala, and there should be no objection to the use of the green crescent star flags.

There is no problem for Rahul as such in Wayanad because of the green flags, but when images of these green flags being displayed along with Congress flags were flashed across the nation on TV channels, it is surely going to give a wrong message to the people. The green star crescent flag happens to be Pakistan’s national flag, albeit with a white margin on the left, but the public at large in the rest of India may not take this kindly, particularly at a time when India-Pakistan tension is at its peak.

BJP leaders have already gone to town showing these pictures and videos and alleging that when Rahul Gandhi seeks Hindu votes, he puts on a ‘janeu’ and goes on temple hopping, and when he needs Muslim votes (there are roughly 29 pc Muslim voters in Wayanad), he uses green Muslim League flags.

Congress leaders will now have a tough time explaining why these green IUML flags were used in Rahul’s road show.

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Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and JKPDP chief Mehboba Mufti has stoked a controversy by saying that Jammu & Kashmir’s “relations with India will end” if Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which provide special status and exclusive powers to the state regarding residency, are abrogated.

This comes in the wake of a remark by BJP President Amit Shah, who had said that the two articles of the Consitution “are still our issues. We need full majority in Parliament. By 2020, we will have majority (in the Rajya Sabha)”.

Reacting to Amit Shah’s remark, Mehbooba Mufti said: “If that turns out to be the case, 2020 will also be a deadline from Jammu & Kashmir to the nation. If you remove those terms and conditions on which J&K acceded to India, our relations with the country will also end.”

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley described Mehbooba’s remark as ‘absurd’ and said that J&K will remain a part of India irrespective of what happens to Articles 35A and 370.

“The Instrument of Accession that Jammu & Kashmir’s Maharaja signed in 1947 was not different from the ones other princely states signed when they merged their princely states into the Indian Union. Article 370 came into being in 1950 and Article 35A was incorporated into the Constitution in 1954 and this makes it clear that these subsequent developments were not prerequisites to J&K’s accession to India.”

Jaitley said: “territorial integrity is part of the nation’s basic structure and can never be impacted by changes in the Constitution required by the country’s needs…Will India ever become part of the UK if Westminster were to revoke the Indian Independence Act?”

Political sabre rattling apart, the main issue is that of national unity and integrity. Mehbooba Mufti, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah are playing with fire by making intemperate remarks. They are aware of the historical facts, but are deliberately keeping the facts away from the people of the Valley. Since it is poll fever time, such remarks are part of the usual routine, and Jaitley has done the right thing in pointing out the legal ramifications.

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The Indian National Congress in its election manifesto released on Tuesday promised to remove the anti-sedition law (Sec 124A of IPC) and review stringent provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act presently in force in Jammu and Kashmir and in several north-eastern states.

In its manifesto, the Congress has said it would “amend the AFSPA, 1958, in order to strike a balance between the powers of security forces and the human rights of citizens and to remove immunity for enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture”.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley immediately hit out at the Congress, describing the manifesto as “a Charter to Weaken India” and said “it appears some of the points (in the manifesto) have been drafted by Congress President’s ‘tukde-tukde’ friends, when it deals with Jammu and Kashmir and national security….Being involved in terror will no longer be a crime. The party which says this does not deserve a single vote.”

Politics apart, the prime issue is that of national security and the morale of our armed forces. We cannot put the lives and careers of our security personnel in jeopardy in the name of garnering votes. The Congress party may have promised that it would do away with stringent provisions in the AFSPA, but has Rahul Gandhi ever given a thought to what will happen to our security forces battling insurgency in Kashmir and the North-East?

Our jawans and officers risk their lives while fighting terrorists, only for the larger interest of keeping our lives safe and secure, and conversely, it is our paramount duty to ensure that the lives of our jawans and officers are kept secure and they should be spared the agony and harassment of going to law courts to defend themselves for acts that they may have committed in self-defence and in the national interest.

Once a jawan or an officer is arraigned before a law court, he loses the support of the government and his family is left to fend for itself. How can one expect a jawan or an officer to face the terrorists in the face of a law that breathes down behind its neck?

I spoke to many retired army generals who strongly denounced this provision in the Congress manifesto and have alleged that this amounts to compromising national security. Such provisions can lower the morale of our armed forces and will openly give a boost to terrorism.

The nation cannot accept such a situation in any case. We cannot have our jawans and officers fighting the terrorists with one hand tied behind their back.

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On Monday night, India TV reported on its Aaj Ki Baat show, how a large Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle was sighted across Khemkaran sector in Punjab and Indian Air Force scrambled two Sukhoi-30MKI jet fighters to stop the intrusion. As a panic reaction, Pakistan Air Force then scrambled its F-16 fighters, but since there was no airspace violation from either side, tensions receded soon after. This incident took place on early Monday morning.

This incident clearly indicates the level of high operational readiness of both the armies which are virtually on razor’s edge along the entire border and Line of Control. Fierce shelling from both sides is continuing across the 778-kilometre long LoC in Jammu & Kashmir.

Experts say there is much uneasiness in the Pakistani establishment since the successful Balakot air strike and the shooting down of a Pakistani F-16 fighter by an Indian MiG plane flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. Public opinion in Pakistan is openly against its own armed forces. To counter this, the Pakistani army has resorted to churning out baseless propaganda on social media.

Amidst the chest thumping exercise by the Pakistan army, there are intelligence reports of Pakistan preparing for another terrorist misadventure inside India to shore up its falling prestige. Our army, air force and navy are on high alert and ready to foil any such misadventure.

I have information from top sources in the Indian security establishment that if Pakistan carries out another terrorist misadventure of the Pulwama kind, it may invite swift retribution from India on a scale larger than the Balakot air strike.

Already there are intelligence inputs of Pakistan army regrouping the terrorists and sending them to terror training camps that have been restarted. These terror training camps are being provided army cover, and if any misadventure occurs, the next surgical strikes will be carried out against these terror camps inside Pakistan.

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