My Opinion

Close on the heels of Supreme Court imposing a ban on the sale of firecrackers in National Capital Region, ten days before Diwali, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused to grant permission to the Maharashtra government to allow Bullock cart races anywhere in the state during Diwali on grounds of cruelty to animals.

Earlier this year, there were massive protests in Tamil Nadu against the Supreme Court ban on ‘Jallikattu’, a traditional bull support during Pongal, following which the state assembly had to pass a bi-partisan bill to allow the sport.

The judiciary similarly imposed restrictions on Dahi Handi pyramids in Maharashtra during Janmashtami, wherein the height was fixed at 20 feet and the age of participants was fixed at not less than 14 years.

Last month, the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee imposed restrictions on immersions of Durga idols on Vijayadashami, as the date clashed with Muharram. The Calcutta High Court had to intervene and remove the restrictions.

If bullock cart race amounts to cruelty towards animals, then slaughtering of goats, sheep and other animals during Eid ul Azha should also be declared cruel. Naturally, questions are being raised on the ground of religion.

Questions are being raised as to whether the Hindu festivals are being targeted only because Hindus, as a community, are tolerant and do not come out on the streets to oppose such interference in their traditions and festivals. This matter needs to be considered.

It is nobody’s case that there should be no curbs on pollution or animal cruelty. But traditions, culture and festivals have their own significance, which cannot be overlooked.

On the firecracker ban issue, the Supreme Court must review its order. The order raises two important questions: one, that of timing, i.e. Diwali eve. The ban was lifted a month ago and nearly 500 licences were issued following which shopkeepers invested nearly Rs 500 crores, and then the sale was suddenly banned 10 days before Diwali. If firecrackers were to be banned, then why were licences issued?

Two, bursting of firecrackers during Diwali night is more than a thousand year old tradition and it cannot be stopped at the stroke of a pen. There is no ban on bursting firecrackers, and so, the aim of controlling pollution will not be achieved. One cannot send policemen to each household to question from where the firecrackers were procured. The SC order surely needs to be reviewed.

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On Tuesday, even as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was busy campaigning in Gujarat, BJP president Amit Shah and I&B Minister Smriti Irani addressed a rally in Amethi, Rahul’s constituency. Amethi and Rae Bareli have been Congress strongholds for decades. Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi have been consistently winning Lok Sabha elections from Amethi and Rae Bareli respectively. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost both, but in this year’s UP assembly elections, the BJP won six out of the total 10 assembly seats. Four of these seats fall within Amethi. BJP has correctly gauged the mood of the voters here. Secondly, there are speculations in political circles that Rahul Gandhi may change his constituency from Amethi to Rae Bareli in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and his mother may opt for a Rajya Sabha seat.

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The Supreme Court on Monday reimposed the ban on the sale of crackers in the entire National Capital Region till October 31 in view of concerns relating to pollution caused by the release of smoke and chemicals in the air. I feel the timing of this SC order is wrong. Diwali falls on October 19 this year, and most of the wholesale and retail vendors of firecrackers had already made big plans to sell their wares. In recent weeks, the sale has been brisk, but the SC ban has spoiled festivity cheer. A large section is questioning why Hindu festivals are being targeted every time. It is surprising that the SC order has come on the basis of a petition filed two years ago by three children, of whom two were kids, hardly six months old, and the third child was then 14 months old. On behalf of this, it was argued before the apex court that firecrackers cause air pollution and adversely affect the health of young children and the aged. The apex court had given its first order on November 11, 2016 banning the sale of firecrackers till further orders. Licences issued to shopkeepers were suspended. The shopkeepers went to the Supreme Court, and on September 12 this year, it made changes, allowed controlled sale of crackers and nearly 500 shopkeepers got licences. But on Monday, the apex court reversed its decision, ordered a ban on sale till October 31, and said that the Sept 12 order allowing controlled sale of firecrackers will be effective from November 1. A large number of shopkeepers selling firecrackers has been adversely impacted by this order, coming in the wake of Delhi, as they had made big investments. I think this will be an injustice to them.

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On Friday, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of concessions under Goods & Services Tax (GST) for many sectors in order to give a boost to business. GST rates were cut for as many as 27 goods. Traders with a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore will now have to file quarterly instead of monthly returns under composition scheme. The earlier notification making PAN cards mandatory for purchase of jewellery worth more than Rs 50,000 under Prevention of Money Laundering Act has been withdrawn. These are timely and welcome steps because the jewellers were facing a big slump in business for the last several months. Those working on contract in the construction industry were facing problems, and exporters had run out of cash. Small and medium traders were finding it difficult in filing GST returns every month. Along with this, traders who were not passing on the benefits of GST to consumers will now have to face problems. The Finance Minister has clearly said that traders will now have to pass over the GST concessions to the consumers. All these welcome steps are in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion two days ago that the government has no straightjacket mind (‘lakeer ke faqeer nahin’). What the Finance Minister and the GST council have done on Friday is in line with this thinking, and should be welcomed.

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After reducing the basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 a litre, the Centre has requested state governments to lower tax on petrol and diesel in a similar manner, so that the common man is benefitted. At present, prices of petrol and diesel are completely decontrolled. The oil marketing companies fix the prices on a daily basis. Petrol and diesel constitute a major part of the revenue earnings of state governments. Each state government levies tax on petrol and diesel according to its requirements. That is why the states did not agree to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of GST. One must understand that asking states to lower tax on petrol and diesel is not a permanent solution. The step that needs to be taken is: petroleum products should be brought under GST, so that prices of petroleum products should be the same across all states.

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When senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha wrote a column to mount a frontal attack on Modi government’s management of the economy, it created political ripples. He was promptly supported by Congress stalwarts like P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Dr. Manmohan Singh. Several experts wrote articles in newspapers on the current state of our economy. Allegations were levelled to say that Prime Minister Modi and his Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are unable to manage the economy. The articles mentioned about falling GDP rates, small and medium businessmen facing the crisis, workers losing their jobs, GST regulations making life hell for traders and businessmen, no tangible benefit accruing from demonetization, and the like. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi, while addressing company secretaries, clearly addressed these critical issues. He had come fully prepared for his speech. He had facts and figures ready with him, to buttress his arguments and reasons. The Prime Minister made it clear that he was in full control of the economy, and was keeping a watchful eye on shortcomings. It is in the fittest of things that he admitted to some shortcomings. He also said some criticisms were justified, and the government was ready for another set of reforms. I personally feel that we should trust our Prime Minister’s words and wait for another four to six months to see in which direction our economy is heading, and how much improvement has taken place.

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For the last 38 days, Honeypreet Insaan, the close associate of Dera Sachha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, had been in hiding. She was being hunted by the police of Haryana and six other states. She was at the centre of most of the allegations levelled against Gurmeet. Her ex-husband Vishwas Gupta alleged that Honeypreet and Gurmeet Ram Rahim had an illicit relationship. The former sevadars of the Dera, Khatta Singh and Gurdas Toor had alleged that it was Honeypreet who brought Gurmeet Ram Rahim into movies. They alleged, it was Honeypreet who distanced Gurmeet from his family members and tried to grab the finances and operations of the dera. Former sadhvis of the Dera alleged that it was Honeypreet who used to send women to Gurmeet’s ‘gufaa’ (cave), which turned out to be a plush bedroom. Dozens of such allegations were made. The society at large may be interested in these allegations, but in the eyes of police, these are not culpable or cognisable charges. The Haryana police is more interested in finding out what role Honeypreet had played in the instigation of violence by Gurmeet’s supporters in Panchkula and other parts after the fake godman was convicted by the CBI court. The police is also interested in knowing whether Honeypreet had planned to whisk away Gurmeet after he was convicted by the Panchkula court. Police is trying to figure out whether charges of sedition can be levelled against her. It will all depend on the line of questioning and investigation that the police will undertake.
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On Monday, almost everybody had this question: why did a 64-year-old American carry out the bloody massacre in Las Vegas? As federal investigators rummage through his residence and try to find out clues, nothing concrete has come out. It has been reported that he carried 28 guns to the 32nd-floor hotel room, along with thousands of bullets. He had been planning this for several days. He had placed two tripods to spray bullets from his guns on the crowd below. Normally, there may be three main reasons behind his motive: One, it could be because of terror leanings. Though the ISIS has taken responsibility and has claimed that the assassin converted to Islam several months ago, anything concrete is yet to emerge. Two, bipolar mental disorder, but there was no such background related to this killer. Three, immediate provocation. Unconfirmed reports say, he had a female companion with him. It could be that they had a quarrel with some people, and the assassin may have made up his mind to kill all. Yet nothing concrete has emerged on this front too. The horrible massacre raises questions about the dangers that emanate from the easy availability of guns in the US.

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It is really difficult to believe that Indian Railways today has overbridges that were built a century ago. Overbridges and bridges that were built by the British more than a hundred years ago. There is hardly a big country in the world where such outdated overbridges and bridges exist. The Elphinstone overbridge was narrow and was being used by nearly 300,000 passengers daily who travel in Mumbai’s suburban trains. Where do we stand, even after 70 years of independence? This is a frightening picture of the reality that exists today. It is the picture that points out to the fact that the life of a common Indian has become cheap. What was the crime of these passengers? Was it a crime that they were common people? Was it their crime to travel daily in jampacked suburban trains? Was it their crime that the stairs of the overbridge were so narrow that there was hardly any space for people to pass? Was it their crime that they were going to their offices despite rains? And now, even if a new overbridge is built, these unfortunate passengers will not get back their lives. Their deaths will constantly remind others that the life of a common Indian today is cheap. Questions have been raised as to why a new overbridge was not built despite prior warnings. Railway is an important part of our economy. Railway exists in a separate world. We are often told that the number of passengers who travel daily on our trains equals the population of Australia. Today’s stampede and the two recent train derailments clearly show that Indian Railway has been misused and mismanaged for the last 70 years because of political expediency. Issues like safety and restructuring were ignored. Most of the attention of Railway Ministers was devoted to running of new trains, and train halts in the constituencies of MPs. Former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu claims he did much work in the last three years, but these three incidents prove otherwise.

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The Indian army carried out hugely successful surgical strikes inside Pakistan occupied territory in Kashmir on the night of September 28, 2016, eliminating many terrorists and destroying several terrorist launch pads. You may remember, soon after the surgical strikes were announced, leaders in the opposition like Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had raised doubts about whether the strikes took place at all. The opposition leaders had sought evidence about the surgical strikes. Pakistan, on its part, flatly denied that there was no such surgical strike.

Exactly one year later, Lt. Gen. (retd) D S Hooda, former GOC-in-C, Northern Command, on Thursday revealed for the first time to India TV how our commandos meticulously planned and carried out the surgical strikes, right from Jammu region to northern Kashmir area, after crossing the Line of Control. The retired army commander also revealed for the first time how our commandos were sending live stream videos about their action to army headquarters in Udhampur and Delhi.  Lt. Gen. Hooda also revealed how the government had decided in advance to announce the surgical strikes to the world at large, in order to convey a strong message to Pakistan. He also revealed how our brave commandos completely smashed four terrorist launch pads inside Pak territory, killing more than 70 terrorists.

I hope all those naysayers must have got their answers from what Lt Gen Hooda revealed. And I also hope these leaders will not surely raise doubts whenever our brave armymen conduct such surgical strikes in future too.

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The statement by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif at the Asia Society event in New York that (Lashkar-e-Tayyaba chief) Hafiz Saeed and Haqqanis have become liabilities for his country clearly underscores the fact that Pakistan stands isolated in the world arena on the issue of terrorism. Khawaja Asif admitted by saying, “I accept that they are liabilities, but give us time to get rid of these liabilities”. He was also on the defensive, when he said, “Don’t blame us for Haqqanis, don’t blame us for Hafiz Saeeds. These were the people who were your darlings, 20 or 30 years back. They were being dined and wined in the White House.”

The Pakistani leadership is clearly finding itself isolated in the whole world on the issue of terrorism. On one hand, India is putting relentless diplomatic pressure, notably through the fine speech made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the UN General Assembly and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi at almost all international gatherings, and on the other hand, the Donald Trump administration in the US has also started to tighten up the screws on Pakistan.

Ostensibly, Pakistan is showing to the world that it has put Hafiz Saeed under house arrest, but in reality, the Lashkar and Jamaat ud Dawah led by Saeed continue to run terror training camps without fetters inside Pakistan. Until and unless the Pakistan army and the political leadership realize that elimination of all brands of terrorism is in the interest of Pakistan, no serious action will be taken on the ground level against terror outfits, whether on the India-Pak border or on the Pak-Afghan border.

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Honeypreet Insaan, the ‘adopted’ daughter of Dera Sachha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has been living the life of a fugitive since the day Gurmeet was sent to Rohtak jail to serve 20 years’ sentence in prison for raping two of his female followers. She was last seen accompanying the fake godman in a chopper to Rohtak, and after Gurmeet was taken into judicial custody, she suddenly vanished. Honeypreet’s name is at the top of the list of Dera followers, who have been accused of sedition and inciting people to resort to violence in Panchkula and other places. Despite a nationwide search for Honeypreet that extended to neighbouring country Nepal, police failed to catch her, and on Monday, her lawyers suddenly filed an anticipatory bail petition before the Delhi High Court. The high court judge on Tuesday rejected the petition citing jurisdictional reasons and asked Honeypreet to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The lady judge also remarked that it would be advisable for Honeypreet to surrender before the police. Honeypreet should have filed her anticipatory bail petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the first place, but she was afraid of being arrested en route. Now there is no way out for her. There is little chance for her to get relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court too. It would be better if she surrenders to the police, cooperates in the investigation, and answers all questions.

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