Diplomatic Outreach Abroad, Dirty Politics At Home

The Modi government needs to conduct a community relations campaign within the country just as it has launched a drive abroad with delegations led by the likes of Shashi Tharoor. That is, if they are genuinely interested in amity, communal harmony. My wish is that the upcoming Bihar elections should not drag the political discourse down into further hate mongering

"The kind of crass comments you made, completely thoughtlessly... We don't need this apology," – Supreme Court on MP Minister Vijay Shah’s apology after making insulting remarks allegedly targeting Col Sofia Quereshi

Naked intolerance and rabid communalism have been the hallmarks of the current NDA regime. No wonder, the politics of hate perpetuated from the top to the bottom have found their echo even during the sensitive times after the Pahalgam terror attack. But for a few attempts to pin down the minority community, the nation by and large did not give up fraternity, communal harmony. On the contrary, India defeated Pakistan and its terrorists designs to cut the nation on communal lines.

But, sadly though, certain elements among the right-wing IT cells tried to cash-in on the attack. Yet the nation as a whole did not accept the game plan to bring in caste politics into the patriotic fervour. The posts proclaiming ‘Jaat Nahin, Dharm Pooch Kay Maara’ did not have many takers. This obviously has not helped hate-mongers.

Then came the Operation Sindoor during which, again, the nation stood as one and it did not necessitate anyone to point out that a particular community was not with the action by the armed forces.

But the likes of Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah would not rest. Shah, who had a record of making stupid remarks against the then CM Shivraj Singh Cauhan’s wife and getting punished for it, targeted the Muslim community and Col Sofiya Qureshi who was one of the three media faces during the Operation Sindoor. I do not wish the gutter mouth statement and his half-hearted apology for his unforgivable blunder.

While neither the BJP top brass nor the CM found it necessary to dismiss Shah from the Ministry and the party, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken a suo-motu cognisance of the Minister’s remarks and called for registering an immediate FIR. And the FIR turned out to be a sham as the police did not mention the venomous speech in the report.

The High Court was obviously upset and decided to monitor the case. The court said: “In order to ensure said subterfuge does not take place this court directs that the entire order of May 14 shall be read as part of para 12 of FIR. In view of the nature of the case and the manner in which the FIR has been registered which does not inspire confidence in this court... Under circumstances the court feels compelled to ensure that it monitors the investigation without interfering with the independence of the investigating agency.”

Shameless Shah ran to the Supreme Court where too he got the drubbing of his lifetime. The apex court saw through Shah’s crocodile tears in his apology stating, “I apologise, if anyone’s feelings are hurt….”And, after giving the byte, he was seen laughing on the camera. At the age of 63, he has to be rebuked by the courts and told to be sensitive in his remarks?

The Supreme Court directed the MP Director General of Police to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with three IPS offices, from outside the State. The SIT comprises Inspector General of Police Pramod Verma, Deputy Inspector General Kalyan Chakravarty and Superintendent of Police Vahini Singh, NDTV reported on Tuesday.

At the time of typing this column on Tuesday afternoon, I have not come across any tweet or statement from either PM Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah. The RSS is also yet to act. BJP president J P Nadda calling for a report from the CM pales away into an insignificant affair.

As if this trouble for the BJP was inadequate, Madhya Pradesh deputy CM Jagdish Devdaremarked, post the success of Operation Sindoor, "the country’s army and soldiers bow at the feet of Prime Minister Modi now”. The opposition naturally gunned for the leader’s head. Again, we see the BJP and its IT cell getting into a defensive mode trying to use the caste card. Since Devda is a Dalit, the Congress is unable to stomach it, the IT cell said. How silly.

In contrast, the social media post by an Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad landed him in jail. He said, “…the optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is important, but optics must translate to reality on the ground, otherwise it's just hypocrisy.” The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case as legal luminary Kapil Sibal mentioned it. Meanwhile, the university’s faculty and the students came out in support of Ali Khan.

Post the surgical strike, the Modi government launched a diplomatic strike by picking up seven all-party delegations to explain India’s stand across many countries and the UN Security Council members. The idea is to deliver ‘One mission. One message. One Bharat,’ said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rejiju. The All-Party Delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They delegations headed by - Shashi Tharoor, INC; Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP; Sanjay Kumar Jha, JDU;Baijayant Panda, BJP; Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK; Supriya Sule, NCP and Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena- would carry forth to the world the country's strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism.

While the Congress was piqued by the fact that the nominees sent by the party were not picked up, the BJP is gloating over the ‘sleepless nights’ the Rahul Gandhi’s team is spending. But Tharoor, who was not among the Congress nominees, said: “I am honoured by the invitation of the government of India to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals, to present our nation’s point of view on recent events. When national interest is involved, and my services are required, I will not be found wanting.”

The so-called embarrassment that the BJP wanted to cause among the Congress did not last long as the opposition spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said she was happy that the ruling party realised Tharoor’s oratory skills. Remember, the BJP and its IT cells trolled Tharoor not very long ago

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement that India alerted Pakistan ‘at the start’ of the Operation Sindoor that we are targeting their terror camps has brought in plenty of embarrassment for the government as not only the Congress, but even the international media ridiculed it. The EAM tried to do damage control by saying Jaishankar’s statement was twisted out of context. But the fact remains that the Minister’s version did not tally with the official one given by the Director General of Military Operations who said "...Even though we did attempt to reach out and communicate our compulsions to strike at the heart of terror to my counterpart in the immediate wake of Operation Sindoor, the request was brusquely turned down with an intimation that a severe response was inevitable and in the offing. We were, of course, prepared..."

Amid all this mess-up, the Modi government needs to conduct a community relations campaign within the country just as it has launched a drive abroad with delegations led by the likes of Shashi Tharoor. That is, if they are genuinely interested in amity, communal harmony. My wish is that the upcoming Bihar elections should not drag the political discourse down into further hate mongering.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a YouTube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)