We Owe You An Apology, Himanshi!

The word accountability is also missing from the current dispensation’s dictionary. Remember, the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil had resigned in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. But today, be it a big security blunder on the borders that allows infiltrators or environmental violations in the country, there is no sense of accountability under this so-called inclusive government

We don't want people going against Muslims or Kashmiris. We want peace and only peace. Of course, we want justice -Himanshi Narwal

Fifteen days after the Pahalgam terror attack, the nation awaits that much promised decisive action by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to chase down the sponsors and perpetrators of the dastardly act of killing 26 tourists. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has also promised that the government would do what the nation wants. Economic sanctions and shutting down Chenab water flow are some of the measures that are bound to stifle Pakistan but the action against the terrorists and their training camps is what many people have been expecting. Pakistan on its part has been crying hoarse that it is not involved in the Pahalgam attack. In an attempt to eyewash, Pakistan politicians have called for an international probe to prove its point. Pak I&B minister even conducted a media tour to the LoC to prove his point that no terror camps exist along the border as alleged by India – as if such facilities operate in the open and under media glare!

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry will conduct mock drills with air raid sirens and check the preparedness of its civil defense mechanism, today (May 7). Does this indicate any preparedness for war as claimed by war mongering Godi media? It is always good to be ready for any eventuality but the nation’s fitness-for-war is something that is not to be demonstrated by such a public display. The defence forces are always supposed to be ready and fit for war. GenX and GenZ get to hear sirens blaring out for the first time in their lives. My generation has grown up not only on war-time blackouts and sirens but sirens on Martyrs' Day (Jan 30, for the uninitiated) when the nation would come to a standstill. Even the trains and public transport would halt at 11 AM for two minutes. A habit that the nation forgot. On Independence Day, schools would conduct marches through the streets raising slogans such as Bolo Swatantra Bharat Ki – Jai (yes, in Hindi even in Telugu speaking coastal Andhra). It is really sad that the current generations miss all these as the national days are declared holidays.

I am not suggesting that patriotism should be forced on the people, but it should be inculcated among the youngsters, instead of spreading hatred and religious hatred.

We have been cautioning against this culture of hatred being perpetuated from top to the bottom, under the current ruling dispensation. The result: targeted attacks on minorities with or without any provocation. The tragic part of the decade-long culture has been that targeted attacks were on the rise with the leadership turning a blind eye to it.

The latest of such hate mongering series is the trolling of Himanshi Narwal, wife of Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal who was among the 26 killed in the Pahalgam terror attack. Himanshi, just like the others who were spared of the terrorist bullets, called for peace and harmony. The Pahalgam returnees have pointedly said that the local Kashmiris have been more than cooperative and that he helped the stranded people a lot, offering food, shelter and even money. Kochi-based Arathi who lost her father N Ramchandran (65) in the attack, said she won two brothers -her driver Musafir and another man, Sameer – who stood by her in the hour of crisis.

Shital Kalathia, wife of Sailesh who was killed, bitterly complained against lack of security and absence of first aid at the tourist spot. She told Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil that while VIPs enjoy security, there is no value for the taxpaying commoner. She also said we should not blame the Kashmiris who were very helpful.

As we have been saying, the word accountability is also missing from the current dispensation’s dictionary. Remember, the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil had resigned in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

But today, be it a big security blunder or on the borders that allows infiltrators or environmental violations, there is no sense of accountability under this so-called inclusive government. And those who raise questions are branded as urban Naxals or trolled with choicest abuses with immunity.

Coming back to the trolling of Himanshi, the National Commission for Women merely posted on social media expressing displeasure at the abuses against the terror victim’s wife. “Trolling a woman on the basis of her ideological expression or personal life is not acceptable in any form,” the NCW said. Wonder, what has Himanshi’s ideology got to do with her statement that Kashmiris and Muslims should not be targeted for the terror attack!

“Any kind of agreement or disagreement should always be expressed with decency and within constitutional limits. The National Commission for Women is committed to protect the dignity and respect of every woman,” the NCW said. Disagreement for calling for peace? The Commission, however, did not specify what action the Commission was taking to protect the dignity of Himanshi.

And where are those women leaders who pounced on Rahul Gandhi on the false allegation that he outrageously gestured ‘flying kisses’ at women MPs. Strange, they do not find anything wrong with the abusive trolling of Himanshi.

Also, shocking is that neither the PM nor any of his ministers, including Défence and IT, said a single word against the utterly disgraceful social media posts against Himanshi. Why can’t the government order filing of FIRs against such posts and ask X platform to delete the trolls. For that matter, save Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena-UBT, none of the opposition leaders including Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mamta Baneerjee, Mahua Moitra have yet spoken in support of Himanshi. We all owe her an apology for the most insulting behaviour, online.

As tensions mount, it is increasingly becoming clear that the Pakistan Army on the one side and Godi Media Generals on the other are itching for war. Pakistan has its own reasons to divert the people’s attention from the burning issues such as price rise and mounting unemployment and poverty. For instance, wheat flour costs Rs800 a kg, Sugar Rs 180 and ghee nearly Rs3,000 a kg. Gold? It costs a whopping Rs 3.4 lakhs per 10 grams.

Well, for Godi Media that helps the BJP government to divert attention, war mongering always comes handy. War is a serious affair and it must be fought by the armed forces and the nation must fully support them. It should never be trivialised by newsroom anchors with animations and reduced to a 9PM entertainment show to garner TRPs.

What is more, the Godi Media anchors invite Pakistani spokespersons, pay them thousands of rupees ($250/an hour) only to abuse India. That is the level of patriotism that the so-called nationalist journalists showcase. Disgraceful. Yet, the government does take any direct action, but draws the National Broadcasters and Digital Association’s (NBDA) attention to this fact. NBDA, on its part, merely advises the members to refrain from continuing the practice.

Compare this to the shutting down of a popular YouTube channel without even a show-cause notice. The concerned channel editor claims that the government action is due to the uncomfortable questions on the security lapse at Pahalgam that the platform raised. The case is being heard by the Supreme Court which will hopefully answer many questions on the freedom of expression that bother us.

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