Facts Speak For Themselves, BJP Leadership’s Failures Are Stark

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

In spite of the national consensus emerging on fight against Pakistan backed terror, it is a matter of great concern that the ruling BJP leadership has stooped too low and trying to shout the opposition down, while avoiding to offer convincing explanations to their stark failures, which they owe to the citizens of the country.

The facts speak for themselves. Even after a month of the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, all the attackers are still at large, while many other terrorists are reported to have been killed, and many conspirators have been killed or their properties destroyed, in the action within India, and during Operation Sindoor in Pakistan. We have fought a short battle of four days beginning from May 7, after midnight to 5 PM on May 10, with Pakistan. Modi government even claimed victory, and achieving the purpose of striking terror targets in Pakistan, destroying their infrastructure, and defeated counter attacks from Pakistan’s defence forces.

However, such achievements are not the answers of few basic questions. How and why India’s security blanket in Jammu and Kashmir failed to prevent the terror attack? And why India is still unable to arrest the terrorists, who were between 3 to 5, and the NIA has also released photographs of the three of them? Centre has to give answer to such questions.

Nevertheless, the entire opposition has supported the Modi government in fight against terror despites government’s failure on preventing and taking action against the terrorists who actually committed the crime at Pahalgam.

And what the BJP leadership did in respect of the opposition? They took unilateral decisions for all party meetings in the parliament, in which PM Narendra Modi was absent. Other BJP leaders were present in the all-party meetings, but the absence of the prime minister was really humiliating for the opposition leaders which they had to stomach in the interest of the nation.

Thereafter, another humiliation was inflicted by the ruling BJP establishment to the opposition, by unilaterally deciding on the all-party delegations. Parties were not consulted prior to unilaterally selecting members of other political parties. The list of members to be included in the all-party delegations sent by the Congress to the government was just ignored by the government to the sole purpose of humiliating the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Government picked up Shashi Tharoor as Congress representative whose name was not sent by the Congress to represent the party. Congress has ultimately stomached this humiliation.

However, TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee could not ignore the humiliation rendered to her by the ruling BJP establishment, who had picked up Yusuf Pathan without consulting TMC. Mamata Banerjee had to drop Yusuf Pathan, and she replaced him with Abhishek Banerjee.

On such a humiliation to the opposition, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut voiced his concern and criticized the central government over pocking members of delegations from parties without taking the party leaderships into confidence and had even urged the opposition to boycott the initiative. Sanjay Raut has a valid grievance, which was even felt by the BJP leadership, and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju talked to party supremo Uddhav Thackeray on phone, but after picking up Priyanka Chaturvedi in the delegation. Sanjay Raut has rightly said that Rijiju should have called the party chief before selecting names for the delegation so that the party could select the proper person for it.

In such a time of national crisis, when India is unitedly fighting against Pakistan backed terrorism, the ruling BJP establishment, tried to sow discords within the opposition political parties by unilaterally selecting their leaders without their prior involvement in the selection process.

The discord in the opposition parties even exacerbated and though still limited, affected intra-party relationship in the INDIA bloc. The confrontation between NCP(SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Sanjay Raut is a case in point. Pawar criticized Raut saying local level politics should not influence matters of national security, and of international importance, it is another matter that he himself failed to perceive the BJP’s local politics.

“Why is Pawar slamming us? Instead, he should set an example by demanding the resignation of union home minister Amit Shah for security failure in the Pahalgam attack and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for compromising the nation’s sovereignty by accepting the intervention of US president Donald Trump,” said Raut.

Raut’s raising such questions need answers, from not only Pawar, but also deserve explanations from the Modi government. “You need support of opposition but you want to split opposition,” says Raut.

BJP leadership has been most disgracefully attacking the Congress Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, only because he has been asking most inconvenient questions to the ruling establishment on their stark failure in various counts, though Congress is also united with the nation in fight against Pakistan sponsored terror.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia has said that Rahul Gandhi must stop asking questions that endanger national security. However, the question is, why should a government be allowed to endanger national security by its omission and commission? Should a leader of opposition not ask any inconvenient question on failure of the government on national security? He said Rahul Gandhi must decide whether he stands as a leader of India or a mouthpiece for Pakistan? The other day, some other BJP leader said that Rahul Gandhi speaking the Pakistan’s language, and some of them called him even anti-national. Rahul Gandhi was even abused by BJP leaders who called him “posterboy of Pakistan” and questioned “LoP or Nishan-e-Pakistan”? But that were not replies to his questions raised against the lapses and failures of the government.

Ruling establishment of BJP, must know this fact that unfairly calling leader of opposition an anti-national, whose family has impeccable tradition of sacrifice for the nation, does not absolve them from giving convincing explanations for their failures that endangered the security of the nation.

Rahul Gandhi has asked pertinent questions regarding lapses since April 23 Pahalgam terror attack that actually endangered India’s national security with considerable loss of lives and assets, both civilian and defence. His questions are also related to Modi government’s failures in the realm of India’s foreign policy, that have already put India in a precarious position, to repair which ruling BJP had no option but to send all-party delegations to foreign countries.

BJP leadership owes explanations to the questions raised. Criticising opposition leaders is not the explanation on failures and lapses with respect to endangered national security and almost collapsed foreign policy under their rule, that has landed this country to the present pass. It should be an eye opener for the entire nation that India did not get comparable level of support as Pakistan got during the 4-day warfare and in the aftermath from other nations. We got only moral support, which is not enough to deal with our enemy. In the real-world conflicts, nations align not on the basis of morality, but on certain other considerations. India must keep this in mind and should not allow our diplomatic isolation.

We have many more serious concerns now, even starker than the questions currently raised by the opposition leaders. BJP leadership can’t conceal its failure and lapses behind the united fight against terror. They must not shy away from answering the questions though inconvenient, but try to find out appropriate answers to all of them, for a stronger national security with unity in domestic politics and social harmony. BJP can’t go on perpetually humiliating the opposition and socio-religious groups only for petty politics. (IPA Service)