Fly on the Wall
Why
Modi Omitted Morarji Desai
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid floral tributes to all his predecessors while making his last speech in the old Lok Sabha building from Nehru to Dr Manmohan Singh. He chose his words very carefully about each one of them and their contribution in the making of India during the past 75 years. But Modi made no mention of Morarji Desai who held the PM's post between 1977-79 in his long speech. Though Modi paid rich tributes to late Charan Singh who did not even face the floor test in Lok Sabha after becoming the PM, Desai did not figure anywhere in his speech. Morarji was Chief Minister of the joint state of Maharashtra and Gujarat in the early 50s and represented Surat in Lok Sabha. Yet, Modi omitted his name completely as if he was not the PM.
This came as a shock to those listening to him attentively and wondered why he did so. Modi has always been very choosy about his words and has never tripped. Though his dislike for India's first Prime Minister Nehru is too well-known, he praised him in his speech. The omission becomes all the more surprising as Morarji Desai was the first PM from his home state of Gujarat and the saffron party was a partner in his government in 1977. Was it because Morarji Desai ordered firing on those opposing Bombay as the Union Territory in which 105 people were killed? Or was it because he opposed Indira Gandhi whom Modi takes in high esteem? Or because Morarji hated Indira Gandhi so much that he virtually wound up the country's top espionage agency's external operations? The mystery may unfold in the days, months or years to come.
Is Modi an admirer of Indira Gandhi?
Prime Minister Modi has spared none in blasting members of the Nehru-Gandhi family not only during election rallies but even otherwise wherever he gets an opportunity. But he never uttered a word about late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Though there was always a mention of imposition of Emergency in 1975 but Indira's name was never invoked by him. A proof of Modi's admiration for Indira Gandhi emerged when he heaped praises on her not once but twice in the old Lok Sabha when he made his last speech on September 18 there.
He made a special mention of the success of the NAM Summit held in March 1983 in New Delhi during her tenure. Modi said, “when the NAM summit was held, this House had unanimously passed the resolution and the country had appreciated this effort. Today you have also unanimously appreciated the success of the G 20. I believe that you have elevated the pride of the country.” As if this was not enough, Modi went on to praise Indira Gandhi again when he said, “This very House also played a crucial role in supporting the Bangladesh Liberation War and extending its backing under the leadership of Indira Gandhi.”
Political
analysts always wondered why Modi goes soft on Indira Gandhi and says
that he draws a leaf out of Indira Gandhi's book. Some of his bold
decisions like going inside PoK in Balakot in 2019 to destroy terror
camps are in sync with what Indira Gandhi did during her tenure. If
Indira Gandhi had the country's first Super cop in R N Kao who
founded RAW, Modi has an equally tough cop in Ajit Doval as his
National Security Adviser.
A
RAW Nerve
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), country's first external espionage agency was set up by Indira Gandhi in 1968 to expand India's footprints globally after the 1962 debacle. But its focus was shifted to India’s traditional rival, Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The RAW was involved in many successful covert operations and Islamabad always saw RAW agents working to destabilize Pakistan. It accuses RAW of training and arming separatists in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province along the Afghan border. RAW accused the ISI of the July 2008 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul. The RAW started with 250 people and about $400,000 and has grown leaps and bounds and its staffing and budget remain secret. The U.S.-based Federation of American Scientists suggested in 2000 that RAW had about eight to ten thousand agents and an unlimited budget. Unlike the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s MI6, RAW reports directly to the Prime Minister instead of the Ministry of Defense.
Some of the recent killings of terrorists like Lashkar-e-Taiba's Riyaz Ahmad alias Abu Qasim in early September inside PoK's Rawalkot, raised eyebrows. This was the fourth such killing of a top terrorist commander operating from across the border this year. The killing of a Khalistani terrorist H S Nijjar in Canada and a couple of other places is attributed to RAW though without any proof.
Modi as an RSS Pracharak must have disliked what Morarji Desai did as PM by winding up RAW's external operations in 1977. Even I K Gujral as Prime Minister did the same in 1997 what Morarji Desai did earlier. His name found no mention in Modi's speech either. RAW's claim to fame are several foreign policy successes including the creation of Bangladesh in 1971; growing influence in Afghanistan; the North East state of Sikkim’s accession to India in 1975; security of India’s nuclear program and the African liberation movements during the Cold War.
