by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Uddhav and Sharad Pawar invited for Temple ceremony

Akhilesh and Lalu Prasad have also been invited says top VHP leader

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Dec 28

Contrary to reports, it has now emerged that the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Trust and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have invited Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), have been invited to attend the opening ceremony on January 22, 2024.

Yesterday, Sharad Pawar had said that he has not been invited to the Temple ceremony function. Even Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut was also very upset that his party has not been invited to the function and blasted the BJP. He claimed that had Shiv Sainik not demolished the structure, Ram Temple would not have been there.

As if this is not enough the Temple Trust and VHP have also invited Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav for the ceremony. Though it was during Mulayam Singh's regime that Kar Sewak were fired upon in Ayodhya. Akhilesh Yadav is free to lead the delegation foir the ceremony on January 22.

Similarly, Lalu Prasad Yadav, president of the RJD has also been invited to the ceremony. Though it was during Lalu Yadav's regime as Chief Minister when L K Advani's Ram Rath Yatra was stopped in Bihar and the BJP leader was arrested. The VHP leadership has also invited Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal for the ceremony as well. 

When contacted by Lokmat, Alok Kumar, working President of the VHP, said that all prominent leaders of political parties have been invited to the ceremony. “I am not in a position to say why this issue is being raised. We have not no reservation against anybody for any political reason. We want people to come and attend the ceremony and see the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. It's the most auspicious occasion and I would urge the people not to politicize it.”

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall

A Painful RAW Nerve

A highly senior officer of the country's top espionage agency was contemplating going to the USA on a private visit for a family function. Though he had retired from service after exemplary performance, he deemed it fit to bring to the notice of the powers that be about the impending visit. Within hours, he got the message that he should travel to the USA to his own peril as the situation is not conducive. In any adverse situation, the Government of India may not be able to help him. The on-going controversy relating to Khalistani activists in Canada and USA has created bad blood. The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada by unknown assailants and plot to kill  Gurpatwant Singh Pannu in the USA were hogging the limelight. The USA has been pressing India hard to take action against those part of plotting the killing of Pannu in New York. India has assured the USA to act fast and set up a high-powered committee to probe the issue of alleged involvement of an Indian in the said plot. While Canada has given no evidence to support its charges against India, the USA is reported to have shared details about its investigation with the Indian Government. Several senior intelligence and security officials of the USA have also visited India in the recent past to press for action in the matter. Those in the know of things in the country' top espionage agency and security apparatus say that it will take longer than expected to resolve the issue. In the meantime, the two western countries will also take action against those giving open threats to wage a war against India.

Role of Non-State Actors

The hot pursuit policy may die a slow death in the Western world due to recent controversies. But there seems to be no let up in action against enemies of India hiding in Pakistan. Those responsible for anti-India activities and closely associated with wanted terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar and others are on the run in Pakistan. Though the ISI had provided safe Heavens to some of them, yet many have been killed by unknown assailants in many cities of Pakistan. Interestingly, the Pakistani government has not blamed India for such killings. Reason ! The Pakistani leadership had coined a new term when attacks in Kargil took place during the Vajpayee era. Pakistan then washed its hands off saying it is the handiwork of “non-State Actors” and there is no involvement of the Army. Though the USA did intervene then and firmly told Pakistan to back off. It seems the same “Non-State Actors” term is haunting the ISI now. As many as two-dozen such Paki operatives have been killed in the past few months and Pakistan is keeping its fingers crossed. India is paying back to Pakistan in the same coin for spreading terrorism in J&K and other parts of India including attacking the Indian Parliament. The previous Congress & United Front governments at the Centre had looked the other way when India's spy network in Pakistan was being eliminated slowly.

A Ministerial Hara-kiri

Delhi's fire-brand Lok Sabha MP and Minister of State for External Affairs & Culture Meenakshi Lekhi created a flutter when she disowned a reply in the Lok Sabha attributed to her. She said that she never dealt with the parliamentary question at all and never signed the reply. The Lok Sabha is in session and still she chose to go public with the grievance on “X” (known as Twitter). The question asked was whether the government had any plans to declare Hamas a terrorist organization in India, and whether Israel had specifically asked New Delhi to do so. The unstarred question's reply was tabled in her name in the Lok Sabha on Friday last. Lekhi tagged External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with her post. In a separate post, Lekhi added: “Inquiry will reveal the culprit.” Political circles were aghast to see Meenakshi Lekhi tweeting about it. Article 75(3) of the Constitution says “the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People”, making it binding on every minister, senior or junior, to speak in one voice on government policy.

Some of the Opposition members even moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the ground that Lekhi had violated the principle of collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers. Insiders in the Ministry of External Affairs say that all is not well in South Block and something is amiss between Lekhi and her ministerial colleagues. Though the spokesperson of the MEA, Arindam Bagchi clarified that a technical correction was needed as the reply should have been attributed to another junior Minister V. Muraleedharan. There are umpteen number of examples when ministers give wrong answers in Parliament and later tender apologies or senior ministers or even the Prime Minister rising to correct their colleagues. But what Lekhi had done is unprecedented and it seems more will unfold after the Winter session of Parliament is over on December 22.

A flawed Logic

Political analysts are going gaga over PM Modi's choice of three new young faces for Chief Minister's post in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. No doubt, Vishnu Deo Sai (59 years) in Chhattisgarh, Mohan Yadav (58 years) in Madhya Pradesh and Bhajan Lal Sharma (56 years) in Rajasthan are pretty young. But in 2003 when the BJP won these states, the Atal-Advani team sent Raman Singh (52 years), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (44 years) and Vasundhararaje Scindia (50 years) as Chief Ministers. They were all relatively young, pipping all senior leaders in these states. If it's a generational change in the BJP in 2023, the same happened 20 years ago too.

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Fly on the Wall

Harish Gupta

The rise and rise of Yogi

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rising graph as party's star campaigner has ruffled many feathers in the BJP. In the recently concluded assembly polls in five states, he drew unprecedented crowds at his public meetings. After Prime Minister Modi, Yogi was in huge demand as every candidate wanted him to address at least one public meeting in the constituency. Those who traveled extensively in Rajasthan vouch that people throng in large numbers on their own to listen to him as he is seen as a saviour of the Hindus. In Rajasthan, he asked the crowd, “What would have happened to the killers of Kanhaiya had he been in UP?” The crowd roared, “Bulldozer and Goli”. The “Bulldozer Baba” as Yogi is popularly known, has a winning record of almost 85% wherever he went to campaign. The rising graph of Yogi has ruffled many feathers in the party and all kinds of efforts are being made to clip his wings. While PM Modi is highly appreciative of the work Yogi had been doing and often praises Yogi in his tweets. But some senior leaders are unhappy over the trigger happy UP police particularly over the killing of the gangster and politician, Atiq Ahmed. Its a different matter that lips of his detractors have been sealed after the victory in three states. It must be noted that the majority of ministers including the two Deputy Chief Ministers in the Yogi's ministry are among his detractors. Even some of the key officers in the government are not of his choice either. But Yogi found a way to deal with the situation as he would put the minister and bureaucrat face-to-face whenever a complaint is received. He would tell the minister to stop taking bribes causing huge embarrassment. Only recently, a news surfaced on the social media that the Yogi may be fielded from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat to strengthen Modi's hands in 2024. But there are no takers of the idea given Yogi's role in Modi's Mission-400 seats next year.

Nitish Kumar's baffling saga continues

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continues to behave in a manner which causes anxiety not only amongst his party colleagues but also in the INDIA partners. As stated in last week's column, his statement in the State Assembly about women's education and population control made last month, brought out his wayward behaviour in public. But there are more stories of Nitish's forgetful behaviour. Once touted as the Opposition's joint Prime Ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar seems to be losing the plot. He has become forgetful in his day-to-today interactions with colleagues and even at public foras. Unconfirmed reports say that he recently went to the residence of his ministerial colleague Ashok Chaudhary to pay homage to his departed father. Instead of laying the wreath on his father's dead body, Nitish Kumar garlanded Chaudhary to the embarrassment of the entire family and others present. Earlier, he went to the house of another party colleague for a cup of tea and left the house only to return within 30 minutes saying he forgot to take tea. Sources assert that age is fast catching up with Nitish Kumar. He may be having some Neuro issue which crops up slowly. Nitish is 72 years old and medical experts say it may be related to weakening of muscles with age.

Kejriwal in Silent Mode

Capital is agog with reports that the Enforcement Directorate may knock at the doors of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal anytime in January next year. He may be spared during the on-going Parliament's winter session. A cast-iron case has been weaved by the ED as one of the key accused in the Liquor scam case, Amit Katyal, has started singing and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh is also on the verge of cooperating with the agencies. The AAP has suffered a massive setback in the recently concluded Assembly polls where Kejriwal faced humiliating defeat in state after state. In Chhattisgarh, the AAP put up 77 candidates ending up getting merely 0.93%. In Madhya Pradesh also, Kejriwal along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann campaigned extensively and ended up getting merely 0.54% votes. It put up 70 candidates hoping to get at least 10 seats. The AAP put up 88 candidates and ended up its worst showing by getting 0.38% votes.

2005 rule dug out to tame Mps

The TMC Lok Sabha MP, Mahua Moitra's alleged “cash for query” case has opened a Pandora's box for parliamentarians of both houses. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was quick to invoke the UPA era's 2005 Code of Conduct for Rajya Sabha Mps. The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha invoked the Code of Conduct prohibiting Mps to take hospitality abroad from private persons/companies/foreign governments without bringing it to the notice/permission of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Rajya Sabha secretariat. The Code of Conduct rules were issued in 2005 but the same were never implemented due to the fragile nature of the coalition government of Dr Manmohan Singh. The rules asked Mps to inform both the MEA and the Union Home Ministry before accepting any invitation from foreign source and traveling abroad even on a personal trip. While the Rajya Sabha Mps are shocked over tightening of rules & procedures for foreign visits, the Lok Sabha secretariat is under pressure to implement similar rules for its 545 Mps. Surprisingly, the Lok Sabha has no such Code of Conduct for its Mps so far. Mahua Moitra, in a sense, was right when she said that she was not aware of the existence of any such code of conduct. It transpires that the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha may now come out with such code shortly.