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By Shyam Khosla
Communalists are running amok. They have launched a massive misinformation campaign about the Ahmedabad encounter in which the police gunned down four persons, including a Mumbai-based college girl. They won´t wait for the completion of police investigation and are making wild allegations that only hinder proper enquiry into the incident.
At best, the Gujarat police did a remarkable job to eliminate potential killers and at worst, it is a case of mistaken identity. The ´secular´ brigade won´t accept either. They have convinced themselves that it was a ´fake´ encounter in which the police gunned down four ´law-abiding citizens´ even as the police investigations throw up fresh evidence on a daily basis, indicating that they were on a terrorist mission. They defend Lashkar terrorists because it pleases the mullahs. More importantly, it demonises Narendra Modi and consolidates their Muslim vote bank. They give a donation of Rs one lakh to the family of Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza, the Mumbai girl, who was travelling with the terrorists.
´Secular´ media highlight her family´s grief even as intelli-gence agencies insist she had links with Laskhar-e-Taiba and dig out evidence to show she was close to Javed-the link man with a criminal record-and had visited Lucknow and Faizabad with him. If she was so innocent and nice, what was she doing in Ahmedabad? All right, she was innocent and trapped by terrorists to avoid suspicion. How would the police, that claim they were fired at by the terrorists when challen-ged, know that the girl sitting with the terrorists was innocent and ignorant about their mission? They declare Javed an innocent person even as the police in the Congress-run Mahara-shtra unveil evidence that he was facing trial in a rioting case. Gujarat government has provided to the Union Government incontro-vertible proof that Jaish operators-Jishan Johar and Amjadali Akbarali Rana, who were killed in the June 15 encounter-are Pakistani natio-nals. It is for New Delhi to ask the Pakistan government to accept their bodies. Unmind-ful of evidence, the ´secularists´ and a section of the media carry on their cam-paign of vilifica-tion.
Anti-Hindu stance of the UPA government may help it in the short term by consolidating its vote bank but would hurt it in the long run as it is bound to generate a Hindu backlash. The Congress Party can ignore this stark reality at its own peril.
The new government is persecuting officers whose only ´crime´ is that they faithfully implemented the policies of the government of the day. This is what is expected from conscientious officials.
The wrecker of Bihar insists that he would find out the ´true story´ of Godhra. Presumably he will ´prove´ that 58 Hindu pilgrims, including 26 women and 12 children, roasted themselves alive in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express on that fateful morning of February 27, 2002 at the instance of ´fascist´ Chief Minister so that he could resort to genocide of ´innocent´ Muslims. The likes of Mahesh Bhatt call on the Railway Minister complaining against ´harassment´ of minorities by investigating agencies and demand that a fresh enquiry into the burning alive of pilgrims should be undertaken by the Railways. Maybe, Laloo Yadav will ´personally´ supervise the enquiry to establish the ´truth´ as he perceives it. Anti-Hindu stance of the UPA government may help it in the short term by consolidating its vote bank but would hurt it in the long run as it is bound to generate a Hindu backlash. The Congress Party can ignore this stark reality at its own peril. The nation has not taken kindly to the absence of any reference to cross-border terrorism-the biggest challenge the country is facing since the 80s-in the UPA´s CMP. It is a sad commentary on the ´secularist´ commitment to national security.
They are bent upon wrecking all good work and achievements of the BJP-led government to subserve their petty partisan interests. In the name of undoing the ´wrongs´ of the previous government, they are destroying institutions and even fiddling with in the armed forces. There are disturbing reports that there will be avoidable delays in the appointment of the new head of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) because the Defence Minister wants to ´personally review´ the appointment. SFC is an integral part of the Nuclear Command Authority and a vital link between scientists that man the strategic weapons and the armed forces. There is no justification in the minister delaying the appointment simply because the decision was taken by the Defence Ministry during the tenure of the NDA government. It is no political appointment and the Defence Minister need not review it. Did the new government come to power through a revolution that mandates reviewing appoint-ments even in the armed forces? The government is playing with the security of the country.
Vindictive action against officials who occupied key positions during the previous regime is the hallmark of the UPA government. It is in sharp contrast to the magnanimity with which the BJP-led government dealt with the issue. It didn´t remove any constitutional authority or civil servant merely because he or she was close to the previous governments. The new government is persecuting officers whose only ´crime´ is that they faithfully implemented the policies of the government of the day. This is what is expected from conscientious officials. No one objects to government appointing officials enjoying its confidence on positions they deserve by merit and seniority. But witch-hunting helps no one. Prompted by the Reds that are known for their dictatorial and vindictive nature, the HRD Minister is shooing out civil servants who occupied important position in the ministry because of their integrity and ability.
One can understand changing political appointees though there must be some decency and respect for the norms. The first to be sent out was V.S. Pandey, an IAS officer of UP cadre who was a joint secretary in the HRD Ministry after being put on compulsory wait. Putting civil servants not guilty of misconduct on compulsory wait is unheard of. J.S. Rajput, Director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), has been forced to seek voluntary retirement for committing the cardinal sin of revising school text-books in accordance with the recommendations of the Chavan Committee. Communists can´t stomach the truth. They want to interpret history and events with tainted Marxist glasses. That is why communist outfits like Sahmat are bringing pressure on HRD Minister Arjun Singh to ´cleanse´ the ministry of those who enjoyed the confidence of Dr M.M. Joshi.
There are more surprises in store, for, the government is learnt to have added to its ´hit list´ heads of institutions under the HRD Ministry and bureaucrats appointed by Dr Joshi. It has already shown the door to ICHR member-secretary, Kapil Kumar and NCERT secretary, Anil Kapur. Let vindictiveness run its full course.
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