That anybody who thinks that Narendra Modi’s remarks about the distress caused to a car passenger by a puppy being run over is in bad taste, must have his head examined. It is a remark of deep sensitivity and should be understood in the right spirit and not taken amiss as is being deliberately done by those who hate him. “Modi’s analogy splits open wounds” headlined The Telegraph (13 July). “India Bites Back as Modi’s ‘Puppy love’ Generates Hatred” reported The Economic Times (13 July). External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is quoted as saying that Modi’s statement reflected no remorse over the riots. Reading these and other similar quotes one begins to wonder whether Justice Markandey Katju’s remarks on idiots, embraces Cabinet Members as well.
May one ask whether there has been a word of apology from the murderous Muslim crowd which threw petrol into a Sabarmati Express coach which was followed by fire in the compartment leading to the live incineration of some fifty odd innocent women and children? May one ask whether there has been an apology from the Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah over the killing of Kashmiri pundits, the burning of their homes, the looting of their shops and the mass raping of their women? And the displacement of over 3.5 lakh pundits from their ancestral homes? When will these damn fools ever learn from history? Does Mr Khurshid know, as reported by The Indian Express (5 March 2002) that several Congress leaders featured in the list of accused in the Godhra train bogey burning case? Prominent among them are Memud Hussain Kalota, Convener of the District Congress Minority Cell and President of the Godhra Municipality, Salim Abdul Ghaffar Sheikh, President of the Panchmahal Youth Congress and Farouk Bhana, Secretary of the District Congress Committee.
In 65 years of a journalistic career during which I have reported from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, the United States and Latin America, not to mention the United Nations, even at the height of the Cold War I have never heard a personal attack by any government spokesman against the leader of an ‘enemy’ country. Certain journalistic values were respected. But what I have heard in India from Congress spokesmen about Narendra Modi makes me feel like throwing up. In all these years I have never come across an alien government spokesman more despicable than two of Congress spokesmen. But then what better can one expect from them when the Congress chairperson herself indulges in abuse of Narendra Modi?
Sometimes, listening to or reading attacks on Modi indulged in by Congress ministers makes one wonder whether what Justice Markandey Khatju said about 90 per cent Indians being ‘idiotic’ is relevant of the ministers in the UPA government. One of the strongest assessment of the UPA government has come from Ravi Shankar, writing in The New Indian Express (14 July) which should be an eye opener to all Indian citizens. Presenting many facts about the UPA government’s recent schemes, allegedly to help the poor, Ravi Shankar noted that what was being done was “to use government resources for personal gains”.
As he saw it, “Sonia Gandhi’s pet populist project, the Food Security Bill is nothing less” than a bribe offered to the people of India”. To quote Ravi Shankar further: “Sonia hopes that by bribing the people once again, like the Congress did in 2009 by waiving farmers’ loans worth Rs 52,000 crore as well as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS) that cost the taxpaper Rs 40,000 crore annually, The Food Security Bill is the biggest government dole … to be footed by the insignificant vote bank… In an era where developing countries expect self-reliance from its citizens, Sonia wants to spend government money legally on buying votes for the Congress . As Ravi Shankar saw it, “all that is not Sonia’s concern… it is the Gandhi Family Security Bill alone that matters”.
