On 14 February, Rahul Gandhi, former Congress chief, took to Twitter to politicise the ghastly terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 44 CRPF officers in Pulwama. He tried his level best to cast aspersions around the attack and suggested that it was an ‘inside job’ of the BJP for electoral gain ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Today as we remember our 40 CRPF martyrs in the #PulwamaAttack , let us ask:
1. Who benefitted the most from the attack?
2. What is the outcome of the inquiry into the attack?
3. Who in the BJP Govt has yet been held accountable for the security lapses that allowed the attack? pic.twitter.com/KZLbdOkLK5
He asked three questions, “Who benefitted the most from the attack? What is the outcome of the inquiry into the attack? Who in the BJP Government has yet been held accountable for the security lapses that allowed the attack?”
While the terrorist attack was carried out by Pakistan sponsored terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, by asking this question, Rahul Gandhi had insinuated that there is more to the Pulwama attack than just Pakistan bleeding India with the attack as it has for decades.
Like on previous occasions, Rahul Gandhi’s stand parroting Pakistan’s line of argument has been hailed and used by Pakistan to attack the Indian government. A leading Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune, used the same arguments made by Gandhi to suggest that the Pulwama attack was a false flag operation.
The headline in The Express Tribune
In an article titled “Pulwama: Rahul Gandhi’s legitimate questions” Pakistani news outlet Express Tribune claimed that the Indian media was using ‘the familiar template’ of blaming Pakistan for anything that went wrong in Kashmir. It eulogised the speech of Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan who offered “possible assistance” but actually took no action against those involved, despite India sending a dossier to the neighbouring country. The Pakistani newspaper also dismissed India’s military operation in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa across the Line of Control (LoC).
The Tribune also demanded an “honest” answer to Rahul Gandhi’s questions from the current political dispensation, even though Jaish-e-Mohammed took responsibility for the attack, and they have been providing shelter to the terror organisation and its leaders for decades, allowing their territory to be used as training grounds for terrorists and suicide bombers.
These baseless conspiracy theories peddled by the Congress party have often used by Pakistani administration and its mouthpieces in the media to trivialise India’s claims. The grand old party is not new to whitewashing terror attacks orchestrated by Pakistan. In 2008, following the 26/11 attack that claimed 164 lives, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that it was the handwork of the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Rahul Gandhi’s tweets have often been used by Pakistani journalists and senators to dismiss India’s claims.
Rahul Gandhi’s and Congress’ political statements against the Modi government have been used multiple times by the Pakistani establishment to target India. Pakistani politicians love quoting Rahul Gandhi. They even use his and his party’s statements to validate their rantings against India in international platforms.
Last year, Pakistan’s national radio had used Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders’ statements over the Balakot surgical strike to peddle lies against India. Actually, the rantings and ravings of Congress against the Indian government is so dear to Pakistan that heir PM Imran Khan has even used Congress to assert his statements against India. Last year, Pakistan’s anti-India dossier to the UNHRC featured former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders over the abrogation of Article 370.
Prior to that too, Pakistan had written to the UN accusing India of carrying out human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and had used this statement by Rahul Gandhi and other leftist leaders to further its narrative.
Both Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi are unfortunately found speaking the same language as pointed out by many. Last year, in a letter to the United Nations, Pakistan Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari had used Rahul Gandhi’s arguments to criticise the abrogation of Article 370 on an international platform.
Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI) college principal Rita Raninga, institute coordinator Anita Chauhan, girls’ hostel supervisor Ramila Hirani and peon Naina Gorasia were arrested by Bhuj Police on Monday over allegations of making as many as 64 girls strip to check if they were menstruating. The incident reportedly happened on February 11 which led to widespread public outrage. An FIR was filed regarding the same and the magistrate has given police remand till 19th February.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the allegations. As per reports, over 60 college girls were forced to strip down and remove their underwear to prove that they were not menstruating. The girls in the hostel are banned from entering kitchen and temple and having any physical contact with other students while on their period. When the principal got a complaint that the ‘rule’ is being violated, the women were publicly asked about their period. Following that, they were paraded and taken to washroom and asked to remove their underwear. A student reportedly claimed that the harassment was a routine affair at the college.
Following the incident, a National Commission for Women (NCW) team met the girls on Sunday. As per reports, the accused have been booked under IPC section 384 (extortion), 355 (assault with intent to dishonour a person) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
SSGI in Bhuj is a private college run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj. It is affiliated to Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kutch University.
Debbie Abrahams, a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom from the Labour Party, has been denied entry to India by the government after her e-visa was cancelled. She chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Kashmir (AAPGK) and has been critical of India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in August last year.
Her aide, Harpreet Upal, told the Associated Press that her ‘valid Indian Visa’ was rejected. She had flown to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Monday morning.
The Oldham East & Saddleworth MP had claimed that the India government she learned upon her arrival at the IGI Airport in Delhi that her visa ‘had been revoked’.
The British MP also took to outrage on Twitter. She claimed that her visa was ‘revoked’ after it was granted. She also claimed that it was done deliberately because she had been critical of the Indian government ‘over Kashmir human rights issue’.
Why did the Indian Government revoke my visa AFTER it was granted? Why didn’t they let me get a ‘visa on arrival’? Is it because I have been critical of the Indian Government on #Kashmir human rights issues? https://t.co/aNhvFpc10D
A lot of Indian ‘secular liberals’ were also outraged over the fact that the British MP was denied entry to India.
British lawmaker, Debbie Abrahams who chairs a parliamentary group focused on Kashmir was denied entry by officials on Monday after she landed at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Petty, vindictive regimehttps://t.co/DmGT1D0z8U
British MP Who Criticised Govt on J&K Stopped At Airport: conduct really unworthy of a democracy &guaranteed to give us a far worse press than if she had been admitted. Govt claims situation is normal in Kashmir. Why is the govt then so scared of critics? https://t.co/echopHaSru
Debbie Abrahams’ claims have been very dramatic too. She had claimed that she was ‘treated like a criminal’ and was taken to a ‘deportee cell’. Reports quoting her had also stated that she was told about the cancellation of her visa only when she landed at Delhi airport.
British state broadcaster BBC had even claimed that Abrahams’ visa was rejected when she landed in Delhi.
Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams says she’s been “treated like a criminal” and deported by Indian immigration officials. Her e-visa was rejected when she arrived in Delhi today.
She’s been critical of the Indian Government’s conduct in Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/JXzlIUXvs4
However, Indian government officials have rejected the claims made by the British MP. An India Today report quoting government sources has mentioned that the British MP’s claims of ‘being treated like a criminal’ were totally false. She was treated with respect as would have been accorded to any member of parliament.
The government has also stated that Abrahams was informed of the cancellation of her e-visa well ahead of her journey. “She was informed of the revocation on Friday. The status of her e-visa communicated to her clearly says ‘rejected’. She can apply at the nearest Indian mission or apply online for a regular visa”, said the government officials, as per the India Today report.
The MP was also given consular access to the British High Commission in India. “We are in contact with the Indian authorities to understand why Deborah Abrahams MP was denied entry to India. We provided consular assistance to her whilst she was in New Delhi Airport,” a British High Commission official was quoted in the same report.
The MP, however, is still playing victimhood over not being allowed entry into India. She has rejected the reports of her visa rejection. She has also claimed that she did not know about her visa rejection.
She is also denying that she received communication over the rejection of her visa. The thing is, even if she claims ignorance of her e-visa being rejected, she cannot enter a sovereign nation without a valid visa. It is not understandable whether the British MP is under the illusion of some colonial privilege that she thinks enables her to enter into a sovereign nation’s territory without a valid visa.
The claims of victimhood for ‘standing up for Kashmir human rights’ also sound hollow. India has not stopped her from voicing her opinion or doing her politics in any way. But the entry into a sovereign nation is entirely the government’s prerogative and it is not clear on what basis the British MP is trying to assert her right to enter India without valid documents.
The hallmark of Nehruvian Secularism has always been the perversion of Secularism at the altar of minority appeasement. Secularism, as it is, is extremely unfit for the Indian context, something that the makers of our Constitution were intricately aware of. Secularism as a concept developed in the West for conditions that were exclusive to those regions. And when the same concept is applied to the Indian context with the added mix of liberalism and minority appeasement, the morbid ideology acquires disastrous proportions.
O’Sullivan’s law posits that “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.” In a similar vein, another wise man once opined, “Cthulhu may swim slowly. But he only swims left.” Under current circumstances, as a friend said, the second maxim can be modified into “Cthulhu swims left, but the current is always against it.” Thus it happened that on the 26th of January, 1950 when the Constitution of India first came into effect, the word ‘Secular’ was not included in the Preamble of it.
With the passage of time, however, the word ‘Secular’ was forced into the Preamble of the Constitution. And years later, it’s only the minutest of the minority of the country that remembers that the introduction of the word ‘Secular’ in the Preamble was made when Democracy in the country was not functional, that is, during the emergency. And as the years progressed, not only has the word ‘Secular’ to describe the Constitution been normalized, the most depraved of perversions in the name of Secularism is forced upon the country.
The year is 2020 and much of the contradictions that were inherent to the Indian Union are being resolved. Decisions of monumental significance are being taken and policies are being implemented with the view to resolve disputes that have hindered the progress of the Indian Union ever since independence. The abrogation of Article 370 and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act are two instances of such. However, there are a couple of avenues that haven’t been broached yet when it comes to a coherent government approach.
I am, of course, referring to the Government control of Hindu Temples and the allocations that are made by governments to Abrahamic minority religious establishments. On the face of it, the two issues may appear to be completely unrelated but when a couple of layers are removed, the connection between the two becomes evident. Furthermore, one also has to remember the fact that Hindu Temples are taxed while minority religious establishments are given a free pass by the governments. When one sees the minority specific schemes and the simultaneous taxation of Hindu Temples, the connection becomes evident.
It is not farfetched to argue that the money that is being looted from Hindu Temples by various governments inevitably ends up funding minority specific schemes and doles that are handed out, with the explicit objective of securing minority votes in most cases. It is something that nearly every ‘secular’ party is guilty of. According to a report published on IndiaFacts in 2016, the then Congress government in Karnataka spent crores of rupees for the support and expansion of Christianity, including the renovation of existing churches and construction of new Christian community halls.
The IndiaFacts Report
A report from November 2019 stated that the Telangana Government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao sanctioned Rs. 1 lakh each to 200 Christian Churches in the state for Christmas.
The Andhra Pradesh Government led by Chief Minister Jagan Reddy announced that his government will be paying Rs. 5000 as a monthly honorarium to pastors. This was apart from the whopping 50% increase in assistance for Christians travelling to Jerusalem and other Biblical places.
Andhra govt paying an honorarium to pastors
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, is not averse to the disease despite his apparent devotion towards PawanPutra Hanuman. In January 2019, the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi introduced a salary hike for the Imams of Delhi and the helpers of Mosques. Not merely that, it was announced that the salaries of imams outside the purview of the Delhi Waqf Board would be covered by the government of the Union Territory for the first time.
As per the announcement, the salaries of the imams under the Delhi Waqf Board was hiked from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 18,000 and that of the helpers from Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 16,000. For the mosques outside the purview of the Delhi Waqf Board, the salary of the imams was fixed at Rs. 14,000 and that of helpers at Rs. 12,000.
Salary hike for Imams by Arvind Kejriwal
These are just four instances of minority appeasement mentioned here. The actual number is far too numerous to count. And it is not just the state governments that are prone to such policies. Even the minority specific schemes that are implemented by the central government under Narendra Modi are the same in principle. The manner in which only Hindu Temples are taxed while the religious establishments of minority religions are given a free pass when combined with the minority specific doles handed out by governments to secure the minority vote is a gross violation of the principles of Secularism.
Furthermore, the government control of Hindu Temples leaves them open to loot and plunder by the Secular State and it is something that happens far too often to be considered a small matter. When seen together with the implementation of minority specific welfare schemes and doles, it appears that the money that is being looted from Hindu Temples is being spent on these communal schemes that only strengthen exclusivist proselytizing religions. All of this tantamounts to a perverse situation where Hindus are being made to pay for the destruction of their own civilization.
To give the example of just one Temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ contribution to the Andhra Pradesh state government was spiked from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 50 crore in the month of January this year. The contribution will go towards the Common Good Fund (CGF), Endowments Administrative Fund (EAF) and Archaka Welfare Fund (AWF). In addition to that, it has been decided that the contribution will be hoked by 10% every five years. And all of this is apart from the Rs. 16 crore that the TTD pays annually to the “Dhoopa-Deepa Naivedyam” scheme.
In May 2018, the Chief Priest of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Ramana Dikshitulu, had accused the state government and Temple administration of corruption, impropriety and mishandling of Temple affairs. Following his accusations, he was made to retire by the TTD Board and was replaced by A Venugopala Deekshitulu. He had also directly accused then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and the officials appointed by him for the disappearance of jewels donated by devotees. During an interview with Prema Sridevi of Republic, the Chief Priest said that he was victimized for meeting Amit Shah when the BJP President visited the Temple and he showed him how hidden treasures from the temple kitchen was stolen away.
At the same time, numerous efforts are made by state governments to take more and more Temples under its control. For instance, in December 2019, the Andhra Pradesh government made an attempt for a hostile takeover of the Ahobilam Temples, quite obviously, for the lucrative benefits. Such takeovers often happen against the wishes of the devotees. In June last year, Vellalur Nadu held a protest against the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department’s decision to take over three ancient temples. The temples had been under the control of these villagers for nearly 500 years.
It also needs to be remembered here that in the case of government-controlled Temples, a lot of the revenue generated is diverted towards paying the salaries of the government-appointed employees and a significantly less amount goes towards the actual affairs of the Temples. As a consequence, the management of the Temples continues to deteriorate while the state gets fat on the piety of the devotees.
For the future of the Hindu Civilization, it is of paramount importance that the control of Hindu Temples and their finances is returned to the Hindu Community. It is the duty of the Indian Government to ensure that a suitable framework is developed through consultations with all stakeholders from the Hindu Community to pave the way for the safe return of control. The NDA Government was reelected to power with a massive mandate in 2019 and consistent with the path it has chosen to tread, this is another conflict that must be resolved in the near future.
Furthermore, new laws are necessary to disbar governments from implementing minority specific schemes. At the same time, laws must be brought in to tax minority religious establishments at the same rate as Hindu Temples. These are essential for the principle of fairness and equality and at the same time, essential for safeguarding the Hindu Civilization against existential threats. In the absence of such provisions, what we have currently is not secularism, what we have is an organized effort to relegate Hinduism to the museums.
Indian Customs officials on February 3 intercepted a ship bearing Hong Kong flag originating from China with Port Qasim in Karachi as destination for wrongly declaring an autoclave, which can be used for launching ballistic missiles as an industrial dryer. The ship is reportedly currently undergoing a detailed inspection at Kandla port in Gujarat.
As per reports, DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) team is currently examining the ship and is also sending a second team of nuclear scientists this week to check the large autoclave onboard. The ship had left Jiangyin Port on Yangtze river in China’s Jiangsu province on January 17, 2020 and was bound for Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan when it was intercepted at Kandla port on an intelligence tip off. Port Qasim is in Karachi, Sindh, where Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Supraco), responsible for Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme is based. If the second team upholds the findings of first, then the Customs will seize the cargo and charge the vessel and its owners for violations of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (Scomet) export regulations.
As per reports, the DRDO team has inspected the 18×4-metre autoclave. An Autoclave is a pressure chamber which carries out various industrial and scientific processes. Prima facie, it can be used for civilian as well as military purposes. In 1989, Islamabad signed a deal with Beijing to purchase 34 solid fuel M-11 ballistic missiles. The M-11s can deliver 500 kg payload over 300 km area and are at the core of Pakistan’s ballistic missile capability. At around same time, Pakistan had also purchased 12-25 liquid fuel No-Dong ballistic missiles from North Korea. The No-Dong missiles can deliver 700-1000 kg payload over 1000-1300 km area.
Ku Wol San, 1999
In 1999, at the height of Kargil War between India and Pakistan, a North Korean ship Ku Wol San was seized at Kandla port in Gujarat. The Karachi-bound ship had wrongly declared missile components, metal casings and Scud missile manuals as water purification equipments.
Two teachers in Kerala have been sent on leave for distributing a brochure with a “Maths Prayer” and pictures of Goddess Saraswathi and “Om” among students. The actions sparked protests from parents and local teachers who demanded that the teachers be removed from the school. Around 80% of the students at the school are Muslims.
The pamphlet in question was distributed to students of the 5th standard from the Azhikode government UP school. It contained a Ganita Prarthana (Maths Prayer) which the kids were asked to recite daily to improve their understanding of the subject. The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Meeting demanded that the teachers be removed from the school as well, following which the authorities decided to send them on leave.
“This is a public school. The allegation is that the teachers used religious symbols, which is against the rules”, said an official. “We need to protect the school. We want the support of everyone for the school. There was carelessness on the part of two teachers”, he said. Meanwhile, Rajalakshmi, the teacher who had composed the prayer, has lodged a police complaint claiming harassment and that she was threatened.
It is now being reported that Campus Front of India, whose parent organisation is the Islamist Popular Front of India (PFI). They had organized demonstrations to build pressure on the school authorities to punish the teachers.
While the Uttar Pradesh police had in December, last year, exposed PFIs link to the violence during anti-CAA protest in the state, an explosive investigation by the Enforcement directorate had also exposed that PFI spent about 120 crores in a month to orchestrate the violent riots in the country. Numerous members of the PFI have been arrested across the country for their involvement in the said riots.
Another CCTV footage from the night of December 15, 2019, when the ‘students’ of Jamia Millia Islamia University ran riots and the Delhi Police took action, has come to the fore, in which the rioters are seen indulging in stone-pelting against the law enforcement agency personnel.
#Breaking 1st on TIMES NOW | TIMES NOW accesses another video which shows ‘rioters’ entering Jamia Millia Islami University gate & throwing stones from inside the campus. | #JamiaTapeTwistpic.twitter.com/4mXpjsFRes
The CCTV video accessed by Times Now vindicates Delhi Police’s stand as it shows several individuals hovering around the gate of Jamia Millia Islamia University and eagerly partaking in stone-pelting.
Earlier, a doctored video had surfaced in which Delhi Police personnel were seen barging into the library of the University and liberally raining batons on the masked ‘students’, who were pretending to be studying in the library. The Delhi Police had then claimed that the miscreants who entered the library were rioters trying to save themselves from police action.
Another video emerged shortly afterwards which appeared to depict events that occurred prior to police action in the library. In the video, a ‘student’ with what looks like a stone in his hand was seen exhorting ‘students’ from outside enter the library and seek refuge to avoid violence that had ensued between the ‘students’ and the Police outside.
The videos that are now coming to the fore are decisively debunking the liberal propaganda of maligning Delhi Police and accusing them of needlessly employing brute force against the ‘peaceful protesters’. The videos prove beyond doubt that those who are projected as ‘students’ by the liberal camp are nothing but rioters and stone-pelters, unabashedly propagating violence and disrupting the law and order in Delhi.
Following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, things in the national capital, particularly in Jamia Nagar and Seelampur turned ugly, as demonstrators on the pretext of carrying out ‘peaceful protest’ against the legislation of the CAA, blatantly indulged in vandalism, arson and stone-pelting.
In order to curb the city’s descent into chaos, the Delhi Police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15, 2019, to take control of the situation and flush out the protesters indulging in rioting and violence.
Bangladesh is yet to give a nod to an important project to erect an anti-cut steel fence along the Indo-Bangladesh Border to curb cross border crimes and killings. The single-row fence is to be erected by India but requires consent from the Border Guards Bangladesh. The fence is anti-cut, anti-climb and anti-rust and therefore, will help greatly in stopping criminals from either side to carry out cross-border crimes.
Cross border crimes is a great menace at the Indo-Bangladesh Border and claim lives regularly. As per official figures, 107 Indian smugglers or criminals and 135 Bangladeshi nationals have been killed in violent conflicts with the BSF at this border between 2010-19. During the same period, eleven BSF troops have been killed and 960 injured while thwarting these attempts in more than 1,890 incidents.
“The BSF has made it amply clear to its counterpart BGB or Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) that our mandate is to ensure the sanctity of the border and criminals have no nationality. The BGB also agrees to this. If the nationality of those who get killed or injured in violent confrontations is at all to be considered, there are a considerable number of deaths of Indian nationals too,” Shubhendu Bhardwaj, spokesperson of the BSF, told PTI.
He added that the BSF had proposed erecting a new anti-cut fence in vulnerable regions of the border but a final nod has not been received from the BGP. The Home Ministry said that any concrete work related to this can only be done after the Bangladeshis have been taken on board. At the same time, a ‘pilot project’ of this new fence is already in operation along a 7 km stretch in Assam’s Silchar.
Security officials also said that the direction issued by the Union Government in 2011 (UPA Govt) to use nonlethal weapons to curb killings at the border is proving to be counterintuitive. “The criminals have been emboldened to attack a BSF patrol or troops as they know that the personnel will first use non-lethal weapons to disperse them and will use lethal weapons or regular rifles only when there is a very serious threat to their life,” an official said.
Pakistan may make a one-time exemption in its trade ban with India to import insecticides that can help fight the locust infestation, reportedDawn News.
The matter is likely to be discussed on Tuesday during the Federal Cabinet’s meeting that will be chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Gas pricing. power bill mandates to receive IMF’s next round of funds ($450 million) will also be discussed in the meeting. The proposal to create a National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) will also be discussed.
The trade ban was imposed by Pakistan after India abrogated Article 370 and revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year. Imran Khan also expelled the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan.
But, the Government regretted its decision immediately as Pakistan was reeling under a shortage of essential medical supplies. As such, the Imran Khan-led government had to import life-saving drugs from India.
The Punjab region of Pakistan has been worst-hit by the locust infestation, resulting in the destruction of crops. Imran Khan was forced to declare a national emergency. A National Action Plan worth ₹7.3 billion was approved to overcome the locust crisis. Minister Ismail Rahu made a bizarre request asking the citizens to rather add locusts to their biryanis, Kadhais and BBQs instead of getting scared of them.
The apex court of the country today dismissed the Centre’s submission against a 2010 Delhi high court order that had approved permanent commission for women officers. The court ordered the centre to ensure that women officers are given a permanent commission (PC) in the Army while also adding that the officers will be now eligible for command posting. Pulling up the government for opposition to the permanent commission to women officers citing physiological features, the Supreme Court stated that such mindset should change as it perpetuates “gender stereotypes”.
Upholding the Delhi HC’s judgment in 2010, a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta stated that the time when women officers were seen merely as “adjuncts” of men officers was long past.
However, the historic judgment too was not spared by the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi who brazenly attempted to politicise the issue while trying to slam his political rivals-BJP. Painting the BJP in a bad light, Gandhi tweeted that the central government disrespected every Indian woman by fighting in the SC against the women Army officers deserving command posts and permanent service.
The Govt disrespected every Indian woman, by arguing in the SC that women Army officers didn’t deserve command posts or permanent service because they were inferior to men.
I congratulate India’s women for standing up & proving the BJP Govt wrong. https://t.co/B67u5VNkrK
The Wayand MP proceeded to politicise the issue concerning permanent commission and command posts to women officers to score political brownie points. But it appears that he was seemingly unaware that it was the Congress government which appealed against the Delhi HC decision that granted these benefits to women in 2010. The Congress government, in its plea in Supreme Court, had demanded a stay of the implementation of the High Court judgement sought a review of its verdict.
In fact, when Gandhi was acquainted with this brutal reality by one of the Twitter users, instead of pulling down his tweet, he used the new feature available on Twitter and hid the mortifying response. Here is the hidden reply to Rahul’s tweet:
Veteran Rohit Agarwal shared an article from 2012 which stated that the Congress government, in its affidavit against the Delhi HC order, said that the women should not be granted permanent commission in the Army claiming the progress of the women army officers “was far from encouraging”.
Rahul Gandhi, being as smart as he is, hid the response by veteran Rohit Agarwal but instead, ended up making the response even more visible because the ‘hidden responses’ are rather visible and make readers curious. It is also interesting that clearly, Rahul Gandhi read the response and knew that he was being a hypocrite, but chose to try and hide the fact rather than rectify himself.
The affidavit stated that the women in the army cannot be accorded with a permanent commission as the majority of the army’s junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks came from rural India and were not yet ready to accept a woman as their leader in combat situations. The affidavit also said that the woman officers must be excluded from combat not only for the time being but “as a matter of policy for all times”.
However, unbeknownst of his own party’s stand on the issue, Rahul pompously tried to project the BJP as a misogynist party that sought to sustain gender stereotypes in the Army.
In fact, it is pertinent to note that the petitioners, in this case, women army officers, were represented by none other than the BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi. “The court has rejected all those misleading statements. Now women will get equal rights in the Army like men. The judgement has paved the way for women officers to hold command posts,” Lekhi said while hailing the judgment.
