BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Member Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi says openly and brazenly that he won’t chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ even if a knife is put at his throat. The Maoist and Kashmiri radicals’ vociferously rant “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak’ in Jawaharlal Nehru University and go scot-free as heroes with Pappus of Indian politics eulogising and glamourising them.
Despite belittling ‘Bharat Mata’ and vowing to tear apart India in bits and pieces, the anti-national elements, their perpetrators and their patrons keep chanting intolerance with entire left block, including Congress and other regional outfits of Lalu, Nitish, Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee, etc turning poster boys for defaming their country in the comity of nations.
Can this happen anywhere in the world?
One would wish Sonia Gandhi and her son to explain to the nation instead of making beeline in JNU to espouse the cause of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat. The onus lies more on Rahul Gandhi, who is carrying the Nehru-Gandhi linage to claim his copyright to Delhi throne. He seems to have not inherited an iota of vision, patriotism and statesmanship his grandmother Indira Gandhi possessed. He should have remembered or told by some sycophant Congressmen how Indira Gandhi had handled Maqbool Bhat case in February 1984, soon after the kidnapping and killing of 49 years old Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in Birmingham London. Had Rahul Gandhi known it perhaps he would have not supported the Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru brigade. He appeared to be a blot on Nehru-Gandhi clan while being amidst those who chanted ‘Maqbool Hum Sharminda Hai Tere Katil Zinda Hai, Hum Kya Chahte Azadi, Maqbool Wali Azadi, Afzal Wali Azadi’. His presence in JNU was not per chance or out of prejudice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It seems to have been a conscious decision of the Congress to be seen at the side of anti-nationals. P Chidambaram, a former Union Home Minister, is on record having stated, “I think it is possible to hold an honest opinion that the Afzal Guru case was perhaps not correctly decided. But an independent person can hold an opinion that the case was not decided correctly.” Could Indira Gandhi have tolerated such a stand taken by any of her party men?
On 10th February 1984, when news about killing of Ravindra Mhatre, the diplomat kidnapped by little known Kashmir Liberation Army, a subsidiary of JKLF, for seeking release of convict Maqbool Bhat, was conveyed to Indira Gandhi at 7 AM, she convened emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs at 10.00 AM. Immediate decision was taken to hang Bhat as soon as legally possible. A top ranking official was dispatched to Kolkata to obtain President Zail Singh’s signature on rejection of Bhat’s mercy petition. Another official, P.P. Nayyar was sent to Kashmir to clear legal obstacles and obtain black warrant. Intelligence heads had agreed that Mhatre’s killing was not random and more such attacks could be expected. And on 11th February morning in Delhi, Maqbool Bhat was made to take his final steps to the gallows and was hanged. His mortal remains continue to remain buried in Tihar Jail. The swiftness with which Maqbool Bhat’s fate was sealed following the Mhatre murder may have raised hackles in Kashmir but Indira Gandhi had emerged with a new decisiveness. After sending Maqbool Bhat to gallows, she visited Mhatre in Mumbai to pay nation’s homage on his martyrdom.
What did Rahul Gandhi do after JNU was polluted with anti-India slogans by students owing allegiance to leftist parties, who had been in the forefront in early eighties to seek mercy for Maqbool Bhat? He simply went to embrace them who were marginalised by her grandmother. And, also, what did the muscle flexing BJP top brass do to quell growing glorification of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru? For the sake of saving political space in Jammu and Kashmir to re-stitch alliance of BJP with PDP, the Kashmiri radicals were not even touched. They are roaming free and mocking at the Indian Government.
Would Indira Gandhi have afforded to do so by sparing Kashmiri sloganeers of JNU who actually ranted anti-India and pro-Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru slogans? Could she have even thought about joining hands with those who glamourised and espoused the cause of Maqbool Bhat for whom Mhatre had to lay his life? And what a travesty of times, Mhatre stands forgotten and renewed efforts being made to glorify Maqbool Bhat, not only in Kashmir but across India.