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| Chidambaram Snubs Rahul & Digvijaya | | Dividing India For Votes | | Neha
Jammu, Jan 13: No one had ever expected that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who now speaks very rarely, would publicly take on AICC general secretary and the Congress' "Yuvraj" Rahul Gandhi and his very close associate AICC general secretary and in-charge of Congress party in Uttar Pradesh (UP) Digvijaya Singh and take a line that could greatly damage the Congress' electoral prospectus in the very crucial State of UP. To take a line that is inconsistent with the line of Rahul could mean anything; it could even mean expulsion from the party and the government because Congress means Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. But the Home Minister did take a line that was not consistent with the line of Rahul and Digvijaya, thus showing to them their rightful place and setting the record straight.
The case in point is the January 9 controversial statement of Digvijaya that the 2008 Delhi Batla House encounter was "fake"; the Rahul's assurance to the Muslim youth of UP that he would see to it if a judicial probe could be ordered to find if the encounter was genuine or fake and the Thursday Home Minister's emphatic no to what both the AICC general secretaries said to win the UP's Muslim electorate. The Muslim youth of Azamgarh had held a massive protest demonstration against Rahul and burnt his effigy two days ago and reiterated their demand for a judicial inquiry into the Batla House episode.
The encounter on September 19, 2008, at Batla House had led to the killing of Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma and two Indian Mujahideen terrorists while two other Indian Mujahideen terrorists were arrested and another fled from the scene.
It bears recalling that Digvijaya Singh had on Wednesday once again dismissed as "fake" the Batla House encounter after Rahul Gandhi faced protests during his campaign visit to Azamgarh, home of those killed in the encounter. Singh had said: "He always believed the Batla House encounter was fake and had tried to get the government and the Home Ministry to re-investigate the matter. The Prime Minister and Home Minister were of the view that the encounter was true. That's why I did not press it further," Singh had said in Azamgar itself from where a number of youth were arrested in terror cases, including the Delhi bomb blasts.
It is important to note that the Congress party always distanced itself from Digvijaya Singh's remarks on the Batla House encounter. It was Rahul Gandhi who deviated from the party line and virtually suggested that he would not only look into the complaint of the protesting youth of Azamgarh, but would also see if he could make the concerned authorities reopen the case. It was this stand of Rahul and Digvijaya that generated heat in the political circles with the critics of the Congress the BJP and the Samajwadi Party unleashing a no-holds-barred propaganda against the Congress and demanding resignation of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit and Digvijaya. They charged Digvijaya and Rahul with vitiating the atmosphere in UP in order to win the Muslim votes.
The propaganda campaign unleashed by the BJP and the Samajwadi Party produced the result yesterday when Home Minister Chidambaram dismissed Digvijaya's charge and said emphatically that the Batla House encounter in Delhi was genuine and that there was no scope for reopening the matter. "After looking into the matter, after I took over as Home Minister, we came to the conclusion that the encounter was a genuine encounter…It was the view of Digvijay Singh from the very beginning and I respect his (Singh's) view…But every authority who has looked into it (the case), has agreed that it was a genuine encounter. So, while there is a difference of opinion, I think the matter rests where it stands today. I don't think there is any scope for reopening that matter," Chidambaram said in a press conference in New Delhi.
The Home Minister's statement must have rattled both Rahul and Digvijaya and made them an object of ridicule and contempt. There is no doubt whatever that the Home Minister's stand on the Batla House encounter would be exploited by the Congress' opponents to their own advantage in UP. In fact, the process has already started with the BJP questioning the very credibility of the Congress and the Congress leadership. The BJP yesterday accused the Congress leadership of resorting to double speak and asked the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi to explain their position. "If Chidambaram as Home Minister says the Batla House encounter was genuine then how did Digvijaya Singh term it fake in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in Azamgarh yesterday?" BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad asked. His colleague and party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar did not lag behind. He also said: "Let Prime Minister come out of his silent mode and explain to the nation what are the facts of the Batla House encounter, in which a brave police officer had to pay the price and he died to the bullets fired by terrorists... And, here's a Congress leader giving moral booster to the terrorists and demoralizing the police force by his antics." "Digvijaya is his Majesty's voice. You cannot remain mute spectators," also said Javdekar while questioning Sonia and Rahul. Not only this, he went a step further and asked the Prime Minister to not just "clarify his own position" with regard to the matter, but also take action against Digvijaya for making such statements. "In fact, the PM should take action against Digvijaya, as he is trying to influence the courts. We condemn such dirty politics…How much you will stoop low to gain a few votes," attacking Digvijaya, Javdekar said.
The Congress leadership needs to take cognizance of the dangerous ramifications of what it has been doing to garner the minority votes in UP and review its stand on the Batla House encounter and religion-based reservation. This is must. It just cannot be allowed to divide the nation on communal lines. The situation in the country is already far from normal. Chidambaram does deserve appreciation for his bold stand, notwithstanding his highly controversial stand on Jammu and Kashmir and the nature of problem the nation has been facing in this sensitive border state since years now. |
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