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HomeOpinionModi MonitorA ‘fit’ Modi has no time to speak on Shujaat Bukhari killing

A ‘fit’ Modi has no time to speak on Shujaat Bukhari killing

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The Prime Minister can reach out to ordinary people by offering condolences on Shujaat Bukhari’s murder.

It’s the morning after Kashmiri editor Shujaat Bukhari’s killing and @narendramodi’s 1.48 minute fitness video continues to rock social media. The Prime Minister’s timeline continues to be flooded with messages from ordinary folk, IPS officers and table tennis star @manikabatra_TT (who recently collected an armful of medals at the Commonwealth Games). All of them were challenged by the Prime Minister to demonstrate their fitness routines.

At last count, the PM’s video had been watched an unprecedented 6.05 lakh times and liked more than 88,000 times.

But there’s not one word by the Prime Minister condemning Shujaat Bukhari’s tragic death that will definitely affect the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Information and broadcasting minister @Ra_THORe described it as an “assassination” and @RahulGandhi offered his condolences and expressed his anguish. Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti shared their grief. The Editors Guild of India put out a sharply critical statement underlining the costs needed to sustain a free and independent media.

But the Prime Minister, the morning after, began the day by offering his greetings to the “people of Odisha” on the festival of Raja Parba, also in the Oriya script. There’s not a word on Shujaat Bukhari. Even death, it seems these days, doesn’t break down some categories.

Meanwhile, @narendramodi’s Twitter team has posted an animated video of the PM – sandwiched between images of enthusiastic audiences in Bhilai and PM applauding SCO general secretary Rashid Alimov, from Tajikistan, for promoting yoga – on the benefits of the practice of ‘dhyan’ or meditation.

Perhaps that’s one way to deal with the Chinese. Back-to-back meetings in Wuhan and Qingdao with Chinese president Xi Jinping would likely exhaust a less fit man. Perhaps the Prime Minister is also taking note of the manner in which Beijing deals with international condemnation of its human rights record – slamming it with one hand and reaching out to its critics with the other, offering the chance to Make in China. From Hello Kitty products to Ivanka Trump shoes, the strategy continues to work across the board.

So what does India do? As a much economically weaker nation, Delhi’s options are far fewer and much more circumscribed, of course. For example, a report on the gruesome goings-on in Kashmir by the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Thursday has been slammed by India. This is the first time in decades that the UN has directly taken India to task on Kashmir. Shujaat Bukhari’s killing, in fact, demonstrates that India seems to be back to the Kashmir of the early 1990s, a state seemingly on the verge of slipping out of control.

What can India do? Unfortunately, the Prime Minister refuses to learn from former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao who, in the wake of international condemnation on the Babri Masjid demolition and militancy in Kashmir, sent his political opponent and then leader of opposition, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in 1994 as the head of a multi-party delegation to take on the world’s charges.

Narasimha Rao was telling the world that India is united on dealing with its criticism.

Will Modi ever think of doing this? Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s relations with his main opposition, the Congress, are so bitter that such an idea will never hold. The perils of diminishing the opposition on a daily basis are coming home to roost.

Offering condolences on Shujaat Bukhari’s murder would be one way of reaching out to ordinary people above party affiliation – @narendramodi’s Twitter timeline is full of such examples. But even that isn’t happening. Kashmir is aflame, once again.

It’s clear, meanwhile, that the Prime Minister’s hold on foreign policy is slipping as elections draw near. This means that Sushma Swaraj’s ministry of external affairs is returning to its traditional positions, which include voting against Israel at the UN. Only a year ago, Narendra Modi was walking on the beaches of Haifa along with Bibi Netanyahu, pronouncing undying friendship.

Many are welcoming this return to Non-Alignment 2.0 but remember that in this last year before general elections, the PM is as much driven by the assessment that India’s borders must be kept safe. A Doklam-like incursion would be hugely detrimental to the BJP’s prospects. Sweet-talking the Chinese in Wuhan and Qingdao, especially with an unpredictable man like Trump on the other side, seems to be India’s only option.

As he stretches over a boulder on the lawns of his residence in his fitness video, perhaps, the PM knows that India is caught between a rock and a hard place.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. The author and most of the Talking Head in India are simply beyond ridiculous!
    Kashmir is aflame! Modi has lost his way!

    Hello! It is not Mr. Modi who refused to learn from history, it is you and your “secular” *what a joke) friends.

    When a (jihadi) robber with a gun enters your home, do you try to give him Biyani? No! You use your gun to shoot him. Before he shoots you.
    But this author and her ilk blame the home-owner for the violence! Oh, Modi hurt the poor (jihadi) robber’s feelings!!!

    What a truly pathetic, ridiculous political class we have in India. they are so convinced of their righteousness, they dare to santimoniously preach to the only sane politician we have in India.

    This is the only Kashmir policy India needs. Please be clear: if you raise your hand against a serving soldier in the Indian Army, prepare to die. (Just check with US, Israeli and Chinese Armies)

    There is no hope for India. Possibly with Mr. Modi but that also is a slim chance.

  2. Desh ke gaddar, anti nationals, terror and terrorist supporters, anti Hindu trying to eliminate Hindus….will be surely sent to 72 hoors… It is immaterial who sends them to…

  3. Prof PK Sharma,Freelance Journalist, Barnala(Punjab)

    Indian polity is facing the music ? Why is it so ? Time for parleys and deep introspection !

    Foreign policy dithering and wavering in direction ! Casual approach in handling external affairs!
    The economy in very bad and tottering shape ! The situation may slip and go out of bounds !
    The Jammu and Kashmir endlessly facing disaster,trauma, turbulence and insurgency !
    The demographic dividend of the nation very restless owing to the ever mounting unemployment !
    The deteriorating law and order scenario in the nation raising its monstrous head time and again !
    Farmers out on streets and roads struggling, agitating and protesting- unheeded and unbothered !
    Communal harmony in peril because of parochial thinking, lynching incidents unchecked on the rise!

    ~Visionary, far-sighted, broadminded and magnanimous approach is the dire need of the hour !
    ~Learning from past blunders can still serve the national interests in the best possible manner !

    How many times PM Modi convened all parties meetings to take these in to confidence on national
    issues of vital importance ? He should have entered into dialogue with opposition parties on burning
    and sensitive problems the nation is face to face with. The opposition party leaders and members of the
    parliament too belong to India representing their regions, not foes of India.The functioning of parliament
    seesions comes to a standstill and Prime Minister is unconcerned ! Their opinion/advice should have been
    valued and acted upon where ever it is in the interests of nation !

    Ironically,PM Modi to keep fit and fine is concentrating on Yoga and BJP supremo Amit Shah rushing from
    one corner of the nation to another to woo allies in the run upto to May,2019 Lok Sabha Polls Marathon !

    O Poor Indian democracy, pitiable to find thee at the merci and feet of Modi-Shah duo in a nation of Crores !
    Democracy cannot be left to its fate like this relying on just four shoulders, too many more to multiply !

    Waking up from deep and long slumber of all the Indians collectively will work wonders now onwards !

    Prof PK Sharma,Freelance Journalist
    Pom Anm Nest, Barnala(Punjab)

  4. Now you can relate to the pain people of India go through when you are silent on the murder of Journalists who do not lean towards left. Shujaat Bukhari was Nikhil Dadhich of Journalists and should be treated accordingly. An undercover Islamist died with the bullets of Islamists.

  5. The author has no guts to write truth facts on Kashmiri Pandits and terrorism on Hindus. He doesn’t also believes in fit India.

  6. Has Modi become mad?

    Why is he silent on hundreds of pressing issues facing the country – 1) Dalit kids being beaten by upper caste men in Maharashtra for “polluting” a well 2) Businesses all over the country experiencing shutdown due to flawed implementation of GST 3) Indian soldiers dying in cross-border skirmishes

    He is not even worried about issues facing his own party – 1) Shatrughan Sinha and Kirti Azad who remain BJP MPs in name only, but are already hobnobbing with the opposition. What kind of message does it send to BJP cadre if he fails to discipline his own irregular MPs?

    Nobody wants to watch him do Yoga and fitness videos. This country voted in him for a specific reason. But Modi has been nothing but a massive failure, a joomla-driven personality. High on promises, low on delivery.

    He should resign immediately and accept his failures at governance. And say sorry for misleading India all these years. That is if he has any moral fiber left.

  7. The Congress, to be fair, has said it rejects the UNHRC report. Facing the world, all Indians are united. However, the issue of respecting human rights in Kashmir and other troubled parts of the country is something we owe to ourselves.

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