
Strikes steel PM Modi's iron man credentials
NEW DELHI: Two days after the Pahalgam terror attack , Narendra Modi gave a speech in Madhubani, Bihar. He vowed to "identify, track and punish every terrorist and his backer". In a speech given what turned out to be just hours before Operation Sindoor was launched, he struck a very different note. He touched upon Pakistan's perfidy, but limited himself to talking about pausing the Indus Waters Treaty That's Modi for you. Little did anyone know that before coming to Tuesday's event organised by a TV network, he had greenlighted the operation. With hindsight, his decision to record his speech for the Global Conference on Space Exploration on Wednesday morning showed he had already decided on the date for the retaliation.It's easy to say now for everyone that a PM who greenlighted surgical strikes after Uri and the bombing of Balakot terror camp after Pulwama was always going to give an answer to Pahalgam. But in the two weeks between Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor, there were many, including opposition leaders, who questioned whether he would okay a kinetic response. More so because pretty much every world leader of any consequence was advising 'restraint'.But not for the first time, Modi upended several people's assumptions. This is the third time he's called Pakistan's nuclear bluff, and the third time he's shown that the earlier Indian govt thinking, summed up in the euphemism 'strategic restraint', was never going to constrain his decisions.Modi was undeterred by pundits' concerns that a desperate Pak army chief, Gen Asim Munir, the maulvi in fatigues, could go to any extent to counter a punitive strike. He also proved wrong those who had reckoned that with the Indian armed forces already stretched thin since the Galwan clash with Chinese forces, and given the fear of China's communist bosses coming to the aid of their all-weather ally Pakistan, he would rein in his natural instinct to hit back harder.The precision strikes, while exposing Pakistan's nuclear blackmail for what it is, plain blackmail, helped him fully regain the 'jo kaha so kiya' plank and ' tough on national security ' credentials.The Pahalgam attack, though an aberration considering the successful tackling of terror both within J&K and outside it, had cast a shadow on those credentials. Daily taunts from opposition leaders had demonstrated their willingness to target what they saw as a chink in Modi's armour. The absence of a decisive Indian response would have allowed opposition leaders to take that rhetoric further. The anti-BJP political narrative would have been centered around what the opposition would have termed as Modi's inability to live up to his own belief that India must cross the 'red line' in response to a Pak-sponsored terror outrage.The nine precision strikes have washed away all doubt and with it, the opposition's story. Modi has again ensured that BJP retains the upper hand in security matters. The decision to share videos of the successful strikes involving 'niche' munitions was astute and left little room for quibble.More significantly, Modi also appears to have prepared the country for the longer haul vis-a-vis security threats, boosting its risk appetite: something that was evident in the manner in which people shrugged off Pakistan's claims of losses for IAF and, also, in the way stock markets took the risk of escalation in their stride.This is vital. The task of making India's economy stronger - itself a vital national security advantage - won't be any less urgent even after massively raising Pakistan's cost of terror sponsorship. Modi will helm that job as a PM with even bigger political capital.
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Pakistan's UNSC posts present diplomatic challenge for India's fight against terror
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NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Why Is The Congress Reluctant To Endorse Tejashwi Yadav As Bihar Poll Nears?
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That fact has been underlined by the results of the two most recent elections in the state - the 2024 federal election, in which Tejashwi Yadav's party won four seats to the Congress' three, and the 2020 state poll, in which the RJD was the single-largest party with 71 of 243 seats. The Congress - reeling from a string of losses to the BJP in state and federal elections over the past decade - has been relegated to the role of a junior partner, much like in Tamil Nadu, where the party has played second fiddle to Chief Minister MK Stalin's DMK in the past three elections. However, unlike in Tamil Nadu, in Bihar the Congress is trying to break free from the 'junior partner' tag, boosted by senior leader Rahul Gandhi's sustained campaigns across the state. The RJD has made its position clear - Tejashwi Yadav is the party's chief ministerial candidate. Tejashwi Yadav will be the RJD' chief ministerial face in the Bihar election (File). The Congress, the subtext therefore says, can either get with the programme or leave. Does Congress Have Votes To Go Solo? Not really. In the 2020 state election the party contested 70 seats and won just 19. The RJD contested 144 and won 75. The alliance lost the election by 12 seats. The hugely disparate conversion rates - 27 per cent to 52 per cent - have often been red-flagged by the state party as a big reason for that narrow loss. The Congress, though, has argued its candidates were "set up to fail" and blamed the RJD for not extending grassroots support and allotting 'difficult-to-win' seats to the larger party. And it wants 'respectable and winnable' seats this time to remain allied, sources said. The situation, i.e., the disparity in performance between the two parties, was evident in last year's federal election too, in which 40 parliamentary seats were in play. The Mahagathbandan was trounced - it won nine seats, campaigning as the INDIA bloc, to the BJP-led NDA's 30. The RJD won four and polled over 22 per cent of the votes. The Congress got three and only nine per cent of the votes. This has led to RJD expressing frustration at the Congress' 'overestimation' of its strength. Nevertheless, the Congress reportedly remains insistent it can contest this election on its own, and its unwillingness, at this time, to back the RJD, indicates it wants to do just that. As an aside, the Congress' inability to play nicely with state/regional parties has made headlines over the past few years, and has often played its part in a big BJP win. A good example of this is the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election and the spat with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party over six of the state's 230 seats. The Congress' subsequent defeat provoked caustic comments from other allies about not working with friendly parties. Can Congress Win Without RJD? The Congress reportedly has reservations over what it sees as a 'one-dimensional' campaign of the RJD, which is based on caste factors and, particularly, the Muslim-Yadav base. It wants to broaden the Mahagathbandan's appeal and project a more modern and inclusive image, which is why Rahul Gandhi has made frequent trips - seven in the last six months - to Bihar, with the focus on Dalits and issues of importance to the community. The Congress believes Rahul Gandhi's visits to Bihar will help it get more votes (File). But this has made the RJD anxious, since it is seen as poaching its voter base. Congress leaders in Bihar have also argued they need to contest on issues important to the party as a whole, such as employment, education, and secularism, and so attract urban voters who feel alienated from both the RJD's caste politics and BJP's Hindutva focus. A Mahjong Effect? The Congress, meanwhile, is also aware that it cannot be seen as too accepting of a junior role, of scraps in seats and at the decision-making table, since this weakens its position when negotiating with other state allies, including the DMK in Tamil Nadu. The refusal, so far, to endorse Tejashwi Yadav may therefore also be a strategic signal to allies - that the Congress is unwilling to play an increasingly weak second fiddle. So, what can the Congress do now? Either agree, again, to be the RJD's junior partner or bargain hard, knowing that this might leave the opposition alliance in tatters, and give the JDU-BJP a big boost, months before voting. And all of this does not factor in the role of Left parties that are part of the Mahagathbandan alliance. These have, so far, remained silent. They are not seen as having any objection to Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Minister, but they are watching the Congress' moves closely. If the Congress decides to break free from the RDJ's 'shackles', it might find support from smaller parties, including the Left, unhappy with both the RJD and the BJP (and JDU).
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Complainant against influencer Sharmistha Panoli arrested in Kolkata
Wajahat Khan, the man who filed the police complaint that led to the arrest of social media influencer and law student Sharmistha Panoli, was arrested in Kolkata on Monday after allegedly being on the run since 1 June. Panoli was arrested in Gurugram on 30 May in connection with a hate speech case and was granted bail by the Calcutta High Court on 5 June. She was released from Alipore Women's Correctional Home on 6 June. Who is Wajahat Khan? Khan had lodged the initial complaint against Panoli, citing hate speech. Following that, he allegedly went into hiding with his father. On 2 June, a formal complaint was filed against him by the Shree Ram Swabhiman Parishad, accusing him of using derogatory, inflammatory, and sexually explicit language aimed at Hindu deities, religious practices, and the community at large. Who is Sharmistha Panoli? What is the case against Sharmistha Panoli? Panoli had posted a video on social media making communal remarks and referring to Operation Sindoor. The video drew criticism and led to a police complaint on 15 May at the Garden Reach police station in Kolkata. The Kolkata Police classified the content as hate speech and filed a case against her. Later the same day, she deleted the video and issued an unconditional public apology for her remarks. TMC vs BJP in the Panoli case The case has taken on a political dimension in West Bengal. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasement politics, alleging bias in the police action. Leader of the Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari posted on X, calling Panoli's arrest a case of 'police atrocities'. He wrote, 'This is a case of police atrocities as an innocent young lady, for using her freedom of speech and expression, has been illegally arrested by the Kolkata Police and was sent to judicial custody. This is yet another example of police overzealousness and eagerness to please their political masters.' BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul echoed these sentiments, claiming that the police were shielding Wajahat Khan due to 'Muslim appeasement'. In response, Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Riju Datta defended the police action, stating that the Kolkata Police was acting on a court warrant. He also issued a warning to young social media users and their families, saying: 'Do not get influenced by the RW cabal run by BJP IT Cell… they will earn their salary hiding behind a cellphone but your children's lives will be spoiled forever.'