The ugly faces of anti-national mindset

Time of India

26-05-2025

Keshav Upadhye, a young, dynamic and prominent face, has been working with the Bharatiya Janata Party for over two decades. In 2014, the then state president Devendra Fadnavis had appointed Upadhye as the spokesperson in his team. Owing to his journalistic background and better understanding of the socio-economic issues of the state, Upadhye made a mark as a spokesperson in a short span. He articulates the views of the party and aggressively defends the party on various platforms including the Marathi and Hindi national news channels. Keshav Upadhye worked for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and after completing his degree in Journalism from Ranade Institute, Pune, he began his career as a journalist with daily Pudhari, Loksatta and Mumbai Tarun Bharat. Knowing the pulse of the news, he writes on varied topics and on various platforms like the newspapers, blogs and other social media platforms. He was involved in two study groups formed by the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini in 2006 to study the naxalite movement and its adverse impact on the development of Chhatisgarh. The Prabodhini later published this report. He was also a part of the Prabodhini's fact-finding committee formed to study the Solapur riots. LESS ... MORE
After the Operation Sindoor carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in response to the attack on the innocent Hindu tourists in Pahalgam, many developments took place rapidly at the international level. This operation instilled the confidence that India can demonstrate the power to change the entire landscape of international politics. The attack in Pahalgam was perpetrated by the forces that nurture terrorism in Pakistan.
Therefore, it is very important to give a befitting response at the military level as well as at the diplomatic level to teach a lesson to the rulers of Pakistan. The operation against Pakistan was a phenomenal success. Due to this, Pakistan had to kneel down for a ceasefire. At the same time, there was a request to reconsider the decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty. The American media as well as defence experts have also given detailed information about the losses suffered by Pakistan in the operation carried out by the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Air Force inflicted significant damage to six Pakistani air bases by penetrating Pakistan's air defense system. As usual, Pakistan made false claims to cover its losses. These false claims could not deceive the people of Pakistan either.
In the press conferences, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Armed Forces gave detailed evidence of how Pakistan suffered losses in the operations carried out under Operation Sindoor. Pakistan could not counter the irrefutable evidence of the Indian Armed Forces. Against this background, Tiranga Yatras were enthusiastically organised in the country to salute the achievements of the Indian Armed Forces. While on one hand the unprecedented performance of the Indian Armed Forces was being praised, on the other hand, the main opposition party, Congress, tried to bring petty politics into this issue.
Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the opposition in the Lok Sabha, made a statement that befits the ruling party in Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi publicly asked the question, 'How many Indian aircrafts were shot down in Operation Sindoor?', raising doubts about the performance of the Indian Armed Forces. Satellite images of how terrorist bases in Pakistan were significantly damaged were broadcast in the Indian Armed Forces' press conferences.
The Pakistan Army had claimed to have shot down an Indian fighter jet. And when a journalist asked for evidence of this, the Pakistani Prime Minister showed how bankrupt his intellect has become by replying, 'There is a lot of evidence available on social media that we shot down an Indian plane.' Rather than knowing how many terrorist camps were destroyed in Pakistan, how many Pakistani air bases were damaged, why Rahul Gandhi chose to show interest in asking about the losses suffered by the Indian Armed Forces is a question only Rahul Gandhi can answer himself.
Instead of celebrating the performance of the Armed Forces and by asking questions like how much the Indian Armed Forces suffered, Rahul Gandhi demonstrated just how low the mentality of opposition in politics can go. Such questions can be asked to the Armed Forces Chiefs in person, but Rahul Gandhi has the tendency to repeatedly show that he lacks such maturity and vision in politics- What can one do about that? In 1971, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to send a delegation of leaders from various parties in India to inform other countries about why India supported the Bangladesh Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh liberation war. Mrs. Indira Gandhi had entrusted the leadership of this delegation to the then Jana Sangh group leader in the Lok Sabha, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
During the 1971 war, all the opposition parties, including the Jana Sangh, had given unquestioning support to the central government. At that time, the US President Richard Nixon had made statements supporting Pakistan. The Jana Sangh and the independent parties decided to put aside their anti-Congress stance and stand united with the Indira Gandhi government. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his speech in the Lok Sabha, strongly condemned the statement of the then US President Nixon and assured the entire country that the Jana Sangh was firmly standing behind the Indira Gandhi government.
The opposition parties are standing behind the government to confront the menace of terrorism in the country. To make this known to the world, Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was expected to keep politics aside and make statements supporting the government and the army. Rahul Gandhi could not fulfill even this minimum expectation.
Seeing the supreme leader of his party making such statements, mouthpieces like Vijay Wadettiwar felt encouraged. Wadettiwar openly said that the photographic evidence presented by the Indian Armed Forces while giving information about Operation Sindoor was fake. Wadettiwar was heavily criticized on social media for this statement. Still, Wadettiwar did not apologize to the Armed Forces.
The national and state leadership of the Congress did not ask Wadettiwar for an explanation for such a statement. The national leadership of the Congress must have expected such a statement from its regional leadership. The central government decided to dispatch delegations to various countries to share India's stance against terrorism and the rationale behind Operation Sindoor. The leadership of this delegation was entrusted to senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Even with that, the Congress showed what kind of attitude it has. The Congress leadership is not even aware that they are directly taking an anti-national stance by opposing the Modi government.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.