Talk about storm in a teacup and Rahul Gandhi’s interview/chat with former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik begins with the message, “On 14th October, I had a conversation with former Governor of J&K, Shri Satya Pal Malik. Do you think the media will broadcast any of this?”
One must commend Rahul Gandhi’s efforts to try to catch up with the times as far as content is concerned. But it is not fair for RaGa to take offence with the media for he leaves them dumbfounded. Still, if the media’s attention is what he wants, he must get it.
In the 28 minutes 17 seconds-long conversation, the Gandhi scion and Malik touched upon several subjects including Article 370, Pulwama, Farmers, MSP, the Army, Bharat Jodo Yatra, Casteism, Demonetisation, and a new subject, “Liberal Hinduism”, whatever that is.
At the centre of their conversation was venting their frustrations over Prime Minister Narendra Modi by making illogical statements, peddling lies, making bizarre insinuations, and sheer ignorance towards their own failures. As I said, a storm in a teacup.
Surprisingly, Malik, whose political career spans decades, displayed Rahul Gandhi-level of political understanding of all these issues. Even though the discussion was nothing but brick-batting the Prime Minister, the uncivilised manner in which Satya Pal Malik spoke was unexpected. “Iski, kara raha tha, ” was how Malik addressed whenever talking about the PM. At the same time, Malik put up a great image as that of a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi Congress dynasty.
To be or not to be (a PM), asks the Prince
In the same sentence, Satya Pal Malik appreciated and criticised Charan Singh saying, “Charan Singh ji was good. But his problem was that he had the dream of becoming the Prime Minister anyhow.” This prompted Rahul Gandhi to wonder why this is the case with politicians in India.
“Many of our politicians have this issue that I have to become PM at any cost. By compromising everything, we want to become PM. Why does this happen that there is so much impatience that under any circumstance…Many politicians are like that,” RaGa asked ruminatively.
For someone who has been launched, relaunched, and then relaunched again, we ask the same question to Rahul’s mother and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Why exactly do Sonia and her loyalists want to make RaGa PM when it was decided at least nine years ago, if not more, that it simply doesn’t seem to be working out?
Meanwhile, it was an insinuation by Malik against the Prime Minister that pacified Rahul’s pondering mind. The interview cut out to the next topic after a RaGa-approved reply from Malik who said, “After independence, politics was like duty and people used to perform it like that. Then it became a profession. Now it has become a business.”
Article 370 abrogation
According to Satya Pal Malik, Jammu and Kashmir “cannot be managed by force or the Army” and J&K’s statehood should be reinstated immediately. According to Malik, J&K was made a union territory because the government suspected that the police could revolt.
What followed this bizarre statement was insinuation after insinuation to paint a picture that the Central government doubts the Jammu and Kashmir police. That a former Jammu and Kashmir Governor is pitting the Indian Army against the Jammu and Kashmir police shows just how many challenges India faces internally.
Malik said that he had asked the government to reinstate statehood but, according to him, the Centre said that “that is not necessary, everything is going fine”, a point Malik disagrees with.
“How is going fine? Insurgency is back. Terrorists are active,” said Malik and Rahul added to this saying that terror incidents have increased. These statements come merely three days after Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh said that “terrorism is breathing its last in the union territory”.
According to reports, Singh also said that only 10 local youth joined terror ranks this year as compared to 110 in 2022. This is reportedly the lowest number in the UT since late 1980s.
In September, the J&K DGP had said that of the 49 terrorists neutralised by security forces in J&K, 40 were foreign nationals. And yet, the former J&K Governor damned official data to propagate his lies and help validate Rahul Gandhi. “It (terror incidents) is happening everywhere. Everyday something happens in Rajouri, Kashmir valley,” Malik said.
Rahul and Malik blatantly peddle lies about and politicise Pulwama
At the very beginning, it is preposterous that Rahul Gandhi seeks Malik’s “opinion” about the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred on 14th February 2019.
Malik responds, almost doing a favour, saying that he won’t say that they (the government) got it done. Seems like Malik did take note of how his interview with Karan Thapar, where he held the Modi government responsible for the Pulwama attacks, was used by Pakistan media to give the terror nation a cleanchit.
“But they ignored it in Pulwama and used it politically for themselves because there are his speeches (PM Modi’s) wherein he says that when you go to cast vote, remember the martyrs of Pulwama,” Malik told Rahul. He said that the Modi government wanted to use Pulwama for electoral gains to say that Pakistan did it and we will now defeat them.
It is funny though that a little later in the conversation, Malik says that the Prime Minister called him at around 5-6 PM and asked what happened. Malik recalls saying to the PM, “I told him because of our mistake many of our people have died. He told me to stay quiet and not say anything on it.” He said the same was told to him by NSA Ajit Doval.
Redirecting attention back to himself, Rahul alleged in the conversation that he was told by the security not to go to the airport to pay homage to the martyrs whose mortal remains were being brought to the airport.
“They locked me in a room at the airport and told me “you cannot leave the room”. I asked them “what do you mean?” The martyrs were brought there, Army men were there. The Prime Minister was coming. And they literally locked me with a key and told me I cannot leave. I asked the security that how can they do this. I fought them and left from there,” Rahul alleged.
Notably, this is the first time that Rahul Gandhi has mentioned this incident in all the times that he has spoken about Pulwama. Given that all of his claims have been proven wrong and that he has received backlash for politicising the attacks, Rahul seems to have spun this new story.
Both Rahul and Malik called the tribute to martyrs at the airport “a show” with the latter saying that the Prime Minister should have gone to Srinagar. So the former J&K Governor is of the view that the right response from the PM should have been to visit Srinagar and direct all security to himself rather than ensuring safety and normalisation.
With the security situation in J&K being extremely sensitive and local sentiments undecided, suggesting such experimental endeavours shows just why Satya Pal Malik is a failed politician who continued to lie in the course of the conversation.
Malik parroted a lie that was first tweeted by Rahul Gandhi on 22nd February 2019, just eight days after the Pulwama attack. Malik said, “Jis din yeh hua toh yeh National Corbett Park mein shooting kara raha tha apni (The day this happened, he was getting his shooting done at Corbett Park).
OpIndia had fact-checked Rahul Gandhi proving that the Prime Minister had completed his forest visit almost an hour before the attack in Pulwama, during which time some photographers took a few snaps of him. The photos were shared by Rahul with the allegations on Twitter and the same was spread like wildfire by his footmen in the Congress and mainstream media.
Another big lie that Malik has peddled despite being fact-checked is that the Pulwama attacks happened because the CRPF were not granted the five aircraft which they had sought approval for from the Home Ministry.
“Their application was lying at the Home Ministry for four months and it was rejected after four months. They had asked for five aircraft. It wasn’t given and the application was held for four months,” Malik lied.
“Agar woh merese maangte toh main immediately kar deta. Mere saamne nahin aane diya. Agar mere saamne aayi hoti toh main kuch usme karta. That was between CRPF and the Home Ministry. (Had they asked me I would have granted. But they did not let me know about it because I would have done something about that. That was between CRPF and the Home Ministry),” Malik said.
A report on 17th February 2019 quoted top CRPF officers and government sources saying that even if aircraft had been provided for personnel, convoy movement would still have happened as there were about 4,000 troops and aircraft could not have taken all of them.
The CRPF officer said there was a backlog due to weather, and 4,000 personnel needed to be moved. Not all of them could have gone by aircraft.
— Prakash (@Gujju_Er) October 25, 2023
However, individuals like Satyapal Malik consistently spread fake news with help of the people like Rahul Gandhi, who has been… pic.twitter.com/5ey5M2luH0
Staying true to his colours, not once did Malik condemn Pakistan-backed terrorism responsible for the several terrorist attacks including Pulwama. Rather his focus was to demotivate and demean Indian intel and the forces. Again drawing a divide between the Kashmir police and the Central forces, the former J&K Governor said, “Not one of the 8-10 link roads on the 10-km stretch where the attack happened was sanitised that day. When I used to send my Kashmir police, we used to halt civil traffic on the entire stretch and would send them after sanitising.”
It is shocking that despite being proved wrong on several occassions over Pulwama, Rahul Gandhi was finding it tough to believe when Malik said that heaps of explosive had come from Pakistan.
“PM has given his money to Adani,” says Malik
While Rahul decried that the media is reporting only on Israel and not furthering his political agendas, Malik placated him by saying that Rahul has stuck the Adani name to PM Modi which he cannot get rid of now. “People are also saying that Adani has his (PM’s) money,” Malik said. If you think this is funny, wait till you read the next best thing.
Duo insinuates that Atiq Ahmed was killed to divert attention from Satya Pal Malik’s interview with Karan Thapar
“The day I did an interview with Karan Thapar, they called all channels and told them not to report it. And then Atiq Ahmed’s case happened and it was the headline for ten days,” Malik claimed.
Rahul immediately, and excitedly, jumped in to say that he told his sister Priyanka Gandhi that Atiq Ahmed’s killing was done to distract the people from what you said about Pulwama. “I notied that when you spoke about Pulwama, they were scared,” Rahul stated.
“But Atiq Ahmed’s news overshadowed it for 10 days,” Malik added. Yes, Satya Pal Malik thinks he is THAT important even after being ousted.
Rahul reiterates that he wants casteism to exist
It is still understandable to seek reservation/quota for a community in government ranks, but to ask for caste representation in all institutions, private or public is plain casteist. Rahul Gandhi claims to have found through his “research” that in all Indian institutions, including media and bureaucracy, OBCs, tribals, and Dalits have no representation.
“Whether it’s a big media house or anchors, and reports they do not have even a single OBC, Dalit, or Tribal,” Rahul lamented. If Rahul Gandhi had it his way, he would introduce reservation in the media to ensure freedom of press. Who knows, the existence of leftist-laden Press Clubs might just start making sense what with new-found inclusivity and placards crying “Brahminical patriarchy” might not be needed anymore?
Rahul, Malik attack GST, Demonetisation, Agniveer, Army, Election Commission, and every other institution their minds could comprehend
After Rahul’s monologue on how the current Indian institutional structure and the system of information are preventing their voice from reaching the people because “Modiji turns up the loudspeaker”, Rahul took to the topic of the working class.
He spoke about his conversation with carpenters who, he claims, told him that they build the products but they cannot go to the showrooms where the products are sold. “Our work, our labour, but the fruit is not ours,” Rahul cited them. Something tells me the message was beyond the realm of his understanding.
Malik was quick to blame the Modi government for this. “It is so unfair, they hike prices, and publicise it. The poor don’t get anything. It is a very exploitative system.” I wonder if Rahul and Malik would be open to elaborating their views of this “exploitative system” if they were to have a casual conversation with a real economist.
This was followed by a one-line attack on GST and Demonetisation each despite the fact that DeMo was announced targetting high-value currency, which by no logic can impact the poor. And then Rahul tossed the ball in Malik’s court mentioning farmers’ agitation. Malik was happy to receive it.
Malik blamed the Modi government for the changing economic aspirations of the country and the rural youth increasingly venturing out to urban areas for employment opportunities. “Slowly, there will be no farming,” Malik predicted. Spare this writer for not being able to explain how and why the former J&K Governor immediately drew parallels between his imagination that “farming will end” the way “they finished Army” through Agniveer.
Malik believes that “Who will sacrifice their lives for such a short period as Agniveer?” These are two daft Indian politicians, one seasoned in daftness, talking about what they think is right and wrong for the people of this country who they don’t even believe to have the patriotism it takes to safeguard the nation.
Notably, a day before this mind-boggling interview, Agniveer Gawate Akshay Laxman was martyred in the line of duty in Siachen Glacier making him the first such casualty since the scheme was introduced last year. As for the “short period as Agniveer” that Malik has a problem with, Laxman will be accorded all honours as a “battle casualty”. Even in the Agniveer’s death, Rahul took the opportunity to target the forces. Here’s a fact check by OpIndia Hindi.
Laxman’s family will receive Rs 48 lakh non-contributory insurance, ex gratia of Rs 44 lakh, Seva Nidhi contributed by the Agniveer (30%), with an equal matching contribution by the government, and interest thereon. The Agniveer’s next of kin with also receive pay for the balance tenure from the date of death till the completion of four years which amounts to over Rs 13 lakh, and contribution of Rs 8 lakh from the Armed Forces Battle Casualty Fund, as per government sources. Here are all the facts you need to know about Agniveer.
Rahul Gandhi then ranted saying that the Modi government is infiltrating its own people into every institution including the Election Commission (EC). This was Malik cue who alleged that Rahul should get a research done on how all Vice Chancellors in Central Universities appointed in the past one year are connected to the Sangh (RSS). Rahul’s understanding of this baseless and idiotic allegation is that the government is trying to practice “mind control”.
Basically, this part of the conversation was about whining about every institution which Rahul Gandhi cannot get his hands on. One wonders why he did not mention the Opposition even once for that too is as good as an institution RaGa cannot seem to have any say or control on.
“Farmers don’t know they are becoming poor” and “MSP should be implemented”
Satya Pal Malik, while trying to explain to Rahul Gandhi what challenges the farmers are facing, said that farmers don’t know that they are becoming poor. He said that the gap between cost of the crop and fertilizer increases and reduces the farmers’ purchasing power year on year. “He doesn’t know that he is becoming poor.”
Malik said that MSP should be implemented. But here’s the twist, MSP is already implemented. Oblivious to the fact, Malik went on to describe in detail why MSP should be implemented. He kept falsely accusing the government of cheating the farmers on MSP because Adani made big godowns and purchased crops at a set price. He alleged that the cost of these crops will increase next year and Adani will sell it.
This very month, the Modi government announced an increase in the MSP of wheat by Rs 150, the highest hike in MSP prices since Narendra Modi became PM in 2014. In June this year, the Food Ministry informed that more than 830 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured at MSP benefitting 1.22 crore farmers.
Rahul indulged in the conversation taking to his favourite part about Adani. He alleged that Adani has captured the entire storage infrastructure. “I saw its effect in J&K, in Himachal.” Malik responded by saying that the effect can be seen in Haryana and Punjab and in Panipat Adani has built huge godowns.
The duo alleged that Adani has captured storage to “fine tune” and “increase and decrease” the prices. “This has directly harmed the farmers,” Rahul declared. The solution Malik gave to this imaginary problem was this, “Until and unless there is halla bol (attack) against them, they will not change.”
“Or the government should change,” Malik said sowing the seeds of hope into Rahul’s barren head once again. “Aur 6 mahine ki baat hai, main likh ke de raha hoon, bilkul nahin aayenge power mein. (It is a matter of six more months. I give it to you in writing, they will not return to power),” Malik seals the deal in Rahul’s head.
RSS, Gandhivaad, and “Liberal Hinduism”
By this time, Rahul has switched from the role of an interviewer to being the guest and the guest, Satya Pal Malik, cheering RaGa on. Setting the argument that India is witnessing a clash between RSS and Gandhian ideologies, with the former being violent and latter peaceful, Rahul asks Malik about his views who coins the term “Liberal Hinduism”.
“Only if the liberal Hindu thought is promoted only then will the country survive otherwise it will be divided(tuke-tuke ho jayega),” Malik said. Malik said that Gandhi and Congress vision should be promoted amongst the people explaining why they are different.
Safe to say that when the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists could not insult the Hindu faith enough what with their attempts to separate “Hinduism” from “Hindutva” and what not, they are not trying to engineer the science of language and reinvent new narratives with the same old intention to malign Hindus.
