Comrades in arms

What is common between Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi? So far it was intense hatred of Modi. If they  knew black magic India’s prime  minister could have been writhing with migraine, colic pain or  something like that.

But now vulture politics has entwined them. There is allround grief about the alleged suicide of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal. Grewal, who had served in the army for 30 years committed suicide, allegedly over the issue of One Rank One Pension scheme. Even before anybody could analyse the grievances of Grewal that prompted him to take such an extreme step, Rahul Bhaiya and Kejriwal went public cursing Modi for Grewal’s suicide.

Politics broke loose on the streets of the national capital even before Grewal’s body had been moved. The two were so appalled and angry with Modi that it seemed he had betrayed the country and turned a traitor. They did not weep but held protests, The mainstream media was airing reports of Rahul Gandhi being detained and of AAP protestors flooding the streets. Amidst statements by opposition leaders blaming Modi and his sarkar and ‘intellectuals’ expressing their fear of democracy being subverted as opposition leaders were not being allowed to meet the soldier’s family, the issue for which  Grewal had ended his life was quietly set aside.

Rahul Gandhi was detained so many times and then released that no one felt sorry for him nor any ex-servicemen went to him to eulogise him for taking up their cause, instead  some oncallously said that Rahul must have been told to go to jail as many times as he could manage so as to reach the level of Mahatma or his own Pandit  Nehru who spent long periods behind bars. But they were locked up because they fought for the freedom of the country. Rahulji, Pappu that he is, fights for wrong or losing causes.

The real facts of the matter were drowned by the din of the two ever-willing to play politics over dead bodies. They did not try to find out why Grewal ended life over an issue that the government said had been implemented., the insinuation that follows is the government is lying through its teeth over the OROP issue. That’s what R&K insinuated. The problem is that the two turn vultures the moment they feel they can assault the Modi Government. They don’t have the patience to go to the root of the matter. OROP was set aside by Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi’s government, two years after the Bangladesh Liberation war, without consulting the forces.

A bad decision was made worse by Rahul Gandhi’s father’s government that implemented Rank Pay and reduced the basic pay of several ranks in the armed forces. As if the damage done so far was not enough, Manmohan Singh/Sonia Gandhi government, the period during which co-jointly with his mother was boss of Rahul the PM, discarded Rank Pay and introduced Grade Pay, which did not resolve the asymmetries brought in due to abolition of OROP and Rank Pay but simply reinforced them. An attempt to take the ex-servicemen for a ride was made when the then Finance Ministerin 2014 during the budget presentation announced that the government has given an in-principle approval for OROP. However, Defence Ministry never raised a demand note for the same.

Implementation of OROP was one of the poll promises of Narendra Modi in the run up to 2014 elections. In his first budget speech, Arun Jaitley re-affirmed the government’s promise to implement OROP. However, it took more than 2 years for OROP to be officially announced as implemented. In the meanwhile, the ex-servicemen grew impatient and even disillusioned with what they perceived was the government’s intransigence over the issue. When the government finally introduced its plan on the OROP, ex-servicemen were bitterly divided over the final outcome. While many rejoiced on past wrongs being finally corrected, many others pointed out that the government’s scheme had anomalies and did not meet all their demands. Consequently, protests by ex-servicemen continued unabated, Another new report is under study.

Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi milked Akhlaque’s murder for their ‘Intolerant India’ campaign, just as they played dirty politics over the body of the farmer who hanged himself in an AAP rally, just as they have been lionizing the dead SIMI terrorists to get Muslim votes, so they shall profit from Grewal’s suicide. For them, Grewal is another pawn to use in their fight against Modi.

Even though it was Rahul Gandhi’s illustrious family that wronged the ex-servicemen, he seeks to turn their saviour  And as far as Kejriwal is concerned, the lesser said the better. Kejriwal and his team will do anything to remain in the public limelight.