Amid the standoff with China at Doklam, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the armed forces were strong enough to meet any challenge to the country’s security, underlining that lessons had been learnt from the 1962 war.
The people of the country, he said, had a predominant wish to retrieve parts of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan since 1948, the Minister added.
Initiating a special debate to mark the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, Mr. Jaitley said India had learnt the lesson that “the armed forces will have to be made fully capable on our own because even today, the nation faces challenges from our neighbouring countries”.
Compared with the situation in 1962, the armed forces were stronger in the 1965 and 1971 wars, he said. “Initially [after Independence], we faced a crisis. Our neighbour had an eye on Kashmir. Even today, we cannot forget that a part of the country has got separated. It is the wish of every Indian today as to how to retrieve that part.”
He said the country was facing a bigger challenge from terrorism and Left-wing extremism. In a clear reference to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, he said a Prime Minister and a former Prime Minister lost their lives to terrorism.
Rich-poor divide
Opposition parties said there were “attempts to tinker with history”, and warned against creating a “Hindu Pakistan in India”.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the divide between the rich and the poor was increasing. “In the past three years, when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, wealth amounting to 49% of the GDP in 2014 was held by 1% of the population. Today, what is the situation? 58.4% — that was last year’s figure, it would have gone up now — of our GDP is in the hands of 1% of the population. Is this the India of the dreams of 1947 when we became independent?” Mr. Yechury said.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (Trinamool Congress) said there were some traitors even then who did not participate in the freedom movement. “Even today, there are some traitors like Mir Jafar in our country who threaten our brotherhood and that is why West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will launch BJP Bharat chhodo andolan (BJP Quit India movement) from today,” Mr. Roy said.
At this juncture, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien said politics should not be brought into this discussion, which had to be at a higher level.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad targeted the ruling BJP, equating Tuesday’s developments related to the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat to the events witnessed when the Quit India Movement was launched on this day in 1942.
“I don’t want to mention the incidents of last night. It looked like the same night [August 8/9, 1942] because the developments kept us awake till morning. I do not want to go into details like which parties participated in the Quit India Movement and which opposed it,” he said.
Tinkering with history
Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal(U) said it would be akin to misguiding the youth if “common heritage” was forgotten and there were attempts these days to tinker with history.
Majeed Memon (NCP) spoke about mountains of hate and attempts being made to divide India.
Kanimozhi (DMK) wondered if not speaking Hindi or eating something that some people thought was not right made her less of an Indian. Raising the Chandigarh incident, where a 29-year-old woman was stalked by the son of a BJP leader, she said elected representatives of this country were questioning the integrity of that girl.
“Whether it is rape, whether it is stalking, whether it is an acid attack, it is always the woman who is being questioned. Why? Are we not ashamed of ourselves,” she said.
