Someone has aptly said that ‘Knowledge makes people humble, but arrogance makes people ignorant’ Nothing applies better on the person, who was so used to unbridled power, that he can’t even digest being out of the power. Yes, I’m precisely talking about the Australia educated, ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, who has crossed all limits of decency just to stay in limelight.
If Arvind Kejriwal has contributed anything to this nation or its dominant narratives, it is the art of lying and ranting shamelessly on the face. Worse, it looks as if Akhilesh Yadav is on the verge of becoming Kejriwal 2.0. Ever since he was brought down from the post of the Chief Minister, there has been nothing that could’ve assured that he is really looking into the causes which led to his unceremonious exit from the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
Hardly had we erased the tortuous memories of his rants on faulty EVMs, completely on the lines of his counterpart in Delhi [though his term is yet to end], when a new statement of his pulled up another controversy altogether. Only recently, a promising army man, Lt. Umar Fayaz, was kidnapped and murdered by Islamic terrorists in Shopian district’s Herman sector. While condoling his grief-stricken family, Akhilesh said something which would shame any rational Indian to the core:-
“……. Soldiers are being beheaded and there is no discussion on that. I have said that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and south India have had a lot of martyred soldiers, but has any soldier of Gujarat been martyred?……..”
Even if he had said this in earnest sense, the timing of this atrocious statement couldn’t have been more wrong, in any respect. Akhilesh Yadav, already under scanner for his patronage to anti-Indian forces in Uttar Pradesh, was massively trolled left, right and centre. While BJP was quick to castigate him for nasty comments, an unexpected support also came from the side of Congress Party, whose spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, said, “Jawans belong to the entire nation, not to states. Instead of unfortunate spins to (get attention), please question the government on national security.”
For once, even I agree with Mr Surjewala. Instead of stooping down to newer lows to gain attention, Mr Akhilesh Yadav should brush up his history, for Gujarat has never been all about Mahatma Gandhi. Gujarat is also the land of many Bravehearts, who haven’t hesitated at all in risking their own lives for the motherland. Yes, the representation in the armed forces from Gujarat might be low, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the instinct for them to risk everything for protecting their homes. I hope the mentor of most of the Indian revolutionaries during the fight for independence, Mr Shyamji Krishna Varma, wasn’t growing rice in Europe.
This is nothing new on Akhilesh’s part. Habitual of displaying his arrogance, when he was asked to wait for a while on the ground floor of slain Captain Ayush Yadav’s house in Kanpur, owing to a meeting between the aggrieved parts and a specific Colonel of apparently the same brigade, Akhilesh is reported to have said, ‘Does the Colonel have a bigger stature than me, that I have to wait for him?’ If this is how Akhilesh thinks of soldiers of the nation, then I doubt his comeback in UP ever, even if 2022 and 2027 elections come and go.
To the nation’s relief, the families in Gujarat, whose sons had sacrificed their lives for the nation, stood up united, roasting Akhilesh apart for his ignorant comment. Says Rajshree, the wife of Mukesh Rathod, who died fighting in the 1999 Kargil War, “Akhilesh’s statement was heart-wrenching. We have been talking about it since we first heard it on television. Martyrs don’t belong to any state, they belong to the country. Losing them is not any state’s loss but nation’s loss.” Incidentally, Rajshree was five months pregnant, when she lost her husband to the brutal bullets of the Pakistani forces.
Supporting her vociferously was the aggrieved elder brother of Captain Nilesh Soni, who had lost his life while attempting to wrest back the Siachen Glacier’s prime Quaid Post from the Pakistani forces. He trolled Akhilesh back, saying, “It deeply saddens me to see that martyrs are now being segregated by states. In my opinion, Akhilesh Yadav does not know much about Gujarat and should not have made such a frivolous comment.”
Munim Singh, the grieving father of the deceased Lance Naik Gopal Singh Bhardoria, who died fighting aggressively against the terrorists this year only, was the most disturbed of the lot. He shot back brutally at Akhilesh, accusing him of deserting his own father for selfish gains. To quote him, “Akhileshji has been voted out of UP and he has lost decorum and mental balance. He is trying to divide the country with frivolous statements.”
A person who failed to be a son to his father can surely not be a son of the country. He has often been resorting to such divide and rule tactics in UP. He has divided Hindus and Muslims as well as Rajputs, Thakurs and Brahmins. Therefore he had been voted out of UP. The people of the country cannot forgive him. He spoke about Gujarat’s donkeys and now he has proved that he doesn’t even have the brain of a donkey.” This would hurt really bad, Mr Akhilesh.
The above list is endless. If Akhilesh Yadav thinks that there are no martyrs from Gujarat, he should think again.
If we speak of a village alone, in Kodiyavada village of Sabarkantha district, each and every house has at least person serving in the armed forces. Out of 6500 people residing, over 1200 people are in the Armed Forces of India.
This is not all. As of now, Gujarat has more than 26656 ex-servicemen as of 2017. 39 sons of Gujarat have been awarded one or the other gallantry awards for their service to their nation. Yes, these two may not be martyrs, but have Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw contributed any less to the sovereignty of the nation? [Yes, Mr Manekshaw has a Gujarati descent, from his mother’s side] It’s shameful that a graduate from Military School, Dholpur, is saying this.