OPTICS
The above is The Tribune Opinion Page under the head The Great Game .
Below is the rejoinder by Prof P K Sharma,though published only in the form of Letter To The Editor in The Tribune on 26th May,2025 .
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/letters/rahuls-questions-merit-answers/
Here is Prof Sharma’s complete writeup :
I went through the article, “A question of grace, timing” (THE GREAT GAME, The Tribune May 24) with rapt attention.
Ironically, the “learned author” in her article has not at all struck balance and not done natural justice to the tenets of journalism! Expecting too much unilaterally from “an entitled dynast”- Rahul Gandhi and Congress representing the second largest opposition party of India but offering long rope as well as exonerating Modi led NDA regime of glaring repeated security breaches and other too many blunders on the premise of and in the guise of grace and timing is not fair and objective journalism.
Hence too many questions spring up spontaneously in our minds after going through this piece, very much perturbed, I am spurred up to react and respond keenly in the larger, far reaching and best interests of the nation. Filling in certain gaps, omissions and blanks thus becomes desirable, imperative and significant as well. The Tribune being VOICE OF THE PEOPLE should have kept its focus more and more on people’s unanswered questions.
Is the author not a votary of serious, agile, farsighted and responsible an idea of the Leader of Opposition in the House of People? Why Rahul Gandhi- the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha with one hundred Congress MPs should not ask pertinent people’s questions concerning the well-being and defence of India by either keeping mum or singing paeans of Modi because it is the question of grace and timing? Do the same yardsticks of grace and time only apply to Rahul, not Modi? Raising a bogey of timing all the time, at least now is uncalled for, as sans an iota of doubt in between “Operation Sindhoor” and decision of Ceasefire span it was certainly an issue, but not now.
Three Rahul questions to PM Modi deserve candid answers- On terrorism why did you believe Pakistan’s version? Stooping before Donald Trump why did you sacrifice nation’s interests? Why your blood warms only before cameras, stop hollow speeches as you did comprise with India’s honour?
“Charity begins at home,” why should Modi at the helm of the nation for over a decade overlook grace and timing factors,? He should have displayed abundant magnanimity, humility and dignity at this critical juncture too? Was it really well-timed and graceful on Modi’s part to skip two all party significant meetings to view and take stock of the Pahalgam massacre, its shocking aftermath and accepting Ceasefire at the behest of Trump not taking opposition into confidence and then at will absenting himself from parliament sessions much of the time that too in “the mother of democracy”?
Should we hail Modi’s sensitive, sensible and responsible act of according primacy to grace, timing and gravity of situation by way of addressing a poll rally in Madhubani of Bihar just a couple of days after the Pahalgam massacre or not is a million-dollar question? Both the acts- be it the delegations of MPs on an outreach drive to the world coaching spree is nothing but holidaying and Modi too busy addressing a chest thumping rally obviously marking time in Bikaner brimming with emotional blackmail expressions of Sindhoor In Veins, Barood, Cool Mind, Warm Blood rhetorics so on and so forth at the cost of tax payers’ money are queer exercises. Why pieces of advices only for Congress and its President Mallikarjun Kharge that “The Congress could have told the PM that it would be part of an Indian-not BJP’s outreach to the world” whereas this outreach is a belated exercise in futility, no fun now of crying over the spilt milk?
Should not the author be wakened up of her slumber of not asking Modi, Mr. Amit Shah and Mr. Rajnath Singh very soul-searching questions for instance why much needed security arrangements were not made in Baisaran valley of Pahalgam paving way for the terrorists to have made 26 innocent tourists and two locals their soft targets on April, 22 to strike at ease then to go scot free, knowing fully well that PM’s visit there had to be cancelled in wake of security threats? Why the terrorists responsible for mayhem are still at large even after over one month, not caught alive or dead? How terrorists sneaked into Army Camp at Uri, Pulwama and Pahalgam unchecked and uninterrupted is beyond any one’s comprehension? How suicide bomb attacker succeeded in reaching spot of CRPF men’s killings with heavy quantity of explosives is still a mystery even after more than five years?
Will anyone in the system reveal, who is accountable for these repeated serious lapses and failures? Will the spectre of insurgency and transborder terrorism in Kashmir and India will vanish once for all so that now onwards “We the people of India…” will live sans any fear quite peacefully? For how long shall we continue with traumatic Surgical Strikes, Balakot Air Strikes and Defence Forces Air Strikes as counter and deterrent measures for across the border terrorism?
The author did not devote even a single word to irresponsible electronic media unduly creating hype of capturing Islamabad and ill-planned preparation of not seeking international support in between April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor resulting in even Russia-USA, so much so Western Countries preferred not to side with us to counter reply transborder terror attack strategy of India. India’s need and interest based ambiguous stance during Russia-Ukraine war still in progress now went against India’s interests.
Why should not Modi come out clean setting the record straight by removing the mist shrouding all suspicions, optics, controversies and opacities pertaining to Operation Sindhoor, Ceasefire and Third Party Mediation in form of Modi’s “Dear Friend Donald Trump” whether either Ceasefire or in future on vexed Kashmir issue at a special session of Parliament promptly making William Shakespeare’s dictum, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion” true in the letter and spirit. How it was Donald Trump who declared first of all ceasefire decision if reached bilaterally between India and Pakistan claiming it eight times so far. Why is Modi tight lipped on Trump’s eight-time repeated assertion of brokering ceasefire that too with trade threats, Modi ought to rebut the Trump claims very sternly, if warm Sindhoor really runs in his veins? Stereotyped, close guarded silence and evasive stance will thicken and enhance room for aura of mystery and suspense in the long run over these a month-long series of developments on the national and international scenario.
An eminent American author and journalist John Calvin Maxwell is very relevant here to quote who remarked on leadership,” A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
Contributed by:
Prof PK Sharma Freelance Journalist,Associate Professor of English(Retired),
Pom Anm Nest,BARNALA(Punjab)