A senior cabinet minister stated that the oil import lobby was threatening central ministers to enforce its policies. The lobby was not influencing ministers or pressuring them. It was actually “threatening” them. Apart from a solitary exception the opposition was silent. The Prime Minister was mute. The President of course, busy with gracing ceremonial functions, appeared unconcerned. Can such things happen in even a banana republic?

There is a case in court related to an alleged fake encounter that cost lives including that of a young woman, Ishrat Jahan. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had advised the Gujarat police that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist. The opposition is making much of this claim. The court rightly observed: that it was nor concerned whether those killed “were terrorists or normal human beings. In any case, they should not have been liquidated.”

The court pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to focus on this aspect rather than on nailing the allegedly false information passed on by the IB to the Gujarat police. The opposition and TV commentators are making much of the alleged terrorist links of Ishrat Jahan instead of ascertaining whether she and her companions were killed in cold blood in a fake encounter which would be a serious crime. The two premier investigative agencies for fighting terror, CBI and IB, are in public contention and the CBI has arrested a senior IB officer for alleged involvement in a conspiracy with the Gujarat police.

The IB responded by leaking information to the media about evidence related to Ishrat Jahan’s terror links. It released an FBI report from the US which quoted David Coleman Headley quoting a Lashkar terrorist leader quoting another Lashkar operative claiming that another Lashkar operator had recruited one Ishrat Jahan as a suicide bomber. This thrice removed hearsay was seized upon by IB as clinching proof that Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist. The National Investigative Agency (NIA) refused to share with the media the full report submitted by the FBI to Indian authorities. The American source of the report seemed to be the clincher for NIA and IB.

Oddly enough detailed US investigation leading to identifying five Pakistani terrorists responsible for the Samjhauta Train blast, UN acceptance of that probe, the imposition of UN sanctions against those responsible for the blast which could not take effect only because China exercised its UN veto against it, was completely ignored by NIA. It accused Hindu terrorist led by Swami Aseemanand responsible for that terror strike. How was thrice removed hearsay sourced to David Coleman Headley more reliable than official US probe findings authenticated by the UN?

One would have thought that opposition and media would focus on these issues. Instead both are obsessed with determining the ideological inconsistencies related to the split between the BJP and JDU. It is mystifying how ideology is relevant to the split. The JDU for electoral considerations dumped the BJP. The BJP for electoral considerations is promoting Mr. Narendra Modi. It is a simple and legitimate attempt by both parties to advance their respective electoral prospects. Why confuse the issue with morality? And why not focus on the shocking conduct displayed by the government related to national security? Even banana republics govern better.