A year after Justin Trudeau first alleged “credible evidence’’ of an Indian hand in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Mounties have yet to produce substantive proof.
Canadians claim proudly that their iconic police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, always get their man. But a year after Justin Trudeau first alleged “credible evidence’’ of an Indian hand in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Mounties have yet to produce substantive proof. In a shocking violation of diplomatic convention last week, a diplomatic conversation between a top Indian and Canadian official in Singapore was leaked to newspapers to embarrass India. Senior Indian diplomats were branded as “persons of interest’’. The frustrated Canadian police are floundering because of their dependence on the US to produce the credible evidence. The Canadians believe that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, allegedly responsible for bumping off Nijjar, was also behind the attempted killing of US citizen Pannun in New York. Indian national Nikhil Gupta was extradited from Czech Republic to the US in connection with this case. Gupta, who faces trial in New York, has reportedly turned approver. This week, Vikash Yadav was added to the charge list. The 18-page deposition against Yadav, a former assistant commandant in the CISF working for RAW under the alias “Amanat”, alleges that he gave orders to Gupta. Canada is banking on videos and transcripts of taped conversations to be produced in the New York court to bolster its claims. But the US trial, which was to begin in May, may not start before the US presidential polls. A fallout of the controversy was that NSA Ajit Doval did not accompany PM Modi on his September trip to the US.
Poll Stirs Pot
While Bhupinder Hooda has been made the official scapegoat for the surprise Congress Haryana Assembly defeat, privately, Congresspersons grumble about the role of two Rahul Gandhi favourites, general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and pollster Sunil Kanugolu. The latter was entrusted with conducting constituency surveys to assess the winning potential of prospective candidates. In earlier days, this task was entrusted to the district Congress committees, which forwarded three most suitable names from the region. Kanugolu’s failure can be figured out from the fact that in nearly a dozen constituencies, Congress rebels got more votes than the party candidate. In the Ballabhgarh constituency, the party candidate, a favourite of Venugopal, came fourth, while the rebel Congressperson stood second. It is alleged that Kanugolu was anxious to oblige Venugopal. Hooda’s adversaries claim that getting wind of Kanugolu’s clout in decision making, the Jat leader and former CM co-opted as his candidates those who were top in the pollster’s surveys. The party paid a heavy price for fielding a disproportionate number of Jat candidates. In most Jat-dominated constituencies, Independents and candidates from smaller parties were also Jats and ate into the Congress’s vote share. For example, in Jind, a Jat heartland, the BJP won four out of the five seats by smartly cobbling together an alliance of other castes.
Irish Luck
An intriguing detail about the soft spoken new Tata Trusts chairperson, Noel Tata, is that he is an Irish citizen. He obtained Irish citizenship through his wife Aloo, daughter of the late construction magnate, Pallonji Mistry. Aloo’s mother Patsy (Perin) née Dubash, was born in Dublin in 1939 during World War II and most family members took Irish citizenship thanks to Patsy’s nationality. Ireland produces some of the finest horse breeds and the Mistrys, known horse lovers, own a stud farm in Pune. The Shapoorji Pallonji group was the official partner for 10 years for Cricket Ireland in a multi-million Euro deal and also runs the Cricket Ireland Academy. Incidentally, when Noel’s late brother-in-law Cyrus Mistry was sacked as chairperson at Tata Sons, a point raised by his detractors was that he did not relinquish his Irish citizenship as promised. Mistry’s defence was that the Tatas were aware that he could become an Indian citizen only if he spent six months uninterrupted in the country, which was difficult at that point because as chairperson, he had per force to fly abroad frequently.
Orissa’s Iron Lady
Pallavi Rebbapragada’s new book, The Iron Lady of Orissa, is on Nandini Satpathy, now virtually a forgotten politician who in her time had broken many ceilings. The book dwells not just on her achievements, but the human side of Orissa’s first woman CM. This includes the close relationship with Indira Gandhi during Gandhi’s early years as PM, when Satpathy was a deputy minister. Satpathy’s son Tathagata recalls that the two women were regular drinking companions and as a youngster, he often wheeled in the drinks trolley with a White Horse whiskey bottle. In her preface, the author objects to Khushwant Singh’s sexist obituary of Satpathy, which harped on her “drinking problem” rather than her abilities.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 20-10-2024 at 03:00 IST
