Dhami got no opportunity to personally express his gratitude, so he did not hesitate to take the route of advertisement. Full front page left no chance that Prime Minister would miss it. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh had also taken similar route to reach the closeness to the Prime Minister by indicating his surrender in the full front page advertisement. Within four days another full page ad had quotation by the Prime Minister hailing the chief minister Yogi as visionary leader. As the Prime Minister remains inaccessible, the BJP dignitaries are forced to take this route.

The entire episode brought to my memory my pleasant encounter with the then Prime Minister in 1982. Then I had earned considerable repute due to my habit of summing up political events in humorous anecdotes. A large crowd of politicians and media persons used to rush around me in parliament house and insist for my latest. In the same tradition two ministers at a birthday dinner of a prominent media person insisted on narration of my latest to please two minister, members of parliament and bureaucrats at the party.

I told the huge crowd an episode of a young man in hurry to get married. He adopted a practice of visiting the Hanuman temple in Connaught place to offer sweets worth rupees five every Tuesday in a hope to realize his ambition. Even after 100 Tuesday nothing happened.

Finding himself alone in the temple on his next visit, he spoke to Hanuman in rude terms. What kind of god you are? You ate my sweets worth Rs 500 in two years but could not find a suitable girl for me. If I offered worth Rs. five hundred to a minister and by now four girls would have been at my doors by now. As he turned to leave, Hanuman idol called his back, returned his five hundred and said, ‘please tell me name of the minister who can get work done. After all I am also standing unmarried for 3532 years and alone. I can pay double.

Rajiv Shukla then working for the Hindi weekly Ravivar published entire episode in his column known as “Heard in power corridors”. Bhishma Narayan Singh then minister for parliamentary affairs was perturbed and complained to Indira Gandhi. She read and enjoyed it but asked the minister to bring Vijay from the Central Hall. Dutifully he came to fetch me and on the way he told me entire episode. I prepared myself for a hard dressing down. Instead Indira Gandhi congratulated me for excellent piece of humour but then asked seriously, “Are my ministers gone down so low to earn reputation so bad? Are they reduced to accepting bribe of only Rs.500?’ I escaped with a lame excuse that I used it to enhance my narration to prove even by bribing gods you cannot get work done of this nature.

Indira Gandhi smiled and said. “I can understand your reluctance but accept my word your humour was effective.” After seeing two chief ministers conveying their plea to Prime Minister through newspaper ads I do not know how to describe the present era. It seems ministers today are like Hanuman of my story. No one can move a step forward in their ministry without okay from the Prime Minister or his office.

I remember that M S Ahluwalia in the close quarters with the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had caused similar situation and no minister could get approval to any scheme after his weighting. . A word was spread then among ministers and top bureaucrats to seek approval of the Prime Minister only after 11 at night after the officials retire for the day and then tell the PMO that approved scheme was under implementation from six in the morning. So the officials would not be able to interfere.

But no minister can do the same in the present regime. No one has been able to move out of the dread of NaMo. They have to first win the approval of their officials to their ideas The Prime Minister had a long meeting with top bureaucrats before meeting his cabinet colleagues for the first time , to tell them to disregard the political interferences. It they came under pressure, his doors would remain open forever to them to come to him. He went to the first meeting with his cabinet colleagues only after he had equipped the officials to reject directives of the ministers.

The NaMo government converted the state of Kashmir into union territory with hope that the security forces would effectively handle the situation. But the Central Security forces were not able to eliminate unrest. Their work was further complicated and compounded by the unwise responses of his party minions.

M Vani was killed in police encounter in Srinagar. He was named as terrorist by the security forces. For two years young protested and school children joined them to protest against killing of Vani. It was unlike protest for two years for a killed terrorist in any nation. One slogan was in such intense demonstration was demand for freedom. The prejudice for Muslims and particularly for Kashmiri Muslims led to conclusion by the BJP leaders that they were seeking liberation from India though in effect the young were seeking liberation from tight security trap they were caught in under suspicion that every Kashmiri wanted liberation from India. Very few realized that liberation to movement for trading between the people of Kashmir and the Pak occupied territory had given the first opportunity to Kashmiri for the first time the prevailing conditions outside India.

Instead of driving the point down to grim realisation few BJP leaders incited their young to demonstrate in states where the Kashmir young were students in Universities asking them to go back to their Kashmir as if it was not the integral part of India. The seniors did not stop them and attempt to recover.

Few political leaders may not realize the gravity of their wrong actions but how can the Prime Minister and other top leaders did not realize the grave impact of such actions not only on local people of Kashmir but also in the world. Politics is politics and party brands make no difference.

It is true, more Kashmiris are found to indulge in cheating their customers, but it is the hall mark of every trader as rural minds always attempt to earn more by resorting to untruth in belief the urban people are naïve than they are because the urban pretend the rural people to be simpletons. Kashmir is certainly poor state compared to six states that are economically advanced. People in these states believe people in backward states are naïve cheats.

The people of a village near Mirzapur Narainpur had paid in 1980 a heavy price of telling Indira Gandhi in 1980 that all women were raped by raiding police party. To defame the opposition government led by Banarasi Das Gupta, she also used the claim of villagers in 1980. For ten years no young girl was married from the village. Only after village elders confessed their lie to gain more relief from government that the doors of the village began receiving barats.