Political parties staged protests and demanded an impartial probe into the mysterious deaths. The bodies were found near the site of an ambush of Army vehicles in Poonch district, which left five soldiers dead. “I saw a video that shows Armymen thrashing people and spraying red chilli powder on their wounds. It is heart-wrenching, however, I do not know about its authenticity," PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti said.

Senior CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami demanded a prompt and impartial inquiry while condemning the militant attack on the soldiers. The death of three civilians has acquired such an embarrassing form that it forced the Chief of Army Staff General ManojPande to fly into Jammu and Kashmir and exhort commanders to conduct operations in a “most professional manner" and remain “resolute and steadfast against all challenges".

Sending a strong message that it has taken a serious note of the death of the three civilians which has sparked allegations of custodial torture and widespread outrage, the Army has initiated a Court of Inquiry. Brigadier Padam Acharya of 13 Sector Rashtriya Rifles and three other officers had been “attached” pending internal investigations, implying they had been divested of the leadership of their brigade. This was done, to placate the local population and ensure proper investigations.

Of late, the Army taking action against the civilians had become a common feature. The counter-insurgency unit of the Army was in the news for wrong reasons in October also when one of its major-rank officers opened fire on his colleagues and exploded grenades inside the Neeli post camp near Thanamandi, leaving five personnel including three officers injured.

On September 2, 2022, Amnesty International alleged that the Indian government had drastically intensified the repression of rights in Jammu & Kashmir in the three years since the change in status of the region. Aakar Patel, chair of the board of Amnesty International India, alleged that “civil society and media in Jammu and Kashmir have been subjected to a vicious crackdown by the Indian government, which is determined to stifle dissent using draconian laws, policies and unlawful practices in their arsenal”.

The attitude and approach of the government had sent a wrong message to Army too. Ever since the BJP government came to power, some of the Army men have become assertive against the common people.

The Modi government is out to finish off parliamentary institutions. On December 25, Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge accused Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of being the “agent of autocracy”. He alleged that the BJP has weaponised suspension of MPs as a convenient tool to undermine democracy. Kharge said Dhankar was toeing the government’s line and argued that normal functioning of Parliament was not possible without adherence to constitutional principles and parliamentary practices.

The manner in which the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha suspended 146 members of parliament makes it explicit that the presiding officers had resorted to this measure only at the instruction of the government. However, the Opposition parties, including the Congress, were anguished at the role of the presiding officers, particularly of Dhankar who allowed himself to be used in the partisan political warfare.

Some members recall how he had used the Governor’s administrative set-up, while he was Governor of Bengal, to embarrass Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and had not let her perform her duties and responsibilities.

The manner in which Dhankar wants to project the mimicry issue as a personal insult also underlines the efforts of the RSS and BJP to communalise parliamentary procedures for electoral benefit. Dhankhar’s reference to his caste and the farming community in the context of the mimicry incident has convinced most Opposition leaders that he is bent on engaging in a kind of politicking that is not in tune with the high constitutional office he holds.

The alacrity shown by Narendra Modi in picking up the thread and equating it with the Jat pride lays bare the design. There is no denying that Dhankhar has provided the BJP with enough political ammunition to polarise the Jats and create the communal impression that INDIA and Rahul Gandhi were indulging in a game of vilification. This was a shrewd move of the BJP which is using Dhankar’s caste to woo back Jats who had distanced themselves from the BJP in the wake of the farmers agitation.

Modi or Dhankar could not succeed in their mission to polariseJats because Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik, a Jat, announced her retirement from wrestling in protest against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s continuing dominance of the wrestling federation. The image of the crying Jat woman washed out Dhankar’s design. Bajrang Punia, again a Jat, wrestler of international repute, returned his Padma Shri over the Brij Bhushan controversy, bringing the issue of sexual exploitation of athletes to the forefront of the national discourse.

Dhankar has been quite evasive and tried to put the blame for suspension of the MPs on the individuals. But he could not succeed in his designs because of Kharge who wrote to Dhankar: “I would like to clarify on the points that you have raised and request that you examine my concerns objectively and with neutrality as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Your letter unfortunately justifies the autocratic and arrogant attitude of the government towards Parliament. The letter most shockingly justifies the denigration of parliamentary practices and subversion of democracy.”

Hinting at the Chairman’s failure to enforce parliamentary norms and traditions, Kharge wrote: “I recognise it is well within your powers as Chairman to decide on these notices (submitted by the Opposition demanding the home minister’s statement). However, it was regrettable that the Chair condoned the attitude of the home minister and the government who did not wish to make a statement on the floor of the House. It was even more regrettable that the home minister made his first public statement before a TV channel when Parliament was in session and the Chair did not find that ‘sacrileging the temple of democracy’.”

Kharge further said: “You have also mentioned that disorder was deliberate and strategised and predetermined. I would like to submit that if anything, it is the mass suspension of the Opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament that seems to be predetermined and premediated by the Government and I am most sorry to say, executed without any application of mind, as can be seen by the suspension of an INDIA party MP who was not even present in the Parliament.”

Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah, who have acquired expertise in coercing and resorting to torture for ruling the country, had in fact chalked out the plan to suspend the MPs long back. They knew that without this they would not succeed in having the house pass the three draconian criminal law bills. It is worth recalling that a Union minister had informed an Opposition MP that most Opposition MPs would be suspended even before the Home Minister came to the Rajya Sabha. “We would have expected the Chairman to have inquired if such a threat was indeed issued. Such comments grossly undermine the Chair who we believe is the final authority on conducting the House including suspension of members,” Kharge had said. (IPA Service)