New Delhi: The Congress party’s choice of former President of Chile and the United Nations’ former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development 2024 has come under public scrutiny and strong condemnation from certain quarters.
In a post on social media ‘X’, CEO BlueKraft Digital Foundation Akhilesh Mishra has linked the incident with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent reference to the Congress becoming “MMC” – Muslim League Maoist Congress. Mishra begins with the Prime Minister’s scathing attack on the Congress after its humiliating defeat in Bihar while addressing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Delhi on November 14.
His social media post points to a connection between the choice of the former President of Chile as an awardee and the jury head who zeroed in on her name.
According to Mishra, “Look deeply and you will find that anyone who still clings to Congress is either an Islamist or a Marxist,” adding, “If you still think they would not burn India to achieve their goals, just read this report.”
He has added a 2013 media report on IPS officer Asif Ibrahim’s disclosure on the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. He names former National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Shivshankar Menon, as the person behind the decision.
“What political benefit does Congress derive from awarding former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet? Nothing, right?” he asks in the post, adding, “Yet Congress went ahead and did it.”
He goes on, “Who was the jury head for the one who chose her?” answering himself, “Former NSA under Manmohan Singh, @ShivshankaMenon.”
He then adds a list of various issues and developments that took place, allegedly during Menon’s tenure, insinuating his connections with people who followed leftist ideologies.
“It was in his tenure that the ‘Aman ki Asha’ Tamasha started,” writes Mishra.
Aman ki Asha or Hope for Peace was started in early 2010 jointly by two leading media houses from India and Pakistan, said to be aimed at mutual peace and a track two diplomacy effort.
Then adds the post, “It was in his tenure that Maoists gunned down 76 CRPF personnel” in reference to the April 2010 Dantewada insurgent attack.
He also mentions that it was in “Menon’s tenure that the Kashmir interlocutors group, of certified Marxists, was created, which argued for even greater separatism.”
Additionally, he blames Menon’s tenure for having “defanged” the Salwa Judum, which comprised local tribal youth, with support from the Chhattisgarh government, who took part in combating Naxalites.
“It was during Menon’s tenure that a LeT claimed terrorist – Ishrat Jahan – was sought to be propelled into a national heroine,” and “It was under Menon that an IB officer who eliminated terrorists was hounded to the point that he was on the verge of being jailed, before the entire IB revolted,” he further adds.
(IANS)
