Mainstream WeeklyFebruary 21, 2026
The other day I came across a video of Kapil Sibal, noted legal counsel to most dissenters against this Government, pronouncing the BJP government at the Centre and in so many states, as lacking the aptitude to govern and administer.
I beg to disagree with Sibal. Be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his second in command Amit Shah or the numerous chief ministers in the BJP ruled states, led by Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Aja Bisht, all have a clear vision and well thought out strategy to take the nation in their chosen direction— the path to establishing a Hindu Rashtra not in any distant future, but under this regime in next five, ten or fifteen years, doesn’t matter.
And that means dismantle, destroy and demolish every vestige of the Secular, Democratic, Federal India created by our forefathers who had secured Indian Independence from British rule through long drawn struggle, undergoing tremendous hardships under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Bhagat Singh, and innumerable young men and women. All that they achieved is an anathema to our present Sanghi rulers The latest is the Home ministry fiat ordering the collective singing of Vande Matram in full, for all three minutes, to precede the National Anthem and ordering everyone to stand and participate. A threat of penalty in the event of non-compliance of this Home ministry order, hangs over our heads.
As little children, even before we understood the importance and significance of the National Anthem, our parents taught us to stand for the National Anthem. I don’t recall when we learnt it by heart. And I am not aware whether any Nation undermines its National Anthem giving precedence to any other song. At many national events including the Republic Day parade the song ’Sare Jahan se Achha Hindostan Hamara’ also played. Though it was composed by Urdu poet Iqbal who later advocated the creation of Pakistan. But this composition came before that and Gandhiji adopting it, added a stanza "Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein Bair rakhna/Hindi hain hum watan hain, Hindostan hamara"