The Latest: Top stories of the day
- Hyderabad University row: 25 students and two faculty members get bail as classes resume on campus.
- An Indian software engineer has been declared dead in the serial bomb attacks in Brussels last Tuesday.
- The Aadhaar Act has been notified, paving the way for statutory backing of the unique identity number being used to transfer subsidies and welfare benefits to eligible persons.
- The Supreme Court will study the legality of triple talaq.
- World Twenty20: South Africa end their campaign with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a dead rubber
The Big Story: Bury the hatchet
The Bharatiya Janata Party has spent most of its life targeting Pakistan. This is as a result of its muscular nationalism as well as communitarian politics – Pakistan is often seen as a proxy for “Muslim” in the Indian political space. As recent as 2002, Narendra Modi campaigned in the Assembly elections by attacking “Miyan Musharraf”.
That was then.
This week, the Modi government has invited a Pakistani investigative team to probe the January Pathankot attack, where militants suspected to have belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed stormed the airbase, killing seven security personnel. The fact that this team includes an officer from the Inter Services Intelligence – Pakistan’s dreaded intelligence organisation accused of fomenting terror in India – points to just how big of a leap this is in Indo-Pak relations.
Naturally, this has caused a backlash politically in India. Opposition parties slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party government for allowing Pakistani’s access to a sensitive Indian airbase. This has caused some jitters in the government, as various bodies now try and pass what is a hot potato. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday that his ministry wasn’t in-charge of permissions, the National Investigation Agency. But, most importantly, the government hasn’t given in to the pressure to called off the joint probe.
Whether involving Pakistan in a terror probe will be effective in any way remains to be seen. But the optics of a probe team being allowed in an Indian airbase produces a powerful message for peace in South Asia.
This isn’t the first time Narendra Modi has thought imaginatively about Pakistan. On December 25, Narendra Modi made an announced visit to the house of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan. The sight of the two leaders hugging on the airport tarmac was powerful. Actual results in the Indo-Pak diplomatic game are tough. But with strong symbolism of this kind, Narendra Modi seems to be building a strong constituency for peace in India.
The Big Scroll
“Only Nixon could go to China”: The one phrase that explains how a right-wing hawk like Modi could actually allow Pakistan far more concessions than centrist parties like the Congress.
Politicking & Policying
1. The Left-Congress alliance in Bengal is actually putting up a pretty good fight, if this opinion poll is to be believed.
2. Now Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh head, Mohan Bhagwat says, “Don’t force anyone to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai.'"
3. Kolkata: Two cops suspended for trying to bribe BJP leader Rahul Sinha in “cow smuggling” case.
Punditry
1. Ashok Desia writes in the Telegraph about how Raghuram Rajan, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, is trying to knock some sense into Delhi power elite.
2. President’s rule in Uttarakhand raises fears of federal over-reach and misuse of Article 356, says this edit in the Times of India.
3. Aadhaar legislation points to the need for a comprehensive privacy law, writes Apar Gupta in the Indian Express.
Don’t Miss
Aarefa Johri explains how health insurance policies and hospital malpractices take patients for a ride.
“One of the major problems with the insurance sector, and health insurance in particular, is the mis-selling of policies – people buy policies with genuine expectations but often there are mismatches,” said Dasgupta, who took up the ombudsman’s chair after retiring as the managing director of Life Insurance Corporation of India.
Insurance, as a “subject matter of solicitation”, is meant to be bought only after careful understanding of every aspect of the policy on offer. The onus of this lies with the customer, but often they are at the mercy of insurance agents who misguide them, either fraudulently or unwittingly.
