January 22, 2025

During his Mann Ki Baat talk series last week, Prime Minister Modi talked about sunil Jaglan, a gram pradhan in Haryana (the state notorious for its skewed gender ratio and discrimination against the girl-child) who had organized a competition in his village, Bibipur, for people to post selfies with their daughters. Modi took it a step higher by asking people all over the world to do the same. It was tied to his ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’ initiative. By taking up the brainchild of a village head and giving it worldwide prominence, the Prime Minister managed to immediately garner immense interest in his initiative for the girl child and instilled pride in those who had daughters. This is not a small thing to achieve in a parochial society.

But, instead of appreciating his effort, the opposition, mainly the Congress, went after him for being silent on the Lalitgate controversy. As a citizen, one is very much concerned and confused at Modi’s continued silence on the issue. But one needs to keep one’s vision clear. There are controversies and there are good initiatives. As the government needs to be taken to task for its wrongdoings, it also needs to be applauded for it good work. The Congress should have at least said a few good words about Modi’s excellent idea to promote ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’ scheme without spending crores on advertising.

Instead, the Congress narrative was only about why the PM did not speak about Lalitgate. They have forgotten the art of separating the good from the bad. First applaud the PM for his good initiative and then take him to task for his silence. But there was not a single word of praise from any Congress spokesman. They were stunned, and continue to get stunned, every time this ‘outsider’ uses the social media to make a huge impact.

The worst response was from the ultra-Leftist Kavita Krishnan. She tweeted “Careful before sharing #SelfieWithDaughter with #LameDuckPM. He has a record of stalking daughters.” Now this is what I will call a “hate tweet.” In the past, I had supported Kavita when she was abused and threatened by Satyapal Choudhary during a TV talk show in New Delhi, because she was right and he was wrong. But when she tweets like this, I have to protest. Perhaps, her judgment has been clouded by finding a rightist PM in the chair. Whatever, Kavita Krishnan has done a lot of disservice to the cause of the girl-child.

I have a simple policy. I criticize the government and the Prime Minister when they are wrong. I wrote that the BJP was wrong in supporting Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje. I wrote that the government was wrong in trying to gain control of the IIM’s. But I fully support the PM in his initiatives for the girl-child and all steps he is taking to make people aware of it. Perhaps those who have it in their bones to oppose him come what may, cannot change their ways. But a Prime Minister does not become ‘Lame Duck’ just because a non-entity like Kavita Krishnan says so. She is building up a record of stalking a fairly successful PM.