Modi’s decision to skip all-party meet for Bihar rallies riles Opposition

The all-party meeting convened by the Centre on Thursday (April 24) evening was expected to be an occasion for the country’s collective political leadership to send out a strong bipartisan message against the perpetrators of the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to have Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chair the meeting instead, while he addresses rallies in Bihar, due for Assembly polls later this year, has, however, riled the Opposition.

No ‘free pass’

The attack by operatives of The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, left at least 26 civilians dead, 25 of them tourists, in the Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

Though the Opposition has unequivocally said it would back the Modi government fully on initiating against Pakistan a “strong and appropriate response that goes beyond rhetoric”, the deliberations at the all-party meet aren’t expected to be a “free pass” to the Centre.

Also read: 'Go, tell Modi’: Woman gets chilling message after husband killed in Pahalgam

Opposition leaders who are expected to attend the all-party meeting told The Federal that their “cooperation with the Centre” should “not be mistaken for a free pass against the apparent failure of the security and intelligence apparatus in J&K that reports directly to Union Home Minister Amit Shah”.

Questions on security, intel

Sources said that while the Opposition will “cooperate with any concrete measures the Centre plans to take as a response to this cowardly act of terror by Pakistan”, it will also press for answers “at the meeting and after it” on “whether the security establishment in the Union Territory was caught unawares and, if it had intelligence inputs of a likely attack, why adequate counter-terror measures were not put in place”.

On Thursday (April 24) morning, a resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee also called for a “comprehensive analysis… into the intelligence failures and security lapses that enabled such an attack in a Union Territory — an area directly under the purview of the Union Home Ministry.”

Opposition leaders, including Congress MP Jairam Ramesh and RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, also expressed their displeasure over the Centre’s decision to convene the all-party meeting under the defence minister instead of the Prime Minister.

Also read: Post Pahalgam terror attack, 'alpha male' Modi faces his sternest challenge yet

PM’s priorities

The Prime Minister’s decision to prioritize unveiling of “mega projects” in poll-bound Bihar over the all-party meeting on the Baisaran tragedy and the decision of key BJP ally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), to stay away from the discussions citing Modi’s “programme in Madhubani district” has already soured the mood in the Opposition camp.

On Thursday morning, JD(U) working president and MP Sanjay Kumar Jha said while his party will “stand with the government in the country’s interest”, it would not be able to attend the all-party meet as “all top JD (U) leaders are engaged in the Prime Minister’s programme in Madhubani district”.

In response, Congress media wing chief Pawan Khera posted on X, “Prime Minister’s priority is elections. JDU’s priority is Prime Minister. All party meeting on terror attack can wait.”

Bihar polls more important for PM?

RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha also rued the Prime Minister’s decision to skip the all-party meet. “This is the most horrific terror attack that Kashmir has witnessed in the last 25 years and there should be no doubt that the entire Opposition, the entire country stand firmly with the central government in initiating a strong response against those who have masterminded this attack. But this was also a time when, given the seriousness of the situation, the Prime Minister should have cancelled all his other engagements and chaired the all-party meeting himself. It would have sent the right message, but then his priority right now seems to be announcing projects in Bihar because elections are due there,” the RJD MP told The Federal.

Also read: LIVE | We will pursue terrorists to the end of Earth: PM Modi on Pahalgam terror attack

A Congress MP, requesting anonymity on grounds that his party’s top leadership would make a statement after the conclusion of the all party meeting, said, “Modi cut short his overseas visit and returned to India when the attack happened, which was the right thing to do; Rahul Gandhi too cut short his visit to the US and returned, but today, when the PM should have taken the Opposition into confidence at the all-party meeting on what the government proposes to do next, he is busy addressing a rally in Bihar… the statement he should have made against the attack at the all-party meeting, he is making in Bihar at a rally; is it because Bihar will have elections later this year?… It only shows once again that he is only trying to earn electoral points over a tragedy.”

Safety of Kashmiris, Muslims

Pointing at the reference in the CWC resolution, which noted that “deliberate targeting of Hindus” by The Resistance Force (TRF) terrorists during the Baisaran massacre was “done to inflame passions across the country”, the Congress MP said, “Our leadership has responded responsibly by appealing for calm “in the face of this grave provocation” but it is unfortunate that “a similar appeal has not been made by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, under whose watch this attack took place”.

The CWC resolution has also asserted that “questions must be raised in the larger public interest” on the intelligence failures and security lapses that enabled the TRF assault. The Congress’s highest decision-making body has also slammed the BJP for “exploiting this grave tragedy through official and proxy social media platforms to sow further discord, mistrust, polarisation and division at a time when unity and solidarity is most needed”.

Sources said that besides backing the Centre’s response against Pakistan over the terror attack, Opposition leaders will also urge Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the all-party meeting to “ensure that the central government and all state governments, especially those under the BJP, to ensure the safety and security of Muslims and especially Kashmiri people, particularly students, residing outside J&K”.

Also read: PM Modi flags off four trains, launches projects worth Rs 13,500 crore for Bihar

Recipe for communal unrest

A senior SP leader, who is likely to attend the all-party meeting, told The Federal, “News channels and social media are full of videos of survivors of the attack saying the terrorists singled out and killed Hindus; while this cannot be disputed, it is also a fact that a Kashmiri Muslim (a pony-wallah ferrying tourists in Baisaran) was also killed by the terrorists in his attempt to save the lives of the Hindu tourists; other Kashmiri Muslims who work that area were also injured.”

The SP leader added, “If we allow this narrative of only Hindus being singled out and killed, it is a recipe for communal unrest and, the BJP leadership, instead of tacitly supporting this kind of narrative by keeping quiet, should appeal for calm and ensure that the situation doesn’t reach a stage where there Hindutva activists start targeting ordinary Muslims or Kashmiris.”