Bengaluru: Stalwarts Subramanian Swamy and Rajeev Chandrasekhar have one commonness. Both are parliamentarians and are Rajya Sabha members from the BJP. 

The two bigwigs met up for a discussion on national security on the 50th edition of Jnana Ganga, a series of webinars hosted by Virat Hindustan Sangam. The series dedicates itself to issues of national prominence and importance. 

On this important edition, the specific topic for discussion was Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s introduction of a private member’s bill seeking to declare Pakistan a “terror state”.  

The chat between the two legends began with exchanging pleasantries. 

When Subramanian Swamy asked Rajeev as to what prodded him to broach such a topic in the upper house, Rajeev Chandrasekhar underlined the fact that he was the son of an air force veteran and imbibed values like nationalism from being amid such veterans. He also added that he believes in India first and always speaks for the country. But it was the 26/11 attack in 2008 that gave him the impression that India was a very soft target and instead of managing the situation, the then PM took recourse to strategic restraint. Rajeev also stressed on the role of the policeman who nabbed Kasab and paved the way his arraignment. If not for this, he added that India would just keep wondering and sitting quietly. 

It was Modi, Rajeev added that wanted to see a strong and assertive India when he became PM in 2014. It was in this context the bill was introduced. 

However, Rajeev confessed that till then, all his interventions were all about technology and governance. He also expressed delight at the support he received from the cross-section of Indians. He also saw this support as an assertion that India wanted to be a strong nation, decisive in dealing with countries like Pakistan. 

Elucidating further on the issue, he said that the narrative about Pakistan is that it is a failed state or a failing state. Even Islamic nations don’t have much to do with Pakistan except for Turkey. He also underlined that India was capable of charting its own case.

At this point, Swamy brought in the issue of Hindu terror and the complicity and collaboration of politicians like P Chidambaram who strive hard to colour everything with Hindu colour. He also cited the example of a boat coming from Karachi and how the coast guards detected it. 

To this, Rajeev’s reply was to the point. He never shied away from focusing on the point that the government from 2007 to 2014 was the most dysfunctional and dishonest government. 

He also added that they used media to keep Hindus divided and always spoke on Hindu majoritarianism, while using CBI and the police against Narendra Modi. He even added that they tried fixing sadhvi. And on the contrary, he added that those who have national interest on their minds, must be united. He also noted that the playing field between the good and the bad has become even. 

He also had a word about Pak army that gives itself 20% raise when the country is bankrupt. Adding that it exists to create paranoia about India and Afghanistan, Rajeev noted that Pak Army is the enemy of the civilised world.