Yogi Adityanath must return the AC and hand towels to slain BSF jawan Prem Sagar's family

Hold off on the blame game unless Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath fails to take action and put things right. If he is indifferent and nothing is done to rectify the colossal boo-boo, he deserves severe censure. It is the sheer callousness that leave one stunned. This fake and temporary makeover done to the home of slain BSF soldier Prem Sagar especially for the chief minsiter’s visit and its removal after Adityanath left is an insult to the nation. And mostly to the armed forces. They placed an air conditioner, carpets, towels, a sofa set and then soaked it all in humiliation by reloading it all once the highly-covered meeting was over. [caption id=“attachment_3354150” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] In fairness to Adityanath, he may not be aware of such bureaucratic nonsense, but now he does know and is accountable for it, in that he must initiate action and demand to know why such a despicable act was committed and who was responsible. Not only is it a folly, but it insults the memory of a man who gave up his life defending the country. The sad part is that nothing changes. All these leaders and their minions care about is themselves and sucking up to the boss. Adityanath is supposedly a shrewd fellow. Couldn’t he notice there was something askew in that one room only had all this finery like it was a set for a theatre? To be honest, that is what it is: A prop for the politician and it makes all sentiment a cruel joke. If the family of the murdered jawan was in grief before the visit, they are now in outrage and shock. This sort of narrative turns into a legend and from the level of a joke becomes an indictment of the system. Our leaders play act. They don’t mean to offer even a little bit of genuine feeling. It is just a game to them where only their ego counts. Soldiers be damned, killed or otherwise, if we can’t use them in life or in death to further our agenda, they are expendable. Look at the steps that went into this visit. The bureaucrats must have simpered about sanitising the place. The police officers would have cordoned off areas in the name of security. Then the items would have been indented for and signed and cleared by the collector and the district commissioner, and the PWD would have been co-opted as well as the municipality. Dozens of mini-bigwigs clucking their concern and saving their skins by ensuring the badha sahib was comfortable. Nothing to do with the Sagar family. This is the same chief minister who 24 hours earlier was photographed feeding calves in a cowshed. Did they redo the cowshed too? It is disgraceful that we allow such things to happen. Forget the galloping hypocrisy we observe, look at the message to our soldiers on the border. Guys, if you take a bullet for us, we’ll give you a temporary AC, a carpet and two toilet rolls. If the chief minister has any respect for the armed forces, now that he is apprised of the situation, he must not only make sure all those items are re-fitted into the home but haul up everyone in the daisy chain who thought it was okay to engage in this deception.

What’s the point of giving Sagar’s children a job after their studies if you could not even give them a hand towel to wipe away their tears.

No wonder we call them petty bureaucrats. What could possibly be more petty than this action. I wonder if they filled the empty space where the AC was placed. Let’s hope the focus is not shifted from the Sagar household until we know if Adityanath is made of a different mettle or simply another inflated hot air balloon spouting shibboleths and soda water.