What do seculars have against the Indian Army?

From Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and his league of communist followers, it's fashionable to deride and decry the armed forces and their actions, whether it's in Manipur or Kashmir.

The same people, same voices and same groups are seen speaking on soldiers as if they form the biggest threat to Indian democracy and society. Sometimes it's the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or the AFSPA, then it's the so-called violation of human rights, and then some stray incidents involving unfortunate shoot-outs and misbehaviour. The Indian soldiers, who have set the highest records of people-friendly behaviour even in the most trying circumstances, establishing schools, hospitals, providing old age help and risking their lives for humanitarian rescue operations, get the worst fire from a group of people within the country itself.

Have these people, even in passing, even for the sake of record, ever criticised the barbaric jihadis, terrorists, and their cohorts for raping, maiming and killing common civilians and assaulting the democratic institutions India stands on?

Have they ever lighted a candle in memory of the jawan who sacrificed his life protecting them - the people who pride themselves in being secular - from the assaults of terrorist gangs? Have they ever uttered a single word against infiltrators, whose hands are stained in the blood of innocent Kashmiris and who force their way into Kashmiri homes to eat, sleep and molest the women?

Have they seen how Maoists kidnap young boys and girls and recruit them as child slaves? The sorry plight of Sanjeeta Kumari must be discussed and her courageous fight against the savage Maoists needs to be saluted because she was fighting a lonely battle against fellow ideological comrades.

It's easy to pelt stones at the armed forces because they won't do anything without orders and will have to be silent even if they are attacked by the JNU's jihadi kids. But to speak against the inhuman acts of the Maoists and jihadis needs real love for the common people and an undiluted loyalty to the Constitution.

It's a pity that a section of the media has taken upon itself to fill the gap created by a weak Opposition and step into the role of a political foe to the government. Hence anything and everything that can be used against the ruling set-up and those who are seen as its supporters seems fashionable. Attack on the Army is considered to be a mark of freedom of expression and opposition to Kanhaiya’s poisonous diatribes are labelled as anti-democratic, anti-student, anti-azadi.

Those who have romanticised the word "azadi" think the rest of the Indians are fools and naive who won't understand their clever manoeuvring. We know, however, that the word, when used in a particular context, carries a special meaning.

Azadi in the jihadi context in Kashmir is a word that is used by separatists and has a different meaning than what we understand by "swatantrata" or freedom or "Tirange ki Azadi". The word azadi in Kashmir’s context means the independence of Kashmir, completely in line with what is plotted by the Pakistani masters of this jihad. The word is used as part of a different, more incendiary slogan by those who have been pasting posters against the Army and demanding azadi from the nation.

It has nothing to do with azadi of the common kisan, mazdoor and worker from hunger, backwardness and poverty. Using the word azadi from the JNU’s jihadi corners convey a different connotation which is music to the ears of the conspirators sitting across the border.

And so is the diatribe against the armed forces by the JNU’s leftist gang.

If their real motive is to have azadi for the kisan, mazdoor and workers, why can't they see the schemes launched post-Independence for the economic empowerment of these classes? They could even have organised a conference or a seminar to discuss various aspects of such schemes and have them critically examined. To the leftists at JNU, let me say, blast the government's welfare schemes if you find fault in them and suggest alternatives. After all, you are intellectually sound and brilliant, but the path that you have chosen is simply not right.

Your motive is not to help the kisan and workers, your real motive is to give a signal to your jihadi masters that a campaign has begun to create disaffection with the armed forces who are fighting them on the borders.

When the Army is facing avalanches and infiltrators, for safeguarding the Constitution and democracy and the people who support their nation, voices against it from the national capital make the nation's enemies happy.

Let me remind those raising their voices against the nation that we are not under army rule, it's a democracy and there have been many incidents implicating soldiers in wrongdoings in the Valley. In fact, soldiers have been convicted.

The armed forces are under a democratically elected constitutional power and each soldier is held accountable to the nation and those found guilty are punished. Instead of praising this mechanism and appreciating the Army’s role, attacking the Army when the atmosphere demands support to the brave men in olive green, shows the real face of the satanic jihadi mindset.

Who are the terrorists who have turned the "paradise on earth" into a den of terror and darkness accountable to? Are these angels and can do no wrong? Have they never exploited the Kashmiri people? Or should we say, they are the revolutionary freedom fighters and the Indian Army the illegal occupier of Kashmir Valley which is plundering the otherwise peaceful tourist destination?

The Kanhaiyas and their supporters need to clarify.