Sharad Pawar Ridiculing Rahul Gandhi May Mean Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi is Falling Soon

Today, a news item was published in the Hindustan Times (which is considered a pro-Congress Party paper), that Sharad Pawar has "brutally snubbed" Rahul Gandhi over China intrusion claim. 

The Congress party, led by its former president Rahul Gandhi, has been taking jibes at the Centre since the June 15 violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley. But today, Sharad Pawar said, "We can't forget what had happened in 1962 when China occupied 45,000 square kilometres of India's territory. While making these allegations, one should also look at what had happened in the past. This is an issue of national interest and once should not bring in politics here". 

The NCP chief also said the Centre cannot be blamed for the standoff at Galwan Valley.  

"Our soldiers tried to push back Chinese army men when they tried to encroach upon Indian soil. To say this is the failure of anyone or of the defence minister isn't correct. Had our army not been on alert, we wouldn't have known Chinese assertion," he said. 

"The scuffle itself means that we were vigilant else we would have been caught unaware. Hence, I don't think such allegations are fair to make," he added. Source: HT

And this is not the first time Sharad Pawar has snubbed and ridiculed Rahul Gandhi recently. On 20th of June too, Sharad Pawar spoke in a similar tone; as published in this TOI article about all-party meet called by PM Modi: 

Regional parties like TRS and BJD, as well as Congress allies like DMK and NCP, criticised the Chinese action. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, in an oblique criticism of Rahul Gandhi, said the issue of whether Indian troops were carrying arms or not was one to be decided by international agreements and was not a matter of discussion. 

The above statement made 10 days ago was a clear snub to Rahul Gandhi too. 

A political layman can think that Sharad Pawar made above statement because he is a former defense minister and hence he is speaking on matters of national security. But a leader like Sharad Paware does not "need to" assert his credentials on such matters, especially at the cost of angering his  bigger political partner Congress. 

It rather seems that Sharad Pawar is warming up to life beyond Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) govt in the state of Maharashtra. It was clear from the beginning that MVA was an uncomfortable short term "tactical" move; especially since Congress and NCP workers are bitter rivals on the ground level. It seems now the days of MVA are counted and the state will see an assembly election soon. My personal guess is that we may have an election around September or October in Maharashtra. 

Reasons Why Nepotism Angle Is Deflecting Real Issues Behind Sushant Singh Rajput's Death

As soon as news of Sushant Singh Rajput's death broke out, a few parallel events got triggered; as visible through the media: 

1. Family and friends of Sushant Singh Rajput clearly said that Sushant would never commit suicide. Sushant, who struggled so hard to rise from the bottom to the top would never give up so easily and so fast
2. Fans and common people started demanding CBI probe; because of given track record of local Police in failing to break numerous mysterious deaths in Bollywood
3. A section of Bollywood stars and their supporting journalists started giving Sushant's death a "nepotism" angle. Soon, due to the tremendous influence of these people through media, this became established as the "only truth"

Let us evaluate each of these "hypotheses": 

1. Family/Friends: In my understanding, the opinion of family and close friends of Sushant carry the maximum value; because of obvious reasons. Out of all the three parties: (1) family/friends, (2) fans/common people, and (3) movie stars/journalists; this section of people had "first hand" feedback about what  Sushant was really like, and what he was really going through. These people knew Sushant, they understood his mind, and they knew his strengths and weaknesses. Hence, whatever these people said should carry maximum weight. And, family and friends of Sushant clearly and unanimously said that Sushant would never commit suicide. 
2. Fans / common people: These people had limited understanding of Sushant's actual life; but they based their opinion on the "facts of the case" and evidences which came out in the media. Out of all the three parties: (1) family/friends, (2) fans/common people, and (3) movie stars/journalists, this section of people had no "vested interests" in Sushant's death or the reason behind it. Fans and common people were obviously shocked and emotional in making their outcries; and it was part of the way people deal with a grief psychologically; but still, if you look at the kind of arguments these people made (e.g. in the comments section of my previous blog), those were all "rational arguments". They pointed to the facts clearly coming out from the images of the dead body; the lack of finger prints; the disconnect between the real financial condition of Sushant Vs the claims of his servant that he was broke; all point to one thing for sure: we need a proper probe to find real reason behind Sushant's death. And who can do it better probe than the CBI? 
3. Bollywood stars / journos: A particular section of Bollywood started claiming that "nepotism" was the real reason behind Sushant's death. While the earlier two hypothesis were "open-minded" and "rational"; this third hypothesis was so "self-righteous" that it sounded like a piece of "fake news". Soon, videos of Sushant resurfaced where he was commenting on nepotism. But what did he say in the video? He can be seen making a very rational and mature statement that nepotism exists everywhere and hence to that extent it is also there in Bollywood. He says that nepotism is not totally bad, but if it leads to new talents not getting any chance at all, then it becomes bad. He can be hardly understood as a person who was so troubled with nepotism that he would commit suicide in frustration. What to speak about people like Kangana Ranaut who have got "an axe to grind" every time? There is a phrase which says, "If all you got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail to you": this perfectly sums up this section of people. The bunch of "anti nepotism warriors" have no clue who Sushant was; they were never known to be close friends of Sushant; but they sound like as if they know the reasons behind his death "for sure"! 

When I think of all the three hypotheses, I still find myself holding to the "murder" angle (as mentioned in my previous blog). I can clearly understand that out of the above three hypotheses, only the first two are useful. But which hypothesis is getting maximum traction in the media? It is the third one. 

In a way, the "nepotism" angle is very much sinister because it is trying to put the "blame" of Sushant's death on Sushant himself. "Look, even people like Kangana Ranaut and others are "fighting" nepotism for so many years! So many stars are getting less or no jobs but are still surviving, right?" According to this stand, "Sushant was so weak that he could not handle himself!" After all, "he was just a boy from small town who came to Mumbai to make it big and failed". Those who are blaming nepotism for Sushant's death are in many ways blaming Sushant for taking his own life. And this is so different from the kind of person we came to know about Sushant: "an astrophysicist at heart, an entrepreneur in the making". 

I wonder how the "anti nepotism" brigade knows everything for sure, while we have absolutely zero clue about how and why Sushant was killed!

For the sake of humanity and our national spirit, we need CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput's death! #CBIEnquiryForSushant #CBIEnquiryForSushantSinghRajput 

Reasons Why Sushant Singh Rajput's Death Looks Like a Murder Case

Untimely death of Sushant Singh Rajput has created a big shock to the entire country. While media started calling it "suicide" from the first minute and most people believed it (since news of actors committing suicides is rampant), after reading the details of the news, it seemed to be a case of murder instead of suicide. 

Following are the reasons why Sushant Singh Rajput's death looks like a murder instead of suicide: 

1. Pictures of Sushant Singh Rajput's dead body were released on social media. I am not posting those here but you can search on Google. The images clearly show that his neck was intact and just carried a mark. But in case of suicide or death by hanging, the person's neck "elongate" due to stretching. While Sushant's neck looked intact. This raises doubt. There are also no other visible signs of injury or stress to the neck and face (e.g. mouth, tongue, eyes) due to hanging from ceiling for long duration. Was he strangulated first and hanging was "staged" just to show it as suicide? 
2. As per news, he was found hanging with help of a "curtain". But the mark on his neck is too thin for a "curtain". The mark looks like a "rope's mark"! Was he killed by someone with a plastic rope? This also explains the "V shape" mark - since the killer would have dragged his neck with a rope from behind him, the "v shape" mark would have formed which normally forms in deaths due to hanging. 
3. All articles in the room look at their right place. It is unlikely, unless if someone arranged the articles after killing him, so that no doubt could be raised. 
4. The bed sheet looks fresh and perhaps it was changed the same day. The room and surrounding does not give any sign of depressed or disturbed mental state behavior by Sushant. 
5. Most actors and celebrities are already fighting depression. The fact that Sushant was getting treated for depression is not too serious because of this reason. 
6. In his last movie, Sushant Singh Rajput had played a role where he was preaching youngsters against the tendency of suicides. It is difficult to believe that he would himself so quickly fall into the same behavior. 
7. No suicide note was found. Sushant was an educated person and he knew his responsibilities. If he were to commit suicide, he would have definitely left a suicide note. 
8. Sushant was youngest member of his family. He had no brother and only 4 sisters. It is natural that he would be most loved as the youngest in his family. He had talked to one of his sisters yesterday morning on mobile too. Since he was in talking terms with his family and he was loved by his family, he would never commit suicide without talking to anyone about his problems, if he had any. 
9. His sister revealed that Sushant had no financial problems. Still, one of his servants mention that Sushant talked to him and told him that he was not sure if he would be able to pay for the servant's salary in future or not. This is too silly a statement. If he had money-problems, he was well connected with friends and family and he would have managed it. 
10. Sushant was scheduled to marry in November this year. His family was planning to travel to Delhi to attend it, indicating preparations were being made. Why would he commit suicide without telling anyone? 
11. It is said that Sushant was taking medication for depression for last 6 months. 4 out of last 6 months were impacted by Lockdown. If Sushant had committed suicide during Lockdown period, we could still understand some depression angle. But now that 'Unlock' has happened and flights and trains are running, if Sushant felt depressed, he could have gone to meet his family in Patna. Why was Sushant still locked in his Mumbai flat when flights were already running? From the reaction of his family (father fainted after hearing news; maternal uncle asked for CBI probe), it is clear that his family had no clue that anything like this could have happened. But it is common sense that if Sushant was really sad and depressed by anything, he would at least make one trip to his hometown before taking this drastic step. 
12. As per the pattern seen in suicidal people, they ponder over the idea for long time. They make plans, change plans and give up plans too. They try to talk to someone about it as well. Sushant's death, if it is a suicide, is totally peculiar since there is no clue and the death was abrupt. Even the events since morning of yesterday, everything looked normal - as per media reports, he woke up in the morning, drank fruit juice, talked to his sister over phone, called up his old friend who did not pick up the phone, and then locked himself in his room and died? It does not make any sense. 
13. There were 3 people present in his home when he died. If he had any problem he would have at least given them a clue about sadness or depression. 
14. When Sushant's flat-mates or servants found the door locked from inside and Sushant not responding to calls, they did not try to break the door lock but called a duplicate "key maker". Who does that? Calling a duplicate key-maker would take much longer time. Was the door so strong that they did not even try breaking it first? Any normal person would have first tried to break it open - and given that there were at least 3 adult men in the house - they should have tried breaking it. Why did not they do it? Plus, I am not sure about this locality but in other locations, duplicate key makers rarely work on Sundays! 

It is difficult to guess who would have committed his murder, if at all it happened. Here is the guess: 

1. Any of his Bollywood rivals over bitter rivalry or competition turned sour
2. His flat-mates over some petty dispute 
3. Underworld, due to ransom or extortion related issue 
4. His ex-girl friend spurned because of some personal dispute related to their affair 
5. A family member, in order to grab his wealth after his death since he was unmarried 

Since there were a few of his friends present in the house when he was found dead, it may happen that the execution of the murder was done by one of them, or one of the servants but the contract for the killing was given by someone else.

Mumbai Police's role looks doubtful in this probe due to following reasons:

1. It should be noted that Sushant's family has expressed lack of trust over Mumbai Police, perhaps fearing since the Police is often under influence of politicians and big Bollywood actors and an unbiased probe is not possible under their watch. His family has requested for a CBI inquiry in this. If this was a murder, this has to be big enough to deserve CBI inquiry and not a local Police inquiry. 
2. Late last night, the Police has ordered all social media users to delete viral pictures of Sushant's dead-body. Can this be seen as an attempt to "cover up" the case? It can be thought that if everyone sees those images and comes to the same conclusion - that Sushant seems to have been murdered with help of a plastic rope from behind - and his neck and other body parts show no sign of injury due to hanging from ceiling for long duration - then a conclusion that this was a "suicide" would be easily doubted by people. Hence attempt to prevent many people from seeing those pictures. 
3. One TV news footage last night showed the police officers returning after probing the incident site i.e. Sushant's housing society. One policeman carried a small plastic bag containing medicines found in his room. This raises doubt. Was this a deliberate attempt to show "plastic bag with medicines" in front of TV cameras in order to highlight the "depression angle"? When so many policemen went to investigate the site and remained there for over an hour, could not they find a better container or a bag to collect evidence; other than just a white plastic bag? (Plastic carry bags are banned in Maharashtra anyway!) Should not the police also have collected the bedsheets or the curtain and sent for forensic investigation in order to ascertain if any other person had also touched those apart from Sushant? Were "medicines" the only evidence collected from the site and was it necessary to deliberately show those to the TV news cameras? 

We request government of India to order a CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Too many actors and actresses are dying and their deaths are just tagged as suicides and everyone forgets about them. But may be, something fishy is happening below the surface which needs to be uncovered. 

Om Shanti! 

PS: I am a Sherlock Holmes fan and couldn't resist thinking about all the different things above. Views are personal and it is clearly understood that this blog post is speculative in nature.

Supporting News:

'There's conspiracy behind Sushant's death', claims late actor's uncle
Sushant Singh Rajput has been murdered: Pappu Yadav 
When Sushant Singh Rajput visited his native village in Bihar one year back
Sushant Singh Rajput's family calls his death 'murder', demands CBI enquiry