Hindutva Troll Army Feeds on its Heroes; Parties Capitalizing Army Operation

After the Pahalgam attack on 22 Apr, the photograph of a woman sitting motionless beside her husband's body went viral. The woman was Himanshi Narwal whose husband naval officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal was among the victims. A few days later, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters were targeting Muslims and Kashmiris, Narwal said, 'People going against Muslims or Kashmiris—we don't want this. We want peace and only peace.' This invited the wrath of the troll army which has backed the Hindutva BJP over the last decade. The trolls abused her, outed her pictures from earlier and laid allegations on her. The Sikhs saw this happen during the Farmers Protest 1.0 (2020-21). The troll army labelled the Sikhs as Khalistani, separatists, anti-national, and made many derogatory comments. On 10 May, after Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the troll army abused him and his daughter over social media. After the ceasefire, Madhya Pradesh (MP) BJP minister Kunwar Vijay Shah called the Defence spokeswomen Lieutenant Colonel Sofia Qureshi 'sister of terrorists' prompting the MP High Court (MPHC) to castigate Shah for passing 'scurrilous' remarks and using 'language of the gutters.’ The MPHC ordered the state police to file a First Information Report against Shah. On 16 May, MP Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda said the Army ‘bows in front of the Prime Minster (Narendra Modi).’ The defence forces of any country serve the country not its head but this message equates Modi with India. Even railway tickets now display the Operation Sindoor (vermilion marker for married Hindu women) logo with a picture of Modi saluting. This is clearly BJP trying to benefit from the escalation of hostilities. Hoardings displaying Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Sanjeev Arora for Ludhiana West by-polls saluting the Indian Army’s operation have also mushroomed across the city. Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rued that the PM did not even mention the deaths due to shelling by Pakistan and India around the Line of Control in his speech on 12 May.