New Delhi : A political controversy has erupted over Jharkhand Health Minister and Congress leader Irfan Ansari’s remarks that around 40 lakh youths were waiting for a signal from Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to take to the streets, warning that the situation in India could become worse than in Bangladesh and Nepal. While Opposition leaders have maintained that any change of government must take place through democratic and constitutional means, BJP leaders have accused Ansari of encouraging unrest and attempting to create anarchy. Speaking to Media, Congress leader Udit Raj responded to Ansari’s statement, questioning the minister’s claim about the number of youths and asserting that the Opposition’s approach was rooted in constitutional methods.

“Only Irfan Ansari would know where the 40 lakh youth are. It could be 40 lakh or even 4 crore. Our path of struggle is democratic and constitutional. It is neither the Bangladesh model nor the Nepal model. We believe in democracy. In Nepal, the country’s own heritage was set on fire by its youth, while the situation in Bangladesh was also very disturbing. That is not our path. Our path is one of non-violence,” he said. Congress leader Rakesh Sinha, meanwhile, defended the right of young people to protest and questioned the government’s response to demonstrations. “Protesting is a constitutional right. If the youth put up their demands, will you shoot at them with pellet guns and take away their eyesight? You won’t even file an FIR. If this situation continues, how are the youth going to suppress their emotions? And whenever the youth gets aggressive, there has been regime change, and we assure you that there will be change,” he said.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Dr Ashutosh Verma said that any change of government in a democratic country like India could happen only through established democratic processes. “The Samajwadi Party is in support of this. We will defeat them the way they have defeated us. The Samajwadi Party is going to form a government with a clear mandate and the trust of people. This is the only way ahead,” he said. Meanwhile, NDA leaders criticised Ansari’s remarks and demanded that he should be sacked. BJP Bihar President Sanjay Saraogi strongly criticised Ansari’s remarks, describing them as an admission of what he alleged was a Congress-backed attempt to create political instability. “This anti-national and poisonous statement by Jharkhand government minister Irfan Ansari is an open admission of Congress’ well-planned anarchic and violent conspiracy. Such anti-national statements, talking about regime change and turning India into Bangladesh or Nepal, will never succeed in a country like India,” Saraogi said. He added that India was a democratic nation with 1.4 billion citizens and alleged that no one would be allowed to create unrest at the behest of foreign powers.

Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan also criticised the minister, saying such statements reflected a lack of understanding of India’s democratic institutions. “First, such leaders should be sent to Kanke, where there is a very good mental health facility. They are unfamiliar with democracy’s power in this country. India is not Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. It is the world’s largest democracy, with a population nearing 150 crore; you cannot repeat what happened in smaller nations here. These statements should not be taken that seriously,” he said. BJP Jharkhand spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo alleged that Ansari’s remarks suggested that the Congress wanted students to confront security personnel. He said students did not want violence and questioned the minister’s references to Bangladesh and Nepal, alleging that political upheaval in those countries had resulted in violence and instability. JD(U) MLA Vinay Chaudhary said Opposition leaders had the opportunity to raise their concerns in Parliament but were not allowing the House to function smoothly.

“Everything is marked in a democracy. If the Prime Minister does not listen to you there, then you can raise your voice. Indian citizens give a due reply in the elections. They show in the elections whom they support and whom they don’t,” he said. The controversy followed Ansari’s remarks during an interaction in Delhi, in which he claimed that 40 lakh young people were ready to take to the streets and were waiting for a signal from Rahul Gandhi. He said the Congress leader had so far held them back. Ansari had also alleged that farmers, workers, the middle class, Dalits, tribals and Muslims were facing difficulties under the BJP-led government and warned that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not take note of the situation, the country could witness developments worse than those in Bangladesh and Nepal.

Thiruvananthapuram : BJP state President, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Friday accused Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, of adopting double standards by speaking about the Constitution, democracy and secularism in Delhi while his party follows a different political line in Kerala. He said LoP Rahul Gandhi often speaks about constitutional values, democracy, secularism and the rights of women and young people at the national level. However, the Congress’ political arrangements in Kerala tell a different story, Chandrasekhar alleged.

Chandrasekhar, who is one of the three BJP MLA’s in the state, accused the Congress of maintaining an open political understanding with Jamaat-e-Islami in Kerala while claiming to champion secularism and constitutional values. He alleged that the organisation was opposed to the Constitution and secular principles and also linked it to the political unrest in Bangladesh. The BJP leader also questioned the Congress’ dependence on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key UDF ally, alleging that some of its ministers had openly declared that their sole political objective was “religion, religion, religion”. Taking aim at LoP Gandhi’s repeated references to the future of India’s youth, Chandrasekhar said the Congress in Kerala had failed to implement the PM SHRI education scheme, which seeks to improve the quality of education in government schools.

He alleged that the party had yielded to pressure from the Muslim League rather than supporting a programme intended to provide better educational opportunities to children from poor families. The BJP leader also accused LoP Gandhi of maintaining silence over what he described as attempts by his political allies in Kerala to curtail women’s rights and restrict their freedom. He further questioned the Congress’ support for Muslim reservation in Kerala, which he described as unconstitutional, while Rahul Gandhi continued to speak about constitutional principles elsewhere. “Rahul Gandhi speaks one language in Delhi, while his party functions in an entirely different manner in Kerala. What else can this be called if not deceptive politics?” he asked.

New Delhi : Indian security agencies arrested 700 individuals linked to proscribed terrorist Shahzad Bhatti, stalling major subversion plans including surveillance installations at crowded locations, targeted attacks, and cross-border drug smuggling, officials have said.

Dismantling the Bhatti network was among the most challenging operations undertaken by Indian investigative agencies in recent times.

Despite breaking the primary operational grid, intelligence authorities warned that the terror module is actively attempting a comeback by changing its recruitment strategy.

So far, around 700 people have been arrested on suspicion of working for Bhatti.

The operation carried out by security agencies thwarted several plans hatched by the Bhatti module. These included installing CCTV cameras at sensitive and crowded locations, carrying out targeted killings, and trafficking in drugs and counterfeit currency.

An official said that security agencies had largely dismantled the network, but the cat-and-mouse game with its remaining operatives was continuing.

“To date, over 100 takedown requests of Instagram profiles linked to this network have been sent to Meta. As the profiles are being taken down, over 50 new ones appear. This is, in fact, a big challenge for the agencies,” the official said.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that in this second push that is being made by the Bhatti network, a lot of emphasis is being given on defending religious honour. When the network was first set up, the recruitment was not religious-centric. Youth were recruited from across religions, and money played a very big role.

A youth could be picked up and asked to undertake a task for as little as Rs 5,000. These youth were also shown pictures of Bhatti and his associates posing in front of expensive cars and luxury homes. The handlers sold a dream to the youth, and this worked massively.

In reality, it was just bait, and the Bhatti network never had any plans to fulfil its promises regarding a fancy lifestyle that it made to the youth at the time of recruitment, the official said.

Intelligence agencies tracking Bhatti said that after the first crackdown that led to hundreds of arrests, Bhatti had been shifted to Pakistan. This decision was taken after the Indian government declared him a proscribed terrorist under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

However, he has travelled to Dubai and Portugal in recent months and remains actively involved in overseeing the module and devising fresh strategies for operations in India.

Another official said Bhatti was now seeking to combine religion, money and lifestyle incentives in his next recruitment drive, with a greater emphasis on religious identity.

“This is a deliberate ploy. By invoking religious sentiments, the amount of money offered to recruits would be relatively small. The idea is to exploit the religious sentiments of young people during the recruitment process,” the official said.

Those youth who would be recruited for paltry amounts, which would be as low as Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000, are being promised better lives in Dubai, Pakistan or Nepal.

Investigations show that the Bhatti network has prepared fake passports for several youths so that they could escape from India after a big hit-job is carried out, the official added.

“While the religious push would be much higher this time, the overall strategy remains the same — pay less and recruit more. Bhatti does not want to build just a network in India, but wants to create an army of youths who would fight for a religious cause,” officials say.

The module’s operational brief is no longer limited to installing CCTV cameras, trafficking in drugs and circulating counterfeit currency. The network is seeking to expand its reach and intensify its activities. Police have linked the Bhatti network to attacks targeting police personnel in Punjab, the blast outside the Border Security Force (BSF) headquarters in Jalandhar, and a petrol bomb attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Jharkhand.

The operations that the network is planning are on similar lines, but the scale would be much larger. Platforms such as Instagram would continue to be used for radicalisation and putting out hate messages against India. Planning and execution of high-intensity attacks would be done extensively on encrypted messaging platforms such as Telegram, an official said.