MHA readying ground for BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s dismissal?

The Government has come under sharp criticism on social media after an anonymous source from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was quoted by a report released by Press Trust of India (PTI) stating that Border Security Force jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav had 500 Facebook friends from Pakistan.

The jawan has been in the news for uploading videos of sub-standard food served at border posts.

Following his Facebook posts last month, MHA had dismissed the complaints, ordered an inquiry and refused to grant him his request for Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS). Following a habeas corpus petition filed by his Haryana-based wife in the Delhi High Court, BSF was directed by the court to allow her to spend two days with her husband.

The next date of hearing in the Delhi High Court is Wednesday, February 15.

report invites backlash on social media

The report, felt many, was yet another clumsy attempt at covering up grievances of jawans. Others felt the MHA was preparing the ground for dismissing the jawan from service on charges of indiscipline and insubordination.

“Thank you (GOI) for letting the young generation know that when they speak up against corruption, the Government will eventually ruin your life (sic)... Thank you for letting them know...that they joining army will only be a waste since their sacrifices and their truth will never be counted...,” commented Pragya Dubey.

“The lesson is that raising our voice will let us into big trouble. This happens only in India,” quipped Sumaira Saeed.

Dhruv Rawat while commenting on the report that stated, “About 17 per cent of the over 6,000 ‘friends’ in Yadav’s accounts are from Pakistan, Home Ministry sources today said...,” wondered how Tej Bahadur could have added 6,000 friends when Facebook does not allow more than five thousand.

“I’ve many friends from Pakistan but that doesn’t mean I am a spy...,” quipped Nasir Bangash.

Anson Kalavarayil commented on a post shared by Times Now on Facebook: “Is it such a big crime to have a Pakistani friend? Then sue the person who flew to Pakistan for his friend's granddaughter's wedding and who sent birthday wishes to Pakistan regularly...”

Dr Pranab Mohanty fumed, “He (Tej Bahadur) has 500 friends across the border on Facebook (so) he is anti-national, if a Bollywood star has more than a million followers on Twitter across the border then he is national. And if Modi or any other politician has followers across the globe then he is a world leader...Such a ridiculous mentality...”

The jawans’ wife, currently with her husband somewhere in Jammu as per the High Court’s order, had earlier claimed that the jawan’s phone which he had used to upload the videos was confiscated a day after he posted the controversial videos and he hadn’t logged out of his Facebook account.