Panacea for innocence: Harish Rawat style

Today's Take (May 25)

Panacea for innocence: Harish Rawat style

 It is but natural that Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat should feel uneasy over the prick of an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the allegged sting operation in which he is allegedly shown to be promising money to MLAs for supporting him in the vote of confidence in the Assembly. Now that he has won the vote and is back in chair, the CBI questioning him in connection with the sting operation adds to his uneasiness. On May 24 he is reported to have been quizzed by the CBI in Delhi for about five hours. There are reports that he may be called once again for interrogation.

What transpired during investigation is not known, but reports of his being summoned again give a clear indication that Rawat is not out of woods for the moment. That seems to be the cause of his frustration when he threatened PM Narendra Modi saying "Sometimes even an ant can trouble an elephant". But such diatribes do not amount to anyone's innocence. Rawat needs to understand that no chief minister is above law. A floor test on the floor of the legislature can enthrone or dethrone an individual as chief minister but it cannot be a verdict on a crime he/she may or may not have committed. His innocence can be proved only during investigation or in a court trial.

He also needs to understand that if the CBI probe stings him, the sting irritates the eyes of the common man who saw it on the news channels. The people and the representatives of the people had not chosen him for what he is alleged to have been shown in the sting. Let the truth come out and Rawat can certainly help in this matter.

Delhi Power Shortage

Bold Words no Substitute for Action

Cornered by both the opposition groups, BJP and Congress, over the deteriorating power situation in Delhi at a time when the day temperatures are touching new high and June is still a week ahead, the Delhi Chief Minister  Arvind Kejriwal decided to go bold. In a stern warning to the private power distribution companies to address the problem of outages saying government will not hesitate to cancel their licences if they fail to comply with the directive. So far, so good.

But the warning is not the solution. This could be the panacea if the Kejriwal government was sure and convinced that the power companies were the culprit and they had ample power to distribute to meet the everyday growing demand in this summer season. On the face of it, it is not the companies who appear to be the only deliberate villain.

But has the Kejriwal government an emergency and alternative in position. In case the companies fail to come up to the expectation of the government and the people and Kejriwal proves true to his threat and cancels the licences, will the situation improve on its own, automatically? Will the national capital not be pushed to a state of darkness and misery in this burning hot season? No government agency or a new company can instantly come into operation the moment licences of old companies are cancelled.

Provoking to name a Toilet after Rahul

Congress is not used to taking things lying down. Only the other day actor Rishi Kapoor questioned why innumerable public institutions have been named after Gandhi-Nehru family. Baap ka maal samajh rakha tha? (Did they consider it their father's property?), tweeted the actor.

As a matter of fact, Congress has no convincing explanation. Former prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri, P. V. Narasimha Rao, former Presidents, Sardar Patel and many others have been pushed to oblivion.

But Congress workers did not let the things to rest at that. In Allahabad some Congress enthusiasts went to the extent of retorting by 'naming' a Sulabh public toilet after the actor Rishi Kapoor. They hung a poster "Rishi Kapoor" naming it as such.

So far, Congress party has not come out with its reaction on the action. But has the Congress not given its detractors the handle and provocation to name similar places by Rahul and Gandhi-Nehru family? Will it then come out with a sporting and smiling reaction?                                                                            ***

Shining Strong and Steady Narinder Modi has virtually captured India's political horizon

Shining Strong and Steady

Narinder Modi

has virtually captured India's political horizon

When Gujarat Chief Minister Narinder Modi was, on September 13, anointed by the BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh as party's – and NDA's – prime ministerial candidate for 2014 elections, it was not something unexpected. People knew much earlier that ultimately he alone will emerge as BJP's Man Friday; all they had been waiting was for the formal words from the mouth of BJP President who had been hinting  at it since long. The declaration has only resulted in Mr. Modi painting the country's political horizon saffron – the colour auspicious and sacred as per Indian traditions. He has now arrived on the scene, made his presence felt and effect of his leadership ominous. He left an indelible mark on the minds and hearts of the six crore citizens of his State. He worked for the welfare and development of everyone irrespective of one's caste, creed and sex. This reality ignited in the minds of people all over the country that Mr. Modi is a man of action who means business and can do wonders for the country as he did for his State.

The glow of his work and the fragrance of his achievements were so sweet and strong that it transcended the boundaries of Gujarat to regale one and all in the country. It sparked the feeling: wish they too were one among the Gujaratis. For the captains of industry, Gujarat became a pilgrimage they must undertake to get the boon of having a pride address in this vibrant State.

The news had an instant electrifying effect. The day of announcement was also the day of polling in the Delhi University Student's Union elections. Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) campaign was already centred on Modi, his portraits dominating the posters and campaign material. The results joined the chorus of crackers that were burst to hail Mr. Modi being named PM candidate. ABVP won three posts of President, Vice-president and Secretary after a long interval.

Rewari (Haryana) rally on September 15 was planned much earlier. It turned out to be one of the greatest by any non-ruling party, particularly BJP which has not much presence in the State assembly at present. It attracted about 3 lakh strong cheering crowd. "Modi was the chant, Modi the speaker and Modi the leader", English daily put it. Those present vouchsafed for "his all encompassing appeal, charisma and star power".

The 25^th September Bhopal rally addressed by Mr. Modi as also Mr. L. K. Advani which besides Mr. Rajnath Singh, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and party's top national leadership turned out to be an epoch-making one. According to media reports, more than 7 lakh people participated and a team of the Guinnese Book of Records was there to record the greatest rally.

The post-anointment opinion polls have given BJP one-up in all the four States of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi going to the polls in just another two-three months, although in Delhi it is reported to be not that much comfortable as elsewhere.

The Modi bang seems to have unnerved UPA. The day after former chief of army staff General V. K. Singh joined the Modi rally, an inquiry has been instituted by government against him obviously to browbeat the brave soldier. Further, CBI which had earlier taken the stand that it had "sufficient proof" against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav suddenly found empty its bag of "sufficient evidence" against him in the DA case. The CBI has also become super-active in the Ishrat Jahan 'fake encounter' case to complete the assigned task before the nation goes in for Lok Sabha polls.

The daring decision by BJP chief Rajnath Singh has once again proved that BJP is a party with a difference. It has given a lie to the prophets of doom. It does possess full internal democracy where every leader and worker has a right to express his opinion freely and frankly but once the party comes to a collective conclusion it is a decision of one and all to be religiously respected. The decision on Mr. Modi has once again put a seal on this great characteristic of the party.

The Modi decision has also raised the stock of Mr. Rajnath Singh in the country. He has now come to be regarded as a man of mettle who can handle difficult situations in his stride and can weather all storms  remaining steadfast in his determination. In consultation with the top leadership he took a bold decision and the timing and implementation of the strategy too was his.  He came out with flying colours in the end. 

The catapult of Mr. Modi from the vibrant State of Gujarat to the national scene was the process of natural evolution as he consistently achieved the highest rate of GDP growth year after year despite the fact that the State had to pass through two unanticipated great disasters: the Kutch earthquake and the 2002 riots.  He made history by rebuilding the houses razed to the ground and rehabilitating in just one year the people and areas severely devastated.

He was quick to marshal the State police and the military strength to control of post-Godhara riots. Had he not acted in time the extend of carnage would have been much more heinous. It goes to his credit that hundreds of cases have been taken to their logical conclusion in courts after speedy investigations and hundreds have been punished, both high and low, irrespective of caste, creed and political affiliation. This stands in contrast to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots where more than double the number (compared to Gujarat riots) of Sikhs and Sikhs alone were butchered and that too only in Congress-ruled States. Those who were named by victims as the perpetrators of progrom against Sikhs were only Congress leaders yet none was hauled up immediately. On the contrary, they were prized and made party MPs and ministers. The bereaved families are still running pillar to post in search of justice which has eluded to more than 95 percent of families even after about 29 years.

Mr. Narendra Modi pulled Gujarat out of the debris of the two great tragedies in no time and turned it a model state of development in the country. He set the standards for others to follow. It was because of the fast growth in Gujarat and other BJP ruled States of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar when BJP was part of the alliance, etc. which recorded a much higher rate of growth than the national average. Had the performance in these States not been that spectacular, country's GDP growth rate would have been much lower. The anti-Modi elements both in Congress, UPA and the so-called 'secular' front got a hard punch when Union government's own statistics showed that minorities, particularly the Muslims, had a much higher per capita income and led a much better life in Gujarat than in non-BJP States.

Because of Mr. Modi's wonders in his home State he became a household name all over the country. The more his detractors tried to run him down, the more he bounced forward with greater force. In the end he emerged the winner.

The more his political enemies tried to block his emergence on the national scene, the more space he started getting in the media. It was the controversies that his political foes generated to raise a scare about him that made him the doyen of the common man. The country witnessed the evolution of Mr. Narendra Modi as the voice and vision of the masses. He was not being imposed by the party bosses from above; he emerged as the choice of the people. "Modi lao" became the common refrain. He earned the support even of those who had, in the past, never supported BJP.

The messengers of doom had spread the scare that if Mr. Modi were made the PM candidate, a 1996 situation will arise when no 'secular' party was forthcoming to support to Vajpayee's NDA government. But within 10 days the BJP has received warming up signals from the Telugu Desam Party, Karnataka Janta Party of BS Yedyurappa and others.  

Congress has turned CBI its greatest political ally

Congress has turned CBI its greatest political ally

Whether CBI is, in the words of the Supreme Court of India, a "caged parrot" or the Congress Bureau of Investigation, as the opposition, particularly the BJP prefers to call it, the fact remains that it speaks the language Congress prompts and acts the way it teaches them to do.

If the Congress is using the administrative machinery to browbeat its opponents, it is only following the footsteps of its British predecessors in indulging in repressive measures the alien administration had been letting loose against the freedom fighters who wanted them to leave the country independent. At the same time, the Congress equally mastered the British art of showering generous favours on those who go out of their way to realize its political designs by hook and crook. If you look at the pictures of the alien rulers and police/army unleashing brutalities and cruelties on those demonstrating against the British rulers and the present ones in independent India, you will discern that nothing has practically changed except that the rulers are not whites. In cases, the present democratic administration appears to be more barbaric against its opponents than did the alien British government. Even women and children do not get spared.

In fact, the energies of the arms of administration – the police, crime investigating agency, income tax department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, IB, even the National Investigating Agency (NIA) – seem to be concentrated on realizing  the single objective to promote and protect the interests of the ruling party, to whitewash the black spots on the face of the ruling class and to harass all its political opponents who stand as a hurdle in catering to the whims and caprice of the rulers at whatever cost to the nation.  In fact, the present rulers have come to make its own narrow political and electoral interests synonymous with those of the nation. 

The ruling party administration spares the rod and spoils the ruling party recalcitrants who get pampered to indulge in more wrongdoing, crimes and corruption. The arms of law get shortened when the person belongs to the ruling dispensation but get longer if it is the non-Congress parties and individuals. They get more cruel and ruthless. The truth in this respect is all pervading.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal leveled charges of more or less the same nature against both the then BJP national President Shri Nitin Gadkari  and Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, though  in latter's case the charges were much more serious because these involved favouritism by some Congress-ruled States. In Vadra's case the UPA government and Congress instantly dismissed the allegations as frivolous, baseless and motivated. The government lost no time to issue a certificate of "innocence" to Shri Vadra.  The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) expressed its inability to ”order a probe in business dealings between two private entities". But that was equally true in the case of allegations against Shri Gadkari too.  Later, the PMO claimed that "while the Right to Information Act aims at creating transparency to contain corruption and increase accountability, it also seeks to ensure that revelation of information, in actual practice, does not harm or adversely affect other important public interests which include efficient functioning of the governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources, and preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information." (http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/prime-minister-s-office-refuses-to-answer-rti-query-on-robert-vadra-citing-confidentiality-378640)

 

The allegations against Shri Gadkari too constituted "business dealings between two private entities" to which the PMO claimed that it could not order investigation. When Shri Nitin Gadkari was likely to file his nomination for another term of office as BJP President on January 23, 2013 the Income Tax Department conducted a raid on Shri Gadkari's business concerns on January 22. After that both the IT Department and the Government have gone silent. Nobody knows the outcome of the raids and investigation. According to a Sunday Guardian report, nothing incriminating has been established against Shri Gadkari. 

In fact, CBI seems to be burning midnight oil to function as the defence counsel for those belonging to the ruling party can and a diehard prosecutor bent upon somehow or the other to involve those opposed to the ruling party.

CBI conduct in the investigation into cases concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is a case in instance. It presented closure reports in cases against Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler though it failed to realize the ruling party's objective when the court refused to oblige. When after 29 years the court handed out a verdict of not guilty against Sajjan Kumar it took more than two months for the CBI to file an appeal against the judgement in the higher court. Case against Jagdish Tytler has been reopened under court orders.

But in Gujarat, all CBI energies are concentrated on framing the BJP leaders. Its anxiety – and of Manmohan Government – in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter seems nothing else but only to somehow or the other to frame Gujarat CM Shri Narinder Modi and other BJP bigwigs.

Criminal cases of assets beyond known sources of income against former UP chief ministers, Ms Mayawati and Shri Mulayam Singh have not been taken to their logical conclusion during the last 9 years. CBI stand on these gets fluctuated with the change of stance of these leaders towards the Manmohan government. In a similar case where Shri Lalu Yadav and his wife were acquitted, CBI did not, deliberately, for understandable political reasons, file an appeal in a higher court obviously only because he remains steadfast to prove himself as the savior of Congress government at the Centre in times of crises.

The CBI case against Shri Lalu Yadav in the fodder scam continues to hang fire for the last over a decade, courtesy again of CBI, although similar cases against officials have been decided long ago and the guilty punished.

Another stark contrast is the CBI dilly-dallying the investigations and prosecution of cases concerning 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Housing and Coalgate scandals. Except for the intervention of the courts, no minister responsible for the scams has been brought to book.  The investigation into these cases is moving at a snail's pace.

Latest is the case involving the Railway Minister Pawan Bansal. Instead of being made a co-accused, he has been made a witness. Nobody today, as a person remarked, is willing to offer even a cup of tea if he doesn't expect a return favour. But CBI in this case, makes people believe that an individual of the rank of a general manager of Railways was so foolish as to strike a Rs. 10 crore bribe deal and to part with Rs. 2 crores initially without being certain that Bansal's nephew would be able to get from the minister what he wants.

Actually, it is proving true the old Hindi saying: jab saiyyan bhaye kotwal to dar kahe ka" (When the kotwal is our benefactor, why should one worry?) It is also providing credence to the widely accepted notion that CBI is the greatest political ally of the UPA.

When the Supreme Court directed the UPA government to take steps to make the "caged parrot" free, all it seems to be trying to do is to free it from the cage with freedom restricted to fly only within a room closed from all sides under UPA supervision. It has claimed its right to monitor, a synonym for influencing, the course of investigation in "politically sensitive" cases. That betrays the real intentions of the Congress.                                                                       ***

CBI raids on Stalin --- Govt denial of hand amounts to confession

CBI raids on Stalin

Govt denial of hand amounts to confession

CBI raids as part of political vendetta or  to rein in recalcitrant political leaders of the ruling party's own men or those opposing it, are not something new in this country. It also speaks volumes for the independence and impartiality of the prime investigating agency of the country.  Also recall the Income Tax Department raids on the premises of business concerns run by the former BJP national President Nitin Gadkari on January 22  this year, a day before he was scheduled to file his nominations for another term of office paving the way for his unopposed election.

The latest has been the CBI raiding the residence of  DMK leader and DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi's son, M. K. Stalin, within 48 hours of the party having withdrawn its support to the UPA government. Stalin had been named Karunanidhi's heir only a few days back. It is also no longer a secret that Stalin was the architect of the DMK decision to withdraw support from UPA government. CBI did explain that it was a part of the routine raids in connection with luxury car duty fraud and that the timing became just a coincidence and embarrassment for the ruling party.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was quick to condemn the raids. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who represents this area claimed that he and the government had "no role" in the raids. Yet, at the same time, the raids were stopped at the instance of the government. If the raids were not organized on orders of the Manmohan government, how could these be stopped on their orders? If the prime investigating agency of the country is independent and impartial which does not seek directions from government in its functions and brooks no interference, why did it make exception this time halting the raids and the process of investigation under government orders?

A significant point was raised by the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. "Merely because it has a political fallout, it is improper for any Prime Minister or a finance minister", said Jailtley, "to so blatantly interfere in the functioning of CBI and cripple it from carrying on its routine investigations". If the searches were routine and the CBI was an independent body, it should have been allowed to carry out their routine investigations of their own and not interfered merely because  there was a "political fallout" of their action, he said.

One newspaper report has come out with a funny explanation: CBI did not know that it was Stalin's residence.

It is on record that the CBI had been taking contradictory stands in courts on criminal cases of assets beyond known sources of income against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Sushri Mayawati and Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav hanging fire at various stages in various courts. The pendulum of CBI stand has been tilting with the stand of these parties towards the ruling UPA government. At times, CBI had to face embarrassment in courts on this issue.

Whatever it is, the CBI raids on the residence of M. K. Stalin have definitely given out a message loud and clear both to the UPA partners, supporters from outside and even to the opponents.