The CBI’s fishing expedition
Manish Sisodia, Delhi’s former Deputy CM, is presently in judicial custody after being arrested by the CBI. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will breathe a little easy now! Sisodia’s popularity with the poorer population of Delhi surpassed Modi’s popularity with the affluent. With Sisodia out of commission, the AAP machine in Delhi will slow down or that, it appears, is the intent!
To a neutral observer, it appears that the intent of the government is to rob the man and his party of any halo of respectability he or the party may be sporting.
The Kejriwal government had concentrated on education and healthcare, the two subjects any government, either at the Centre or in the states, should pay particular heed to. It had done very well in both spheres, especially in education. That subject was handled by Sisodia. But the Rhodes scholar now in the AAP think tank, Atishi Marlena, will take care of that now.
Instead of neutralising those whose extraordinary talents and good work keep the AAP ahead of its political competitors, Modi and Shah should advise the double-engine governments in BJP-ruled states to emulate AAP’s achievements. Future generations of voters will surely discard such divisive politics. Revolutions in education and healthcare will appeal to all generations.
I have always suspected that successive governments, starting with the Congress which was in power for decades after Independence, may not have wanted the masses to be fully literate. The uneducated blindly follow what is told to them by those with the ‘gift of the gab’. Literate individuals may not be really educated but they listen to news on the television and many of them decide to form her or his own opinion on important issues. Politicians cannot take their support for granted. Religion and caste will remain factors to contend with but votes cast without considering the pros and cons will reduce when people can read and write.
It is not clear, to me at least, what offences punishable by law Sisodia is being charged with. An accused not cooperating with the police is certainly not an offence under any law. The police and the courts can draw an inference from the accused’s silence or refusal to answer questions but cannot force him to admit something that could later implicate him in an offence.
Another complaint against Sisodia is that he was in the habit of using multiple phones at any one time and that he had obliterated call data. Again, inferences can be drawn from such practices but where is it laid down in law that one cannot use more than one phone at one time and that a record of calls needs to be kept?
To a neutral observer, it appears that the sole intent of the government is to rob the man and his party of any halo of respectability he or the party may presently be sporting. To that end, the investigative agencies have been sent on a ‘fishing’ expedition that is not going to end till some fish, even a tiny one, is finally and firmly in the net.
Investigative journalists are adept at ferreting out the truth. They manage to get hold of the remand applications that usually disclose the grounds for asking the court to give a few days of remand to force the truth out of the arrested individual. An insight into the remand application has not been established in Sisodia’s case. The public has not yet learnt of the grounds for his arrest!
What the people have been told is that Sisodia, the man they admire and even love, is involved in a massive scam involving a hundred crores! As Excise Minister, he took decisions on his own without involving the Council of Ministers and the Lt Governor in the decision-making process. He allegedly tweaked the policy to benefit a group of licensees known to the investigators as the ‘South Group’ in which the daughter of Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and an MP representing that state were members.
The profit allowed to be earned by the group had been increased from 5% to 12%. This was sanctioned by Sisodia, who was asked to explain this decision but was unable to give a satisfactory explanation, according to the media.
Lobbying for relaxations or workable policies is a common feature of working life in the Mantralayas, the seats of state governments. It was even more prevalent in the ministries of the Central government till the Modi administration discouraged the lobbyists. It is also true that a group like the Adanis could not have achieved success (now notoriety) without approaches to the ultimate power.
Even if Sisodia had met someone from the South Group, that in itself would not inculpate him in a crime unless it is proved that he benefited personally from the interaction. The raids on his office, his home, his bank and the bank locker have drawn a blank.
The party may have received kickbacks. It is a given that all political parties need money to run their business. The BJP at the Centre has electoral bonds, but in Karnataka, for instance, some ministers in the BJP government have been accused by contractors of demanding 40% cuts from contracts instead of the standard 15% (the figure quoted in the Mumbai MC is less, only 10%, and since the money is paid to the corporators, all parties benefit. Parties with a greater number of corporators benefit more!). The allegations by contractors against BJP leaders in Karnataka have been reinforced lately with the arrest of one of its prominent legislators and the recovery of crores of rupees from the home of his son.
Even if kickbacks are accepted and then credited to the party’s coffers, an offence would be made out under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It may not be easy to garner the evidence to prove the receipt of monies but adequate evidence to pin moral culpability must be disclosed to the public before tarring Sisodia with the accusing brush. People in our country forgive even those who have fattened themselves on corrupt practices. They will forgive Sisodia also even if the money has not gone to his personal account but to the party. His reputation, however, will then be tainted with a small stain on a white shirt.
