Jagdish R Sharma
Political leaders of all hues, in opposition, cry hoarse to save democracy and maintain ethics in public life. Such political players, when caught behind, always play the blame game, and pass it as a political vendetta. The present scenario in the country is astonishing, as whenever any wrongdoer political entity or leader gets exposed, they unequivocally accuse the Govt. at the helm of affairs and try to wriggle out of the problem. They would try to create and paint such a grim picture of the country, where there is no law and order, and every organ of the Government is not working impartially and justice eludes everybody. Such a narrative made, that he who speaks, comes under the radar of the central agencies. Instead of coming clean, they try to maleficent the image of the country.
Truth always prevails, so these leaders get exposed in time. No doubt, an angle of political vendetta cannot be ruled out but not all the time that too for short time. PM Modi himself had confronted central agencies for several hours while being Gujarat CM. He didn’t cry foul and passed the “Agni Pariksha”. False and fabricated cases always fall flat, as they lack an iota of proof. But it is unfair to attribute all misdeeds as a part of political vendetta.
Gautam Adani’s business conglomerate spreads out to airports, ports, mines, energy, real estate etc. He has been facing the opposition fire for the past few years for its alleged proximity to the government and accusations of corporate misconduct. Adani has been in the crosshairs of the Congress for a long. Rahul Gandhi has turned Adani into a major political issue, particularly after American short-seller Hindenburg accused the group of stock price manipulation. Many times, the Congress party has targeted the NarendraModi government at the Centre for allegedly favouring the business group headed byAdani. Other opposition parties too, never lose any opportunity to target the ModiGovt on the Adani issue. They go around to find any excuse to grill the ruling party.
They were once again exposed due to surfacing of cash for query scam.In a startling revelation, cash for query, has again struck the nation and jolted the faith of the electors. This time, Modi baiter and firebrand leader from West Bengal is in the spotlight. More interestingly, the whistleblower, this time is Supreme Court lawyer Jai AnantDehadrai, who happens to be the estranged partner of Ms MahuaMoitra.
Advocate Jai AnantDehadrai, the estranged partner, has, on 14th October 2023, filed a complaint to the CBI with an FIR alleging MahuaMoitra, Member of Parliament from West Bengal belonging to All India Tirunmal Congress (AITC) party of corruption and money laundering. A copy of the complaint was also submitted to the Speaker of the LokSabha. The Speaker also forwarded the matter to the Ethics Committee of the parliament. In pursuant to the summoning, she appeared before the Ethics Committee on November 2, 2023.
Mr Dehadrai had accused Moitra of receiving money and favours from DarshanHiranandani, head of a rival conglomerate of Adani Group, to ask parliamentary questions targeting Adani. In a sharp turn of events and creating more trouble for AITC MP, on 19 October 2023, Hiranandani himself turned approver. He submitted an affidavit and claimed that Moitra indeed received favours, and also gave him access to her account on Parliament of India’s website to post questions on her behalf directly.However,Moitra denied these allegations and stated that she welcomed any kind of enquiry from the CBI and the Parliamentary Ethics Committee.
Feeling the heat from the opponents and Hiranandani turning approver, Moitra accepted that she had indeed given her parliamentary login credentials to Hiranandani “for typing questions” to be asked in the LokSabha. She also accepted receiving gifts such as scarfs, lipstick, etc., but “as a personal friend.”
She also admitted that someone in DarshanHiranandani’s office typed the questions, she gave on the Parliament website. After putting the question, they would call her to inform her, and she would read all the questions in one go as she claims “she is always busy in her constituency.” After putting the question, an OTP (one-time password) was used to come on her mobile phone. Then she would give that OTP and only then was the question submitted. She refuted the idea that Darshan would log in to her ID and put in questions of his own.
Mr Hiranandani has stated that he filed the affidavit since the matter involved him and has snowballed into a political controversy roping in the Parliamentary Privilege Committee and the judiciary. He affirmed in the affidavit that Ms MahuaMoitra thought the only way to attack PM Modi was by attacking GautamAdani, and so she “expected support”. “For this, she shared her parliament login ID so he could frame the questions”. He claimed that he went along with the idea because, he thought through her, he would get support in the Opposition-ruled states. He also claimed that Ms Moitra received support from others in this effort, including journalists, Opposition leaders and former Adani Group employees, who fed her unverified information.
Mr Hiranandani was of the view that the Trinamool MP was also a “dominating” and “ambitious” person who also made several demands for “various favours” which he met to retain her support and their close friendship. The list included gifting her expensive luxury items, “providing support for the renovation of her officially allotted bungalow in Delhi, travel expenses, holidays etc,” He has also asserted in the affidavit “Many a time I felt she was taking undue advantage of me and pressurising me to do things, I didn’t want to, but I had no choice, because of aforementioned reasons.”
This episode has exposed the intent and game plan of the opposition leaders to tarnish the image of the PM. They have not left any stone unturned to grill the Govt. over the issue of the Adani group and trying to create an impression that everything is unfair.
It seems bizarre that the elected politicians are mandated by the electors to speak in their favour. They have failed to discharge their constitutional duty and act against the interest of the people. They just want to play cheap politics at the cost of the electors’ interest.
It is not the first time cash for query scam has surfaced. In 2005, eleven members of Parliament were charged with taking bribes for posing queries in the parliament and were subsequently suspended.
BJP MP NishikantDubey, who is at daggers drawn with Moitra, while launching an attack on her claimed that ‘cash-for-query’ allegations against her were much more serious than the 2005 cash-for-query scam case. He said MPs were suspended in the Parliament for asking questions for ?10,000. According to him, this was a more serious matter than that. The suspended lawmakers had challenged the expulsion, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2007 judgment.
On November 2, 2023, Jai Dehadrai also shared a cryptic post on social media.”The person accused of corruption and compromising national security is guilty of something far worse – and no – I’m not talking about the theft of my dog,” Dehadrai tweeted with a picture of his pet Rottweiler. The lawyer didn’t name anyone. It is worthwhile to mention here that Henry, the three-year-old Rottweiler, is at the centre of a custody dispute between MahuaMoitra and Jai Dehadrai whom she has referred to as her “jilted ex”.
For some politicians, ethics are just words and they don’t have any values. These words are merely decorative and just to impress others. There are many political entities, who have nothing to do with morality and ethics but contest elections in the name of providing justice to the downtrodden people. AAP came to power on the lofty promises to provide a clean, honest and responsible Government. In 2013, AamAdmi Party prepared a list of many politicians including CM’s, MLA’s and Union Ministers, who were allegedly involved in some cases. They even didn’t want fair trial of the cases.The champions of honesty had pasted stickers outside houses of those political leaders who were allegedly involved or their names linked to any misdeeds, seeking their resignations.
In cricket terminology, AAP has already lost its three important wickets and now the captain is playing on a sticky wicket. Buoyed by the Supreme Court order denying bail to Manish Sisodia, the E D appears determined to pile on more evidence against him and other AAP leaders during the trial. It will not leave any stone unturned to bring the matter to the final stage and bring in its net big fish. The SC found “prima facie” merit in ED’s charge that the changes in Delhi’s liquor policy carried out by the AAP government resulted in gains of at least Rs 338 crore to wholesale distributors who returned the favour by funding AAP’s election campaign in Goa. The agency plans to produce strong evidence during the trial to establish that the quantum of money lost to the exchequer was much higher.
The AAP has alleged that the E D’s summons to Kejriwal was an aim by the BJP to “finish the party”. The BJP made counter-claims that the AAP supremo was the “kingpin” of the “liquor scam”, and demanded his resignation as the Delhi Chief Minister.AAP leader and Delhi minister SaurabhBhardwaj alleged that the BJP was leaving “no stones unturned” to file a false case against Kejriwal.
Among all these brickbats, there seems to be only crying about ethics and morality in politics, as they can take any excuse to tide over the pressure of the public. Whosoever gets involved tries to play mind games and pose themselves as victims. The proverb is that when the elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. Here too, the leaders keep on setting their agenda and the public is at the loser’s end.
(The author is formerly Principal JK Education Department )
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